Built to Fail: Why Most Construction Businesses aren’t Sellable | E394
The Construction Leading Edge Podcast
Release Date: 06/02/2025
The Construction Leading Edge Podcast
🚀Download our FREE Strategic Planning Guide ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 418: Are you tired of chasing your team for every little thing? Getting your team to take ownership is one of the most common frustrations I hear from construction business owners. But here’s the truth: your team isn’t lazy, and it’s not a people problem. It’s a clarity problem. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge podcast, I’ll explain why the real barrier to accountability is often a lack of clear expectations, processes,...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 417: Are you tired of doing everything in your construction business and still feeling stuck? Most construction business owners believe that working harder will solve everything. However, Daniel Queen, founder of Built by Coalition, a custom home building company in Charlotte, North Carolina, discovered that by wearing too many hats, he became the bottleneck in his business. In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast,...
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🚀Download our FREE Strategic Planning Guide ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 416: Is your construction business always in firefighting mode? As a project manager turned integrator at Matchless Concrete Construction, Cole West knew they were growing too fast, but they were also bleeding money, missing deadlines, and drowning in chaos. In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, Cole shares how he and his team have dramatically reduced chaos, boosted margins, and reclaimed lost time. Today, we’ll talk about… ...
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🚀Download our FREE Strategic Planning Guide ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 415: Do you always feel like you’re constantly putting out fires, drowning in details, and barely keeping your construction business afloat? It doesn’t always have to be that way. In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, I sat down with Tod Ingersoll, founder and president of NuWood Creations, who scaled his company from doing small projects to 7-figure design-build jobs by doing something most contractors avoid—letting go. Today,...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team 📝Is Your Construction Business Ready to Scale? Take the FREE Online Assessment – EPISODE 414: Have you ever had a project delay wreck your schedule and cash flow? Most of us would argue that project slippage is beyond our control, but actually, it’s not. In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, I’ll unpack four powerful strategies to stop project slippage from derailing your business. Today, you’ll learn… Why project...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 413: Have you ever felt like your construction business would fall apart if you stepped away for even a day? That’s exactly how Steven Neuner felt for years. He found success, but was exhausted, overwhelmed, and the bottleneck for everything. Until his CFO and COO staged an intervention and told him, “We love you, but we’re tired of being your assistant.” That moment changed everything. He hired a proactive remote assistant (not...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 412: Are you putting in the hours—maybe 60-70 hours a week—but your construction business still feels stuck? Have you hired people, bought software, and generated more leads, but somehow you’re still the one solving every problem? In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, I’ll reveal the real reason growth stalls for most construction businesses, and why it’s not what you think. Today, you’ll hear… The...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 411: What happens when you realize you are the bottleneck in your construction business? Meet Travis Balcom, owner of TAB Construction LLC, a custom home-building company based in upstate New York. Last year, Travis was ready to quit. His construction business was growing, but so were the late nights, the headaches, and the burnout. He was the go-to for every problem—and it was breaking him. Travis realized he was the bottleneck...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 410: Do you find yourself always dealing with chaos, simply expecting your construction team to “figure it out”? What if success in your construction business could be defined as clearly as Billy Beane defined it with the Oakland A’s? In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, I’ll break down how you can apply the Moneyball approach to your construction business, using data, behaviors, and leading indicators...
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🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team – EPISODE 409: What if the secret to doubling your construction business isn’t about working harder, hiring more people, or saying yes to every project? In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, we’re joined by Ryan Brining & Tom Battersby of White Maple Construction to share how they doubled their revenue in just one year, without adding more staff or working longer hours. Here’s what you’ll learn in this...
info_outline🚀Is Your Construction Business Ready to Scale? Take the free online assessment HERE
☎️Schedule your free business evaluation call with our team HERE
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EPISODE 394: If you’ve ever felt trapped by your construction business, like everything will fall apart the moment you step away, you’re not alone.
Meet Stan. After 35 years of building a thriving construction business, he was ready to retire.
But there was a problem—his business couldn’t survive without him. All the systems, knowledge, and decisions lived in his head. Retirement? Impossible.
The business wasn’t just hard to sell—it was completely unsellable.
So, in this week’s episode of The Construction Leading Edge, I break down why 80% of construction businesses are unsellable and how you can fix it.
Today you’ll learn:
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How to spot business obsolescence in your operations
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Stan’s story and how he couldn’t retire after 35 years of hard work
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The 3 strategic reasons IBM was successful.
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How a business can be like a hostage situation.
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What “right to left thinking” looks like for big picture strategic planning.
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6 mistakes that will sabotage your construction business
…and more!
If you’re serious about turning your business into a true asset that gives you freedom and wealth, this episode is your wake-up call.
Tune in now!
Key Takeaways:
Introduction (00:00)
Planned obsolescence in tech vs. construction (01:17)
Case study: why Stan couldn’t retire after 35 years (03:23)
Hidden reasons construction businesses don’t sell (14:13)
Steps to design a sellable business (23:14)
Additional Resources:
⚡Is Your Construction Business Ready to Scale? Take the free online assessment HERE
⚡Schedule your free business evaluation call with our team HERE
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⚡ Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
⚡ Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE
⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information HERE
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The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time.
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