Most builders are great at the trade but never trained to run the business. If you are working 60 plus hour weeks, chasing money owed and still not paying yourself what you are worth, yes, a business coach can help. The right coach shows you how to price properly, lead a tight team, and keep cash in the business.
Key Takeaways
- Most builders get stuck because running a building business is a different skill to building
- A good business coach for builders fixes pricing, quoting, cashflow and team systems
- The best time to start is at 2 plus years trading, 2 to 30 team members and $500,000 plus turnover
- Choose a coach with real business experience and a proper guarantee, not theory and mindset talk
- Sam Harrop coaches builders across Cairns, Townsville, Port Douglas and Australia-wide
Why do builders and trade business owners in Australia struggle to grow?
Most builders I work with in Cairns, Townsville and across Queensland started on the tools. You learnt your trade properly, built a reputation, and picked up enough work that you needed a team. That is where it gets hard. Running a building business is a completely different skill to framing a house or finishing a bathroom.
The three things that trip up nearly every builder:
- Quoting jobs that look profitable on paper but lose money once variations, labour hours and rework are counted
- Managing apprentices and leading hands without any training in how to run a team
- Never knowing exactly what is in the bank because the books are always a month or two behind
What does a business coach actually do for a builder?
A good business coach helps you fix the business, not just the job site. That means building a quoting system so margins hold, putting systems in place so the team knows what to do without you running every job, and getting the numbers clear enough that you make decisions on fact, not gut feel.
For builders, the specific areas I work on with clients are:
- Pricing and margin discipline
- Hiring the right people and keeping them
- Cash flow, job costing and profit tracking
- Getting the owner off the tools and into the leadership role
When is the right time for a builder to hire a business coach?
If your business has been running for at least two years, you have a team of two to thirty people, and you are turning over $500,000 or more, you are ready. Any earlier and you have not built enough to get a return on coaching. Any later and you have usually burnt years of profit and a lot of weekends.
What should a builder look for in a business coach?
Look for someone who has actually run a business themselves, not just read about it. Someone with real experience coaching tradies and builders, not a generalist who does a bit of everything. And someone who backs their work with a proper guarantee.
I have coached over 600 businesses across Australia, with 25 years of starting, building and selling my own businesses before that. My 200 percent ROI guarantee means if I do not double your coaching investment in profit within 12 months, I keep coaching you for free until I do.
Alkira Construction (John and Claire) came to me unsure of themselves and stuck on how to grow. We worked on decision-making, team structure and leadership. They doubled their team and now run the business with far more confidence.
Where can I see what builder coaching with Sam Harrop looks like?
Start here:
- Ultimate Tradie Business Transformation Programme
- Business Breakthrough Meeting
- One-on-One Coaching
- Success Stories from Tradies and Builders
FAQs
Does a builders business coach have to be a former builder?
No. But they must understand construction reality: quoting, variations, subbies, labour and cashflow. A coach who only speaks corporate means you spend half your time translating your world for them.
How much does business coaching for builders cost in Australia?
My coaching programmes range from $1,495 to $2,995 per month plus GST depending on the level of one-to-one support. The 200 percent ROI guarantee means the programme pays for itself, or coaching continues free until it does.
How long until I see results from business coaching?
Early wins usually show up in the first 60 to 90 days, once quoting and variations tighten up. Bigger results come as weekly job costing and team systems become normal. Consistency beats intensity every time.
Do you coach builders outside Queensland?
Yes. Most of the programme runs online with weekly group calls, so I coach builders right across Australia. I am based in Cairns with strong local experience across Far North Queensland, and clients in every state.
About the author: Sam Harrop is the founder of Business Maximiser Coaching, based in Cairns. Sam has 25 plus years of entrepreneurial experience, has started, bought and built 11 businesses of his own, and has personally coached over 600 businesses across Australia. He is the co-creator of the Get, Do, Keep methodology and specialises in coaching tradies, builders and service business owners in Cairns, Townsville, Port Douglas and across Australia.
If you want to see if coaching is a fit, book a Business Breakthrough Meeting. A 15-minute obligation-free chat, straight talk about your business.
