Operations & Profitability
A fixed-fee Profit Leak Audit of the trailing-twelve P&L, then estimating and contract audits, one definition of margin from estimate to invoice, and a monthly P&L review your project managers can explain.
Industries · Design-build & remodeling
Design-build: the margin is in the paperwork.
Estimate, contract, build, close-out — four chances for seven points of margin to disappear. Steve has spent much of his career selling, designing, estimating and running design-build projects — including a firm in the construction industry he founded, owned and ran.
- <20% → 27%+average project GPM
- $17M+a year, the firm he founded
- $0debt at close, through a recession
What does Coach to Success do for design-build and remodeling firms?
Coach to Success works with design-build, remodeling and kitchen-and-bath firms between $5M and $50M in revenue on the things that decide whether a project’s margin survives to the P&L: estimating accuracy, weekly project and contract audits, a design team that can sell, and a monthly review of the numbers. Steve Lindstrom, our Managing Director, founded and ran a firm in the construction industry with a team of 19 and designers averaging $17M+ a year in sales. Before that he was sales manager and lead designer at a construction company that nearly tripled in four years; afterward, senior sales manager and project-manager supervisor at a larger construction company, where continual project and contract audits raised average project gross margin from under 20% to 27% and above.
Florida & California offices · serving all 50 states, remote-first, on-site when it matters.
The leaks we see in this sector
Five places a design-build firm loses the job it already won.
Each of these is drawn from firms Steve sold for, supervised or owned — and from the teams he led there.
Three numbers for one job
The estimate says one margin, the contract another, the close-out a third. Continual project and contract audits — matching what was estimated to what was contracted to what was built — took a construction company’s average project gross margin from under 20% to 27% and above.
Pricing that drifts
Estimating accuracy is a weekly discipline, not a template. Steve estimated and priced every project at the firm he founded and ran weekly audits on deadlines and gross margin; at a larger construction company the same audits safeguarded pricing on projects from $50,000 to over $2M.
Designers who design but do not sell
A design team that waits for the showroom door to open is an order desk. Hired, trained and coached properly, designers sell: at the firm he founded, a team of designers averaged $17M+ a year in sales with a consistent $25M pipeline, including repeat customers.
Schedules that slip into the margin
Steve ran weekly audits on deadlines and gross margins together — a late project is rarely a profitable one — and supervised the project managers and coordinators who ran the sites.
Buyers who do not yet understand the budget
Education before the estimate is part of the sales process. Steve ran monthly public seminars for homeowners on remodeling costs and budgets, project alternatives and what to expect during construction.
Highlights
Design-build, as seller, supervisor and owner.
27%+
Average project gross margin, raised from under 20% through weekly audits
~$17M
Sales closed by the team in a single year, up 16% year over year
19
Full-time team at the firm he founded, plus subcontractors
$0
Debt when the firm closed, through a recession
Results delivered by the teams Steve Lindstrom led as sales manager, senior sales manager and owner in the construction industry. Company names withheld. See the full record
Where design-build owners start
Two services for an owner-led firm.
Most design-build firms are still run by the person who founded them. We work the margin first, then the business that no longer depends on the owner.
Growth Strategy for Owner-Operators
The road from $8M to $20M with the margin intact: org design, a hiring plan, a sales-capacity model for the design team, an operating cadence and succession readiness — from someone who founded, grew and closed his own firm on his own terms.
Related reading
The 90-Day Sales Sprint
A week-by-week structure for turning a comfortable sales team into a hunting one — and the three mistakes that stall most sales turnarounds.
Questions
Design-build owners ask.
Between the estimate, the contract and the close-out. When the three use different numbers, every project can look “on margin” while the company misses its year. Weekly project and contract audits — the practice Steve used to raise a construction company’s average project gross margin from under 20% to 27% and above — are how you close the gap, along with one definition of margin used from estimate to invoice.
Yes. Steve wrote the business plan, secured the financing and founded a turn-key firm in the construction industry. He built a 3,000-square-foot studio, led a team of 19 full-time employees plus subcontractors, estimated and priced every project, led the firm through a recession and closed it with zero debt.
That’s where Steve started. Early in his career, at a construction company selling to homeowners, he hired, trained and managed a design-sales staff of seven, prepared the monthly forecasts and personally closed more than $800,000 a year while the company nearly tripled in four years. The same solution-selling and DISC coaching we install in any sales team applies to designers selling to homeowners, HOAs and commercial customers.
Next step
Where did the margin go between estimate and close-out?
Thirty minutes with the trailing-twelve and three recent project files — estimate, contract, close-out. We’ll tell you plainly where we’d look first.
- Steve, our Managing Director, talks to you directly — not a customer service rep
- Replies within one business day
- Florida & California offices
- Serving all 50 states
Or write to info@
Projects on margin, year off plan?Book a call