SME consulting in construction: how it works and when it is needed

Problem: many construction entrepreneurs do not know what to expect from a consultancy and confuse it with the work of a marketing agency.

Solution: a path that starts from the company's numbers, not from advertising campaigns.

Result: decisions based on real data, not on feelings. And an action plan built on your specific situation.

"But what exactly do you do?"

It is the question I hear most often when an entrepreneur in Northern Italy contacts us for the first time. And it is a fair question, because the word "consulting" can mean everything and nothing.

The short answer: we look at how your business works and tell you where you are losing money, where you are doing well and what you should change. We do not sell advertising. We do not manage your social media. We do not build websites.

The long answer is this article.

The difference between a consultancy and a marketing agency

A marketing agency asks you for your budget and proposes campaigns. It starts with the action: "Let's do Facebook, let's do Google, let's do the new website."

A serious consultancy starts with the opposite question: "Does it make sense to spend money on marketing now, or is the problem somewhere else?"

In our experience, in at least one case out of three, the problem is not marketing. It is that the company does not know its margins, does not have a sales process, or the owner works 14 hours a day because they cannot delegate.

In those cases, running an advertising campaign is like pouring petrol on a broken engine. You spend more and the engine breaks down sooner.

How a consultation works in practice

The process has three phases. It's not complicated, but it requires honesty and a willingness to look at the numbers for what they are.

Phase 1: the check-up

We analyse the current situation. This means looking at the real numbers: turnover, margins by type of work, fixed costs, cash flow. But also the commercial process: how many quotes do you do, how many do you close, how long does it take, who follows the customers after the first contact.

There is no need to prepare anything special. You just need access to the data from the management software or the accountant, and an hour of time to talk about it together.

Phase 2: the photograph

At the end of the check-up you have a clear picture. The strengths, the weaknesses and the areas to intervene immediately. Not generic opinions like "you should do more marketing". Concrete things: "you are making a 15% margin on small jobs and 28% on large ones, you should focus on these."

Phase 3: the action plan

If it makes sense to work together, we build a plan. The priorities, the actions, the timescales. Not a 50-page document that ends up in a drawer. A sheet with the 5 things to do in the next 90 days.

What we check first of all

Before talking about strategies or actions, we always look at these numbers.

These five numbers tell the state of health of the business better than any feeling.

BAU Gest

Your company's numbers in a report

BAU Gest shows you margins, cash flow and conversion rate in a weekly report. Without wasting hours searching for data between Excel sheets and the accountant.

See how it works

Swiss
Made

BAU Gest

Net margin24,2%

Active jobs8

Hours deviation+12%

A concrete example: window and door specialist with 8 employees

A window and door specialist from Veneto contacted us because he wanted to invest in marketing. He turned over NaN € a year, had work, but at the end of the year was left with 30 € in his pocket. Too little for a company of that size.

We did the check-up. The problem wasn't marketing. It was that he accepted all jobs in the same way, without distinguishing between 5 € jobs and 50 € jobs. The small jobs had a real margin of 9%, the large ones 26%.

In practice, the small jobs cost him almost as much as they made him, because the management time (site survey, quote, delivery, possible disputes) was almost the same as that of large jobs.

After three months he stopped accepting jobs under 10 € without a minimum margin of 20%. He lost 30% of jobs in volume, but earned 40% more at the end of the year.

The first 90 days of consulting

In the first three months the work focuses on three precise things. You don't touch everything at once because it doesn't work. You choose where to intervene, measure and then decide the next step.

Month 1: understanding the real numbers. Almost no construction entrepreneur knows the real margin per type of job. Everyone knows the turnover, almost no one knows what is left after deducting direct costs, labour and the owner's hours. This is the first job: put the real margins down in black and white.

Month 2: reorganising the sales process. How many quotes do you do a month? How many do you close? After how much time? Who calls back those who have not replied? On average, a window and door specialist closes 25% of quotes. With a structured follow-up process, you reach 35-40% without changing anything else.

Month 3: the first decisions. With the numbers on the table and a commercial process that works, you decide what to do: what jobs to focus on, if it makes sense to hire, if marketing is needed now or in six months. Decisions made with data, not with feelings.

When it makes sense to ask for a consultation

You don't need to be in a crisis to ask for a consultation. Indeed, the best time is when things are going well but you feel you could do more. Or when you work a lot but at the end of the year the money isn't there.

Here are the situations in which we are contacted most often:

"We turnover well but I don't know how much we make in margins." The classic. The company is running, job sites are not lacking, but the bank account doesn't reflect all that work.

"I do everything myself and can't disconnect." The owner is the salesperson, the site manager, the administrator and the problem solver. They want to delegate but don't know where to start.

"I'd like to grow but I'm afraid of hiring." The company is full of work, an extra person would be needed, but without clear numbers the risk seems too high. Knowing that they cost you 5 € a month and that each employee must generate at least 12 € of margin a month changes the perspective. It's no longer a gamble, it's a calculation.

"I did marketing and it didn't work." They spent money on advertising, but without a sales process behind it, the contacts that arrived did not turn into contracts.

What a consultation is not

For clarity, here is what we do not do.

We don't do motivational courses. We don't tell you that "you have to believe in it more" or that "mindset is everything". We give you numbers, tools and a plan.

We don't sell subscription products and then disappear. If we work together, we speak every week. The plan is adjusted along the way, because reality changes.

We don't promise magic results. If a company has structural problems, we say so. Better an uncomfortable truth than an unachievable promise.

If you recognise yourself in one of these situations

Book 30 minutes with us for a free initial check-up. We will look at your company's numbers together and tell you what we think. No obligation, no contract, no pressure.

If it makes sense to work together, we will tell you. If it doesn't make sense, we will still tell you. We have no interest in selling consultations to those who don't need them.