Every construction business has chased an opportunity that looked great and turned into a money pit. Herb Sargent calls it the Trojan horse.
Herb is board chair of Sargent Corporation, a heavy civil contractor in Maine that turned 100 this year. Scott Peper is CEO and founder of Mobilization Funding. They wrote Field Tested: Lessons in Leading, Losing, and Winning in Construction together, and they walked me through how to spot the horse before you wheel it in.
Takeaways:
Set the number where you'll walk away before you start. Sargent lost money in ready mix every year for ten years.
Let your estimator tell you what the job costs before ego decides you have to have it.
"I gotta keep money coming in" usually means overbillings went to start other jobs.
Every growing owner becomes the bottleneck. Hand someone the keys for half a day, then debrief.
One 15-minute conversation about legacy got Sargent's best operator mentoring a 23-year-old foreman.
Connect with Herb Sargent:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herb-sargent-esop/
Sargent Corporation: https://sargent.us/
Starbuck and Sargent podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starbuck-sargent/id1856531285
Connect with Scott Peper:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-peper-9387288/
Mobilization Funding: https://mobilizationfunding.com/
The Mobilization Mindset podcast: https://mobilizationfunding.com/videos/
Pre-order Field Tested on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Field-Tested-Lessons-Leading-Construction/dp/B0HM2TXYS3
The Shift Leadership Course: https://theshift.constructiongenius.com/