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Matt Verderamo is a consultant with Well Built Construction Consulting, a construction consulting firm based in Baltimore. The opinions are the author’s own.
One of the main problems we see in construction companies is that they don’t have a clear organizational chart.
Some time ago, I worked with a subcontractor that had a serious leadership bottleneck. The business was about $15 million. The owner was sharp, hard working and fully engaged. But the company couldn’t keep growing as it wanted because too much of the business still went through too few people.
Meanwhile, they didn’t have an organizational chart, so no one knew their responsibilities explicitly.
With good intentions, everyone did a little bit of everything, and all the big decisions came down to the owner. It was a huge bottleneck.
This is where many construction companies get stuck.
They believe that growth is impossible, but they really lack the structure to grow. This means that role clarity is an issue and leadership development is an issue.
In this case, the owner was effectively acting as president, project executive and director of field operations. The company had talent in the building, but the structure around that talent was lacking. Instead of scaling the business through his people, he was overburdening them.
This works for a while. Then he starts to break the deal.
Ask the right question
The solution was to be brutally honest about the org chart, decide which seats really needed to exist, and then ask a better question: Do we already have the right people here, even if they don’t yet have the skill set?
That question changed everything.
Matt Verderamo
Authorization granted by Construction Consultants
Once we mapped out the structure clearly, the owner looked at the chart and basically said, “We’ve got the people. We’ve got to put them in the right seats and help them grow.” That was the move.
They made several key role changes quickly. A person who was solid but miscast in a role was moved to a seat that suited their wiring much better. Another entered the field lead. Another, who had earned trust from the grassroots, moved into business development. Another rose from a very humble starting point to a true operational leadership role.
Here’s what part owners can lose. They often look outside the company for polished resumes while underestimating the raw ability, loyalty, and growth potential of people already inside the business.
Let me be clear. This is not a motivational speech about blindly promoting people. You can’t shuffle names around an org chart, give everyone a new title and expect business to magically improve.
Internal promotion only works when combined with structure. This company got it. That’s why the movement worked. They had a simple philosophy that I think more contractors should adopt.
Character counts in leadership changes
You can teach many things, but you cannot easily teach character. If you have people with humility, work ethic, confidence and a real desire to grow, you have something valuable. Skills matter, obviously. But if you start with skill and ignore character, you’re building on sand.
Most owners underestimate what good people can become given the right opportunity. They say they want a loyal and engaged culture, but every time a significant seat opens up, they look outside. Your team notices. It quietly teaches them that big opportunities will always go to someone else.
This is where most internal promotions fail. Not because the person couldn’t do it, but because no one built the support system around them. New role definitions, clear expectations, KPIs, SOPs, decision rights, coaching, accountability, feedback – this is the real work.
When this subcontractor did this, the bottleneck was broken.
The overburdened leader gave up seats they should no longer have occupied. They were finally able to do the real work they needed to do. The team had more possession. Morale rose because people felt seen. The company was faster, clearer and more scalable.
More importantly, the business grew from about $15 million to $30 million while maintaining profits.
There’s a practical lesson for every business owner reading this: Sometimes the fastest, most cost-effective, and most morale-boosting move you can make is to sit in your office. Your people are often more capable than you think.
The question is whether you are willing to see it soon, organize yourself clearly and invest enough to bring it to light.
This is how org charts are filled, and sometimes how companies finally break through the ceiling they’ve been fighting against for so long.
