How To Scale A Construction Company

How to Scale a Construction Company: Key Strategies for Success

Scaling a construction company can seem like a daunting challenge, but it doesn’t have to be. In this blog, I’ll break down some actionable techniques that you can start using immediately to scale your business. If you’ve been wondering how to take broad, generalized concepts about scaling and turn them into real, actionable steps, you’re in the right place.

Your Circle of Influence

When it comes to scaling your construction company, understanding your circle of influence is crucial. Every leader—whether it’s you, your business partners, or your directors—brings a certain amount of influence to the table. This collective influence helps steer the organization.

As your company grows, the need for control and influence will inevitably outgrow your current leadership’s reach. That’s why it’s vital to hire people with the right level of influence to help move your organization forward. It’s not just about what they know; it’s about how well they can lead and influence others. So, when scaling, hire those who can expand your company’s capacity to grow.

Implementing the EOS Model

The next key strategy for scaling your construction company is to solidify your business with the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model. The book Traction outlines this model clearly, and it can help you deliver projects more consistently. Once you’re clear on your operating system, double down on training. Triple it even!

It’s essential that your team knows the operating system inside and out. Monthly field walks as leaders on all of your projects are also crucial for holding teams accountable. The key here is to hire influential people to help implement and hold teams accountable to the operating system. This combination of accountability and consistency leads to great results every time.

Defining Excellence in Your Company

Excellence is often a buzzword, but how do you actually define it? If you want to scale your company, you need to be clear about what excellence means in your context. From my experience, excellence at different companies means different things. For example, at DPR Construction, excellence is part of their culture. At Oakland Construction, it’s their self-perform quality and client relationships.

At Elevate Construction, excellence means how we research, develop, and communicate concepts to implement in the industry. For you, it’s about documenting what excellence means for your team and aligning it with your vision and core values.

Focusing on Core Values and Culture

Your company’s core values and culture are the foundation for growth. At LeanTakt, our core values are transparency, integrity, employee engagement, and getting things done. We hire, promote, and coach based on these values, and they shape our culture. When the company starts to drift away from its core values, we realign and bring everyone back on track.

For you, maintaining a strong culture and focusing on your core values will help you scale much more effectively. When everyone is aligned and bought into the culture, you create an environment where growth happens naturally.

Systematizing Best Practices

To scale efficiently, you need to systematize your best practices. When we find something that works, we document it, standardize it, and share it across the organization. This ensures consistency and helps everyone stay aligned with the company’s vision for excellence.

In our weekly review meetings and client check-ins, we constantly refer back to these best practices to ensure we are meeting our standards. If you want to scale, make sure everyone in your company knows what best practices look like and can easily access them.

Developing and Enabling Leaders

Finally, to scale your company, you need leaders who can carry your vision forward. Once you’ve defined excellence, standardized your processes, and trained your team, the next step is to develop leaders who can take over. These leaders will help scale your business by maintaining your standards, training others, and driving the company toward your vision.

Leadership development is a crucial aspect of scaling because these individuals will be the ones implementing your best practices and maintaining your culture as the company grows.

If you ever need help, feel free to reach out to us. Scaling your construction company is challenging, but by following these steps, it’s easier than you might think!