Built to Scale: Why Small Construction and Engineering Firms Stall and How I’ve Helped Them Break Through
Introduction: I’ve Lived This Pattern Before
Over the past two decades, I’ve led post-startup teams in construction, project management, and engineering-heavy environments. In one role, I inherited a fast-growing organization that had plenty of talent but no operating system. We were landing work faster than we could staff it, and no two teams did things the same way.
Sound familiar?
If you’re running a firm with 20 to 40 employees and $5M to $25M in revenue, you’ve likely felt the strain: inconsistent delivery, over-reliance on a few key people, and proposals that get submitted with fingers crossed instead of a winning formula.
Here’s what I’ve learned from transforming that kind of chaos into clarity, and how I help firms like yours do it today.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
1. When You Grow Fast Without Process, You Pay for It Later
At CBRE PJM, we scaled a national team supporting hundreds of project managers. Early on, we realized that tribal knowledge was our biggest bottleneck. Everyone knew how they did things, but there was no “standard way.”
So we built one.
I led the design of an internal platform that included delivery standards, tools, and expectations. It was something we could train to, measure against, and replicate across markets. It turned out to be so effective that a senior leader called it “our competitive differentiator.”
For small CEAPM firms, this same principle applies. Whether it’s site logistics, project delivery steps, or client updates, you can’t scale inconsistency. You need clarity that travels with your growth.
2. More Proposals Don’t Mean More Wins
One engineering client I worked with was submitting three times more RFPs than the previous year, but their win rate was flat. The problem? No system.
We developed a repeatable proposal process: qualification checkpoints, standard narratives, team roles, and templates that preserved quality without reinventing the wheel. Within a year, their win rate jumped by 18 percent.
If your proposals feel rushed or unpredictable, it’s not a marketing problem. It’s a process one.
3. Onboarding Can’t Be a Handshake and a Shadow
When I joined one project delivery firm, new hires were “trained” by following a senior person around. That might work when you’re five people in one office, but it fails at scale.
We built a formal onboarding experience tied to specific outcomes: delivery process knowledge, client expectations, and internal culture. The result? Faster productivity, fewer mistakes, and more confident new team members.
If your onboarding depends on the personality of the supervisor, it’s time to standardize it.
4. You Don’t Need Big Consulting to Build Smart Structure
You don’t need a 300-slide deck or a six-figure engagement to get this right. What you need is:
A clear picture of how your business should operate
Systems that can grow with you
Tools that your team actually uses
I’ve built those systems for billion-dollar firms and for 25-person shops. The mechanics are different, but the principles are the same.
Conclusion: Scale Is a System, Not a Leap of Faith
If you’re facing growing pains, it’s not because your team isn’t working hard enough. It’s because you’ve outgrown the informal systems that got you here.
That’s where I come in.
I help CEAPM firms in North Carolina and beyond build the operating structure that lets them grow with confidence, deliver with consistency, and make the business easier to manage.
Let’s talk about how to build your next stage.
Call to Action
Book a free consultation to explore how you can simplify operations, improve margins, and scale without the chaos.
👉 Schedule a strategy call
