Matt Sleith from Palace Construction in Wellington found himself trapped in a constant cash flow nightmare. Despite running a successful building company, he was bleeding project profits because he confused margin with markup and wasted his own administrative hours acting as a delivery driver running materials to the job site. His crew suffered massive labor overruns simply because they lacked clear milestones to hit.

To plug these operational leaks, Matt implemented strict stage-by-stage labor calendars so his carpenters knew exactly how many hours they had for framing and cladding. He corrected his pricing spreadsheet to accurately reflect margin instead of markup, immediately recovering 12 percent of his project profits. Finally, he integrated Xero projects with a custom tracking app to monitor real-time back-costing, allowing him to completely step away from the daily site chaos and prepare for the birth of his first child.

Links & Resources

The Professional Builder: theprofessionalbuilder.com
Palace Construction: palaceconstruction.co.nz


🕒 Timestamped Key Points
00:03:15 Transitioning from a one-man operation to managing a six-person carpentry team.
00:06:01 Discovering missing money due to a complete lack of daily job tracking and back-costing.
00:10:00 Implementing strict labor calendars to stop crew members from dragging the chain on site.
00:19:18 Uncovering the mathematical difference between margin vs markup to instantly fix cash flow problems.
00:20:20 Recovering 12 percent of total project profits simply by correcting pricing spreadsheets.
00:23:46 Using the Foreman top 15 list to stop the owner from running materials to the job site.
00:43:58 Replacing lazy 400 dollar SEO retainers with a highly targeted 1 percent referral scheme.

Matt Sleith from Palace Construction in Wellington found himself trapped in a constant cash flow nightmare. Despite running a successful building company, he was bleeding project profits because he confused margin with markup and wasted his own administrative hours acting as a delivery driver running materials to the job site. His crew suffered massive labor overruns simply because they lacked clear milestones to hit. To plug these operational leaks, Matt implemented strict stage-by-stage labor calendars so his carpenters knew exactly how many hours they had for framing and cladding. He corrected his pricing spreadsheet to accurately reflect margin instead of markup, immediately recovering 12 percent of his project profits. Finally, he integrated Xero projects with a custom tracking app to monitor real-time back-costing, allowing him to completely step away from the daily site chaos and prepare for the birth of his first child. Links &amp; Resources
The Professional Builder: <a href="theprofessionalbuilder.com">theprofessionalbuilder.com</a> Palace Construction: <a href="palaceconstruction.co.nz">palaceconstruction.co.nz</a>
 🕒 Timestamped Key Points
<ul>
<li>00:03:15 Transitioning from a one-man operation to managing a six-person carpentry team.</li>
<li>00:06:01 Discovering missing money due to a complete lack of daily job tracking and back-costing.</li>
<li>00:10:00 Implementing strict labor calendars to stop crew members from dragging the chain on site.</li>
<li>00:19:18 Uncovering the mathematical difference between margin vs markup to instantly fix cash flow problems.</li>
<li>00:20:20 Recovering 12 percent of total project profits simply by correcting pricing spreadsheets.</li>
<li>00:23:46 Using the Foreman top 15 list to stop the owner from running materials to the job site.</li>
<li>00:43:58 Replacing lazy 400 dollar SEO retainers with a highly targeted 1 percent referral scheme.</li>
</ul>

Welcome to The Builders Ladder, for residential builders and construction business owners who want to fast-track their results, scale their construction company, and create a systemized, profitable construction business.

If you’re ready to free up your time, increase profit, and build a high-performing team, you’re in the right place.

Your host, Marti Amos, has worked with over 5,000 building companies globally over the last 19+ years through builder coaching and proven business systems. His mission? To help you climb the builder’s ladder and run a predictable, high-margin construction business.

Tune in to hear from industry experts and discover step-by-step strategies to become a strategic building business owner - and ultimately, achieve true wealth, time freedom, and financial freedom through your residential construction business.

Welcome to The Builders Ladder, for residential builders and construction business owners who want to fast-track their results, scale their construction company, and create a systemized, profitable construction business.
If you&rsquo;re ready to free up your time, increase profit, and build a high-performing team, you&rsquo;re in the right place.
Your host, Marti Amos, has worked with over 5,000 building companies globally over the last 19+ years through builder coaching and proven business systems. His mission? To help you climb the builder&rsquo;s ladder and run a predictable, high-margin construction business.
Tune in to hear from industry experts and discover step-by-step strategies to become a strategic building business owner - and ultimately, achieve true wealth, time freedom, and financial freedom through your residential construction business.