Boosting Financial Growth in Your Construction Business

Jul 26, 2024 | Listen

Growing a construction business is no easy feat. It’s a highly complex industry with countless moving parts—managing suppliers, navigating building codes and compliance, making sure your team delivers on time with top-notch project management. 

With so much at stake, things can spiral out of control fast if you miss anything out. 

So, how do you prevent this from happening in your construction business? 

How do you prioritize the areas that will improve the finances? 

What operational strategies can you put into place to positively impact your financial stability and growth?

Dominic Rubino: Transforming your construction and remodeling business

In this episode, construction business coach Dominic Rubino talked about the practical ways to elevate and transform your construction and remodeling business. We covered key topics like optimizing operations, building a strong team, and implementing financial strategies that can guarantee sustainable growth.



Timestamps for this week’s episode

02:22 Common problems in construction businesses  

04:39 The benefits of having the right team 

07:46 How changing your mindset can drive growth 

24:29 Addressing operational problems in construction 

31:18 Actionable steps to boost construction business growth


“You can get to a million on your own, be it being a superhero or stubbornness. Yet at some point, you have to build a superhero team because you can’t do it all on your own.” – Dominic Rubino

Common problems in construction businesses

  • Issues with operational efficiency, including time management and team dynamics.

  • Financial struggles despite the high demand and a steady stream of clients, mainly due to the lack of financial planning, leading to not being profitable despite all the hard work.

  • The lack of strategic planning, particularly for construction and remodeling businesses that are family-owned or currently expanding.

  • The lack of efficient marketing and sales strategies, making it harder to find and retain clients.
Change your questions to be forward-looking questions. Instead of saying "I can't"  ask, "How can I?" or start your sentence with "What if?". Those two questions, in itself, is a massive change.

The benefits of having the right team

As with any business, it’s really important to assemble a stellar team. You probably started out handling everything by yourself with sheer determination, but eventually, you’ll hit a ceiling. Dropped balls, inconsistent customer experiences, and the struggle to maintain quality, along with other operational challenges will become more and more apparent over time.  

You’ll need to find that perfect project manager or estimator  – not just because you need to fill a role but to significantly reduce your workload and improve efficiency all around. Your business will run much more smoothly with someone reliable handling the key tasks – and you’ve made a strategic investment in the future growth and stability of your business.

“Not all the ideas are going to be great. Some of them are going to be bad. That’s okay. We only need one idea well implemented to work.” – Dominic Rubino

How changing your mindset can drive growth

To change your mindset to drive growth starts with embracing data as your guiding light. Numbers tell a story, and they don’t lie. They don’t even care if you’re a numbers person or not – they just have a story to tell about your business and you need to be able to figure it out. 

For example, whether you’re in construction or another field, tracking key metrics like project management time or rework costs will paint a clear picture of what’s working in your business process and what needs improvement.

If you regularly review these key operational metrics, for example weekly, you’ll eventually start making decisions based on logic and not your gut or emotions. Imagine you’re running a business bringing in $2,000,000 from projects. You realize each project this size needs a dedicated project manager to handle everything smoothly and keep the project on track. With this data on hand, you can now see the value of investing in skilled personnel, and why hiring a project manager, makes financial sense 

Ultimately, shifting from gut feelings to data-driven strategies sets your business up for the steady growth and long-term success you want to achieve.

Let the data be your guide. Numbers don't lie. Numbers don't care. But they tell a story...If I start tracking my numbers, it will tell me what I need to go look at.

Addressing operational problems in construction

To solve any issues in your business, develop a strategic plan to guide you and your team. It should cover all aspects of your operations – from time tracking, job costing, improving vendor relationships and refining the process of how you come up with an estimate or quote. 

With this plan in place, you’re sure to make decisions and act in a way that is aligned with the long-term goals of your business. By being proactive and keeping your plans in mind, your day-to-day efficiency and productivity is sure to improve, keeping your growth on track.  

“Ultimately, the world is going to pay for your employees. You don’t have to afford a project manager. The world’s going to pay for that, And people like Kathy and I will show you how to bring that money in, manage it properly so you can afford that person.” – Dominic Rubino

Actionable steps to boost construction business growth

The 1st actionable step to take to boost growth in your construction business is to take stock of what you need to do. And you can achieve that by this simply completing these 2 statements:

1) In 2024, I achieved all of my goals because of these 3 things: ________, ________, ________.

2) In 2024, I failed to achieve all of my goals because of these 3 things: ________, ________, ________.

Once you’re done, compare your answers and you’ll identify the key actions you need to take to drive success. It’s one of those three things, but it’s not one of the last three things. And this method, even if it seems simple, is a way to jump start the process. It’s also not just applicable if you have a construction or remodeling business. It can also work for whatever business you have.


Summary

  • Common construction business challenges include inefficient operations, financial struggles, lack of strategic planning, and a lack of sales and marketing.

  • Running your business solo isn’t sustainable; build your team and find a capable project manager or estimator to improve efficiency and quality.

  • Make your growth data-driven and consider key metrics like project management time and costs for logical decision-making and investing in skilled personnel.

  • Develop strategic plans for time tracking, job costing, vendor relations, and estimation to so every decision you make and action you take will align with long-term business goals.

  • To start growing your construction business, identify what made you successful and what caused you to fail and in the previous year to find what you need to do and where you can start.

Transcript

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About guest – Dominic Rubino

Construction Business Coach and Podcast Host

BizStratPlan Profit Tool Belt

Dominic Rubino is a serial entrepreneur, a proud husband and father, and a horrible fly fisherman. You might already know Dominic from the 2 podcasts he hosts: “Profit Tool Belt”  and “Cabinet Maker Profit System”

In both shows, Dominic shares lessons, tips, and tricks from thought leaders in the construction industry. With Dominic, you’ll get reality, not theory. He uses real-life stories and colorful anecdotes that help you see what the next level looks like and know how to get there. 

He’s been a business coach for over 23 years and an Entrepreneur for 25.

Over the years he’s had companies in Construction Trades, Contracting, Mail Order, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, & Business Coaching. His commitment to you is that you’ll learn more in this interview than most businesspeople do in a year. And he wants you to go and apply it!

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicrubino/

Website: 

ProfitToolBelt.com https://profittoolbelt.com/

For ProfitToolBelt.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/profit-toolbelt/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProfitToolBelt

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKVBkA9GmALX_J7W3iGIy6g

For CabinetMakerProfitSystem.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cabinetmakerprofitsystem-com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CabinetMakerProfitSystem

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Cabinetmakerprofitsystemcom


About host – Kathy Svetina

Kathy Svetina is a Fractional CFO for growing small businesses with $10M+ in annual revenue.

Clients hire her when they’re unsure about what’s going on in their finances, are stressed out by making financial decisions, or need to structure their finances to keep up with their growth.

She solves their nagging money mysteries and builds a financial structure with a tailored financial strategy. That way they can grow in a financially healthy and sustainable way.

Kathy is based in Chicago, IL and works with clients all over the US.

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