6 Actions to Propel Construction Company Growth

“If we don’t know what we’re doing now, we don’t know where we’re going or how to get there,” consultant Bobby Mink told a packed room of contractors at the International Builders’ Show this week. 

Mink—who has been in business management for more than two decades and now partners with the National Association of Home Builders to teach management classes—outlined six actions for companies to take when looking to grow their businesses and profits. 

1 | Understand where your company is now. 

Mink posed a variety of questions attendees could use to take the pulse of their businesses: 

2 | Determine where you want your company to go. 

It’s critical to get 100% of your team on the same page with the company vision. To flesh out the right vision for the company, Mink suggested “big picture” questions such as:   

“If we don’t know what we’re doing,” Mink said, “we also don’t know how many people we need or who we should hire.” 

3 | Create a defined process for getting to big goals.  

Set a five- or 10-year target, and then break it down further into a three-year picture, a one-year plan and tasks for the next 90 days. This will allow you to keep the big goals in mind while continuing to complete the necessary day-to-day tasks of the business. 

Also consider reviewing the best and worst customers you’ve had in the last few years.  

“Figure out what made the best customers a good fit for your company to service,” Mink said. “We want more of those great people. Then, look at the difficult or challenging projects to help decide what customers do not fit your target market.” 

4 | Establish a meeting pulse. 

This should include weekly, quarterly and annual meetings, though the cadence can vary to fit the needs of your business. Mink explained that weekly meetings should address immediate needs and wins of the company, quarterly meetings should be a deeper dive, with annual meetings reviewing what the team has done and what needs to happen to improve in the next year. 

“Your team should be clear on what the wins are,” Mink said. “They need to know the goal posts, and the accountability that comes with regular meetings changes things. Communication improves because people are aware of what’s going on, and we each become accountable for our piece of the business.”  

5 | Create a business scorecard template to keep everyone on track. 

“You can improve what you measure, and you can expect what you inspect,” Mink told attendees. “You become accountable to the numbers on the scorecard because they don’t lie.” 

Decide what the seven to 15 important metrics are for the success of your business. These should include sales, profits and overhead for all businesses, Mink said, with more flexibility on other chosen values based on factors such as industry and business size.    

6 | Get the right people in the right seats.  

These people should have “GWC,” Mink said: gets it, wants it and has the capacity to do it. 

Use the company’s core values to analyze current and potential team members to ensure they’re a good fit. 

Once you’re confident you’ve got the right people where they belong, create an accountability chart and a leadership pipeline to help everyone know what needs to be done and how they can move up the ladder without having to leave your company.