Bottoms Up! How to Lay the Foundation of a Thriving Construction Company

Control is one thing that most construction business owners wish for. When you're growing, things can sometimes get out of hand, and running your business becomes more taxing and stressful than ever. To make sure you're on the right path when it comes to scaling your business, it's important to lay the right foundations, doing the work necessary from the ground up.  In this podcast episode, I talk to Al Levi of the 7-Power Contractor. Al provides valuable insight into what it takes to run and scale a construction company successfully. He shares what an org chart should look like, and what key functions should populate the top of that chart. We also discuss financial metrics that owners need to track and why owners should also be spearheading marketing efforts. We touch briefly on succession planning and the power of outsourcing and delegation.  There's a lot to uncover and learn from this episode. Check it out today!   Discussion Points: 0:00 Introduction 1:57 The condo builder at Montreal 5:43 The org chart8:35 Visual accountability  9:42 The flow of communication 11:33 Key functions that populate the top of the org chart 14:51 Why the financial and marketing person should be the owner17:17 Financial metrics to track19:50 Frequency of checking estimated vs. actual 21:27 The right time in marketing 25:16 Percentage of sales to allocate for marketing27:31 Three drivers in marketing 29:35 Get past the person who reads your mail 30:51 Persist in your marketing efforts 33:11 Reasons for failures in sorting out your business 35:32  Making sure you don't lose talent while filling in limited seats of position 37:25 Conversations with people who are getting passed up 39:24 `First steps to start organizing the chaos in your company 41:51 Succession planning47:16 The power of outsourcing and delegation  About the Guest:  Al Levi is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He created his signature program, The 7- Power Contractor, to systemize his family's 3rd-generation Long Island plumbing, heating, and cooling contracting business and retire at age 48. Today, he shares this proven, life-changing program with contractors worldwide through his book, his online programs, his industry magazine columns, his blog, his podcast, and his speaking events. Resources:  Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/)  Visit Al's website (https://7powercontractor.com/) Books mentioned in this episode:  The 7-Power Contractor: Run Your Contracting Business with Less Stress and More Success (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0997227508/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0997227508&linkCode=as2&tag=ericanderton-20&linkId=e18ca8211401bde3b7060b7aca732645)  Restaurants mentioned in this episode:  Cafe Monarch (https://www.cafemonarch.com/)  Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!