Contractors Hot Line January 24, 2025 | Page 15

Be Cautious About Rapid Growth

While growth is a good thing, expanding too fast can create its own set of problems. When you’ re busy, it’ s tempting to hire a bunch of new employees to keep up with demand, but if you overhire and work slows down, you could end up needing to make layoffs, which hurts morale and disrupts your team.

When contractors grow too quickly, cash flow problems often arise due to factors like taking on too many projects at once, delayed customer payments, high upfront costs for new projects, inadequate budgeting for unexpected expenses, poor project management and not securing sufficient advance payments,

leading to a situation where they are spending money on new projects before receiving payment for completed ones. Instead, try to grow cautiously. Consider hiring a few people on a temporary or part-time basis, or bring on freelancers as needed. This allows you to scale up when demand is high but keeps your core team stable if work slows down. Cash flow is always critical to business success.

It’ s important to understand that, while you’ re busy, you should take on additional work that will help you fuel your growth further, not work that will keep you bogged down and hurt your business. I love scope diversification, and perhaps this may be a great time to do so, but understanding the risks involved is imperative for this decision to be successful.

Get very clear on what scopes of work you can handle with ease and take on that type of work. Don’ t let bad decisions ruin this prosperous time for your company.

With over 20 years in the construction industry, Jerry Aliberti, founder of Pro-Accel, has held senior leadership roles managing high-stakes projects for top heavy civil and commercial construction firms in New York City. Jerry has led projects worth over $ 300 Million as both a senior project manager and superintendent and has estimated projects valued above $ 10 Billion as a senior estimator. His extensive hands-on experience spans contractors with annual revenues from $ 100 million to $ 1 billion.

Aliberti helps contractors accelerate business growth by improving operations, aligning teams to enhance synergy and delivering higher-quality, more profitable projects. Through Pro-Accel, he specializes in optimizing cash flow, automating processes, and reducing operational stress, empowering contractors of all sizes to scale efficiently— without the chaos. To learn more, reach out to Jerry at jerry @ pro-accel. com or visit www. pro-accel. com.

14 January 24, 2025 www. contractorshotline. com