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The Operating Foundation · 90-Day Install

The Operations System Your Contractor Business Is Missing

Revenue grew. The operating structure didn't. The fix is not more people or more software. It's a five-pillar operating system built for how contractors actually run — installed in 90 days.

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30 minutes. We assess your current structure and tell you what the install involves.

Five Pillars

The Operating Foundation

Not a generic framework licensed from a methodology. Built around your business, your team, and how contractors actually operate.

01

Meeting Architecture

A structured weekly leadership session with a fixed agenda, closed-loop follow-up, and clear decision outputs. Runs under an hour. Every item closes with a named owner.

02

Ownership Matrix

Written role ownership covering every function: estimating, field coordination, purchasing, client management, billing. Single owner per function. No overlap. No undefined lanes.

03

KPI Scoreboard

Eight contractor-specific metrics reviewed weekly — billings vs. target, job margin by lead, labor vs. estimate, AR aging, pipeline, collections, completion rate, and one owner-defined indicator.

04

Decision Standards

Written thresholds: what your field lead handles, what your office resolves, what escalates to the owner. Paired with a follow-through protocol that eliminates recycled discussions.

05

Field Process Set

SOPs for your highest-leverage repeatable operations: job startup, sub coordination, change orders, customer escalation. Written to train a new hire from — not to satisfy a checklist.

Ready to see what the install looks like for your business?

30 minutes. We assess your current structure and tell you exactly what changes.

The Real Cost

What running without an operations system costs every month.

Owner bottleneck tax

10–15 hours per week routing decisions that should resolve at the field or office level. At $150/hr effective rate: $78K–$117K/year in misapplied labor.

Margin leakage

Without a live scoreboard, job costs surface 30–60 days after the fact. On a $3M contractor, 3% margin leakage = $90,000/year.

The full foundation

If you need margin clarity before operations, start with Contractor Job Costing. If your fundamentals (entity, accounting, insurance) aren't set, start with Contractor Setup Install.

FAQ

Questions about contractor operations systems.

What is a contractor operations system?

A contractor operations system is the documented infrastructure that defines how your business runs week to week — how decisions get made, who owns what, how you track performance, and how information moves between field and office. Without one, everything routes through the owner by default.

Why do contractors need an operations system?

Most contractors past $1M–$2M have grown faster than their management infrastructure. The result: owner bottleneck, margin leakage from invisible job costs, meetings that produce no outcomes, and a team that stalls when the owner is unavailable. An operations system fixes the structure, not the people.

Is this the same as EOS or Traction?

No. EOS is a generic business operating framework with ongoing facilitation. The Operating Foundation is built specifically for contractor businesses — field-office coordination, job costing visibility, crew accountability. It installs in 90 days and runs without ongoing outside involvement.

How long does it take to install?

90 days. Phase 1 (Days 1–30): diagnose and design. Phase 2 (Days 31–60): install cadence, scoreboard, and ownership matrix. Phase 3 (Days 61–90): stabilize the system and coach your team until it holds independently.

What does an operations system include?

Five pillars: (1) Meeting Architecture. (2) Ownership Matrix. (3) KPI Scoreboard. (4) Decision Standards. (5) Field Process Set. Each is designed, installed, and stabilized over 90 days — specific to your team, your trade, and your stage.

Do we need to use specific software?

No. The Operating Foundation is built on top of whatever tools you already use. We do not require new software. The system is a management structure, not a technology product.

What happens after 90 days?

You own everything — every document, agenda template, scoreboard, decision threshold, and SOP. Nothing leaves with us. The system runs on cadence, not on continued outside involvement.

What does this cost?

The engagement is fixed-scope and typically positioned in the range contractors at the $1M–$10M stage consider one to two months of operations overhead. We scope before we price because team size and complexity affect the engagement. Specifics are covered on the discovery call.

See what the operating system looks like for your business.

30-minute discovery call. We assess your current structure and tell you exactly what the install involves — and whether it's the right fit.

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