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 spent most of 2002 to 2018 selling, designing, estimating and running design-build projects, including 2006 to 2014 as owner and President of his own firm.
- <20% → 27%+average project GPM
- $17M+a year, K&B Studio
- $0debt at close, 2014
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. Steven C. Lindstrom, our President, founded and ran K&B Studio, a turn-key design-build firm in Johns Creek, Georgia (2006–2014), with a team of 19 and designers averaging $17M+ a year in sales. Before that he was sales manager and lead designer at a kitchen design-build firm that nearly tripled in four years; afterward, senior sales manager and project-manager supervisor at a high-end Atlanta design-build firm, where continual project and contract audits raised average project gross margin from under 20% to 27% and above.
Based in Tampa, Florida; 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 a firm Steve sold for, supervised or owned.
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 design-build firm’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 his own firm and ran weekly audits on deadlines and gross margin; at the Atlanta firm 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 K&B Studio 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.
The record
2002 to 2018 in 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 2018, up 16% year over year
19
Full-time team at K&B Studio, plus subcontractors
$0
Debt when K&B Studio closed after the recession
Results achieved by Steven C. Lindstrom as sales manager, senior sales manager and owner of design-build firms in Georgia, 2002–2018. 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 firm’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 K&B Studio, a turn-key design-build firm in Johns Creek, Georgia, in 2006. 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 the recession and closed it in 2014 with zero debt.
That is where Steve started. At a kitchen design-build firm 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 will tell you plainly where we would look first.
- You talk to Steve, not a salesperson
- Replies within one business day
- Based in Tampa
- Nationwide
Or write to info@