Michael Day of Elite Contracting Services explains how he runs a highly profitable custom home building company with a lean team of five. By acting as a paper contractor and subcontracting all labor and estimating, he drastically reduces his financial risk and overhead.

Michael breaks down his exact cost-plus pricing strategy, showing how line-itemizing project management labor before adding a 13.5 percent markup protects his margins. He also shares how a surprise three-week jury duty stint forced him to systemize his daily tasks , how he uses a one percent referral program to win custom builds , and his ultimate exit plan to transition the company into an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

Links & Promotions:

• 1 percent referral program: https://info.theprofessionalbuilder.com
• Quality control checklists: https://info.theprofessionalbuilder.com
• The Profit Builder's Playbook: https://profitablebuilderbook.com

🕒 Timestamped Key Points
00:00 Taking over a failed luxury estate build
02:00 Managing high risk architectural features and site utilities
05:00 Why operating as a paper contractor reduces overhead
08:00 Structuring cost plus contracts to hit twenty five percent margins
10:00 Outsourcing estimating to remote workers
14:00 Using drones for high level site quality control inspections
29:00 How three weeks of jury duty exposed operational bottlenecks
29:56 Transitioning your building company to an employee owned model
34:21 Using a one percent referral program to win custom jobs

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The Professional Builder has helped over 3,100+ building companies around the world get more Profit, more Time and Succeed in Selling their Business.

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