Regional commercial contractor · ~$210M revenue · 4 market segments
Restoring project margin at a $210M regional contractor
A bid gate and one project operating cadence turned an 8-point margin fade into a 1.4-point fade and lifted win rate on target work.
- Disciplines deployed
- SIMPLIFY → LEAD → GROW
- Measurement window
- 15 months
- Measures reported
- 4
Condition 03 of eight
Strategy and execution are misaligned
The plan is clear; the results are not. The say–do gap becomes the organization's actual strategy.
All eight conditionsPresent reality
Backlog was full and profit was not. Estimated margin routinely eroded between award and closeout, change orders went unbilled, and the company bid nearly everything it was invited to.
Constraint
Nothing stood between an invitation and a bid: work was accepted on backlog appetite rather than on defined qualification criteria, so the operating problem was created at the sales desk.
Intervention — architecture installed
Bid/no-bid gate with written qualification criteria, handoff standard from estimating to field, weekly project cadence tracking margin against estimate, change-order discipline with owners and dates.
FOUNDATION → SIMPLIFY → LEAD → GROW
Mapped to the operating system
What was architected inside each discipline, and the measured consequence. Disciplines held out of scope are shown with the reason — nothing is implied by omission.
1. FOUNDATION
Build
Held out of scope
Structure held. The failure was created at the sales desk, so the architecture began with what the company chose to bid.
Result: No reorganization was required to move margin.
FOUNDATION →2. SIMPLIFY
Focus
Loaded in this engagement
A bid/no-bid gate with written qualification criteria, and a handoff standard from estimating to the field.
Result: Bids submitted per month 34 → 19 (−44%); win rate on qualified work 18% → 31%.
SIMPLIFY →3. LEAD
Execute
Loaded in this engagement
Weekly project cadence tracking margin against estimate, with change-order discipline carrying owners and dates.
Result: Margin fade award-to-closeout −8.0 pts → −1.4 pts; unbilled change orders −80%.
LEAD →4. GROW
Scale
Loaded in this engagement
Capacity redirected into the two market segments the criteria showed could be won and delivered at margin.
Result: The company bids less and earns more; target-segment revenue grew while total bids fell.
GROW →
ARC™ — the renewal loop around all four
Estimating and operations re-read the qualification criteria against realized margin each quarter and revise them together.
ARC™ →Measured result — what moved, and by how much
| Measure | Before | After (15 months) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margin fade, award to closeout | −8.0 pts | −1.4 pts | +6.6 pts |
| Win rate on qualified target work | 18% | 31% | +13 pts |
| Unbilled change orders at 60 days | $4.6M | $0.9M | −80% |
| Bids submitted per month | 34 | 19 | −44% |
Margin fade, award to closeout
+6.6 pts
Before−8 ptsAfter−1.4 ptsStandardized against Margin fade, award to closeout — Weighted by contract value; fade reported as a negative number.
Win rate on qualified target work
+13 pts
Before18%After31%Standardized against Win rate on qualified target work — Qualified population per the written criteria in force at each reading.
Unbilled change orders at 60 days
−80%
Before$4.6MAfter$900KStandardized against Unbilled value at risk — Aged at 60 days at both readings.
Bids submitted per month
−44%
Before34After19Standardized against Pursuits submitted per month — Monthly average over a full quarter.
The company bids less and earns more; the bid gate is enforced by the operations and estimating leads together.
Transfer — what the client now owns
Estimating and operations jointly own the bid gate and the project cadence, including the authority to decline work the criteria reject.
Compass leaves architects, not dependency.
Client identities, brands, and locations are withheld under confidentiality. Metrics are client-reported and measured over the window shown; they describe those engagements and are not a projection of results for any other enterprise.
Start with your own present reality
Every engagement above began with an honest read of the architecture already producing the results. Score yours, or schedule a conversation.
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