9 Ownership Transition Issues Specific to Contractors

All businesses face challenges with an ownership transition.

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There are nine interrelated issues that heavily impact contractors. 

Succession: 9 Ownership Transition Issues Specific to Contractors.

We will dive deeper into each of these over the next week:

  1. Strength and alignment of the management team (post-deal)
  1. Culture of the company - Is it prepared for an ownership succession and compatible with the new owner? Seems “soft” but is very “hard” and can destroy value quickly.  
  1. Key relationship continuity with employees, customers, and others.
  1. Financial partner alignment with banking, surety, and possibly insurance.  
  1. Cash generation capabilities.
  1. Asset vs. stock sale - who owns past liabilities, how are they quantified, and what is the tax implication?
  1. Sustainable growth strategy and plan to ensure value is created for all stakeholders.  
  1. Future direction of the construction industry and ensuring you are neither selling nor buying the equivalent of a horseshoe manufacturer and installer in 1900.  
  1. Extremely low barriers to entry for new contractors can easily create competitors out of unaligned stakeholder groups, which often destroys value.  

9 Ownership Transition Issues Specific to Contractors
Continue building value in your business, yourself and your key team members with a good succession strategy....

9 Ownership Transition Issues Specific to Contractors
Continue building value in your business, yourself and your key team members with a good succession strategy....

5D Process for Alignment, Development, and Execution Speed
Effectively building a project and a construction business starts with getting the right people on the team and then getting them aligned. A great behavior to build into the team for alignment is a disciplined approach focusing on the 5Ds.
2024 Contractor 5-Year Growth Rates (ENR Top 400/600 Lists)
"More companies die of indigestion than starvation." - David Packard (Founder of HP). Growth is challenging for all contractors. The decision to grow must be intentional and aligned with strategy and capability. 5-Year growth stats from 2024.
Using Checklists Effectively
Too many construction businesses needlessly run on razor-thin margins due to poor productivity. Checklists are a very simple and powerful tool that can be used to mitigate many of these problems.