Coaching is a word that got ruined. It covers everything from a guy on Instagram selling a course to a retired executive charging four figures an hour to tell you to delegate more. So it is fair to be skeptical, and most contractors who ask us about coaching start the conversation half expecting a pitch.
Here is the plain version of what it is when we do it, what it is not, and when you should not bother.
What it actually is
It is a standing conversation with someone who has run the kind of company you are running, about the decisions you are making right now.
Not theory. Not a binder. The agenda is whatever is actually in front of you: the bid you are not sure how to price, the foreman who is not working out, whether to buy the machine or rent it another season, why the work is up and the bank account is not, whether to take the big contract that would double your crew count and could also sink you.
Most of the value is in two things. First, somebody who has already made the expensive version of the mistake you are about to make. Second, being made to look at numbers you have been avoiding, on a schedule, with someone who expects an answer.
That second one is the part people underestimate. Most owners know what they should be doing. What they do not have is anyone who ever asks whether they did it.
What it is not
It is not somebody running your company for you. You still make every call. A coach who tells you what to do rather than helping you decide is doing consulting, which is a different service and often a worse fit for a contractor who knows his market better than any outsider will.
It is not a course. Nothing gets emailed to you on a schedule. If what you want is training videos, we have free resources and there are platforms that do that well.
It is not a guarantee. Anyone who promises you a revenue number does not know your market, your crew or your customers, and is selling you something.
And it is not therapy, though there is more overlap than most contractors expect. A lot of what comes up is not operational. It is a guy who has not taken a real week off in four years, whose wife is done with it, trying to figure out whether the business is worth what it is costing him. That conversation is fair game, and it is often the one that actually changes the company.
What it costs you besides money
Time, and the willingness to be honest about your own numbers.
Coaching only works if you show up with the real figures, including the ones that embarrass you. If you are going to tell a coach the jobs are profitable because you have not actually checked, you are paying for a conversation about a company that does not exist.
It also costs you the comfort of not deciding. Most owners have two or three decisions they have been carrying for months. The point of a standing conversation is that those decisions stop being carried. Some people find that a relief. Some people find it uncomfortable enough that they quit after two sessions.
Who it is not for
Be honest with yourself about these.
If the business is in a real financial emergency, you do not need a coach. You need an accountant and possibly a lawyer, this week. Coaching helps you build something over quarters and years. It is the wrong tool for a fire.
If you are looking for someone to tell you that you are doing everything right, you will be disappointed, and it will show up in the first month.
If you do not want to grow, that is a completely legitimate choice. Plenty of contractors run one excellent crew, make a good living, and go home at five. If you are happy there, a coach is a solution to a problem you do not have.
If you will not change how you spend your own time, nothing will move. Almost every growth problem in a contracting business traces back to the owner still doing work somebody else should be doing. If that is not on the table, the rest of it cannot work.
Who it does work for
The pattern is fairly consistent. It is the owner who has proven he can do the work and sell the work, and is now hitting the ceiling of what one person can hold in his head.
Usually somewhere between one and five crews. Revenue is growing and margin is not. He is the bottleneck on every decision. The foremen are good operators who were never taught to lead. He knows roughly what is wrong and has not had time to stop and fix it, because stopping means the work does not get done.
That is the spot where an outside voice earns its money, because the problems are real, the fixes are known, and the only thing missing is the structure to actually work on them.
How ours works
A call to see whether this is a fit, which is also where we tell you if it is not. Then regular sessions built around what you are actually dealing with, with homework between them, because a conversation that changes nothing between calls is just a conversation.
No contract that traps you. If it is not producing anything, you should stop, and we would rather you stop than stay out of politeness.
If you are not sure
Start in the group. It is free, it is full of contractors working on exactly these problems, and you will get a read on whether the way we think about this business matches how you think about it. Plenty of people stay there and never buy anything, which is fine. That is what it is for.
If you already know what you are stuck on and you want to work on it with somebody, the coaching page has the application. It takes a few minutes and we read every one.