The Mid-Firm Contractor Roundtable Session on June 26 drew more than 150 construction financial professionals who were engaged in discussing company growth and mobile technology trends and issues of interest to contractors in the $25-100 million revenue range. The session was moderated by Kristy Domboski and Jason Keen.

Jason presented on each topic and then posed strategic, thoughtful questions for the groups to discuss. Here are some highlights from those discussions:

What types of growth are you considering?

• Expand business by adding business segment; into offering other services; develop new niches or skills that complement existing services/products with market leaders in each area
• Optimization
• Acquisition growth
• Internal growth – make vs. buy
• Geographic growth while remaining selective; regionally by following a client but there is much risk; diversifying customer concentration
• Rebuilding – maintain steady revenue
• Rebranding – expanding the depth of work, optimizing product
• Software development – paving/tile/drilling
• Via establishing new partners in aligned businesses

What planning methods have you used to prepare for growth?

• Hire the right positions to shore up for growth, track skilled labor/high potentials for advancement
• Ratios – working capital turn, equity turn, revenue per employee (FTE)
• Deferred comp plan and LTI plans
• Company culture – focus partly on acquisition and partly on strategic plan including methods on maintaining culture
• Watch the growth opportunities where the synergy makes sense, remain alert
• Build relationships with customers where opportunities exist to diversify and build core
• Take advantage of association memberships, networking
• Formalize annual and quarterly strategic planning meetings
• Succession planning
• Activity-based mapping
• EOS – entrepreneurial operating system
• Clean up balance sheet – strengthen cash position; clear line of credit

What are some best practices you have seen in establishing teams and departments?

• Assign or hire the right person to lead the team or department (i.e., make sure potential hire has experience delegating site-level duties, etc.), ensure strong organizational structure
• Recognize needs vs. wants – organization with a focus on technology
• Prioritize HR
• Ensure passionate leaders share knowledge
• Third party consultant for strategic planning
• Maintain continuous plan in place by office, vertical, client, and project – project balance sheet out 12-24 months; budget meetings are strategic meetings
• Formalize employee training; ensure every department learns about every other department during onboarding to understand colleagues’ jobs
• Look at risk rating and scoring projects to balance risk and growth
• Utilize workers in other capacities when work is unavailable in their key areas of focus – personnel retention is key
• Encourage project managers and estimators to market the company
• Seek/reenergize work relationships – maintain effective and ongoing purpose-filled conversations
• Create opportunities for people to connect, then identify strengths and engage them on task forces
• Autonomy around a purpose
• Strengthen estimating – recruit nationally
• Build up employees and define teams so that prioritization is easier

What are you doing with mobile technology and why?

• Track trucks/driver scorecards (GPS system to prevent distracted driving); tag all equipment
• Company phones, laptops, tablets to collaborate, track quality, store data/field data entry, etc; balance of BYOD devices and company devices
• Remote time collection
• Contractual documents and change orders
• Daily reports with photos
• Connect technology platforms to strategy
• Replace company phones with Skype for Business; video conference
• Internal vs. external noted on e-mails
• Hard hat technology – chip reads on and off jobsite
• Project management software to collaborate with subs and architects
• Formalize IT; IT manages help desk
• Cameras and GPS to monitor and observe chips affixed to small tools for tracking
• Terminal server
• No use of servers
• Device enrollment program (DEP)
• Secure app; time entry with some custom interface
• Work-from-home days

How are you controlling cost of your mobile strategy?

• IT security audit
• Education/training
• Outsourcing; third-party mobile device manager
• Multicarrier analysis
• Monitor usage with policies/control acquisition
• Maintain an ROI approach
• Use BYOD policy with limited reimbursement
• Use only company devices; limited access to noncompany systems; secure and encrypt
• Telematics to track equipment, fuel burn
• Cloud-based services

How is your mobile strategy empowering users and making processes and tasks easier?

• Eliminating paper
• Better data from the field
• Leadership buy-in
• Promoting the value of vendor relationships, which is key to success for A/P standpoint. Ties relationships to understanding and empowering processes
• Increased use of phones and tablets means less computers
• A/P cloud system (commerce bank) simplifies process
• Electronic timesheets simplify time entry process and are more efficient
• Helps employees focus
• Compliance on daily reporting improves safety and quality
• Improve work/life balance

A special thanks to the Mid-Firm Roundtable Group who helped to develop this outstanding session: Steven Altobello, Michael Christopher, Michelle Eastman, Shane Hall, Kimberly Hullfish, Julie Irvin, Dana Jensen, Sharon Jones, Erik Kennedy, Jeffrey Lynch, Ross Reiling, and Brian Roberts.

CFMA's Connection Café is an excellent way to continue the roundtable discussions, post issues or questions, and get opinions and advice from other CFMA members. It’s a great place to post best practices, ideas, and lessons learned as well as network with your peers regardless of geographic location.

If you missed this year’s roundtable peer group, mark your calendar for CFMA’s 2019 Annual Conference, June 1-5, 2019 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss that will afford you a connection with your Small Contractor peers to talk about the issues most important to you!