find your solution.
search for solutions by category, industries, insights, and people.
search for solutions by category, industries, insights, and people.
search for solutions by category, industries, insights, and people.
The leadership team of a regional general contractor was at a crossroads.
Growth had plateaued. Operational frustrations were mounting. Leadership succession was unclear, and the annually reviewed business plan felt more performative than prescriptive. Their internal conversations kept circling the same questions: Where are we going? Who’s in charge of getting us there?
The company had expanded from a single central office to include a new geographic hub. But instead of operating as one unified company, the two offices were running in parallel with different cultures, different incentive structures, and growing resentment between teams. Even supporting functions like preconstruction and business development lacked clarity and alignment, often leading to duplication, competing priorities, inefficiency, or missed opportunities.
The company’s “strategic plan” was a 30-page document, refreshed every few years and quickly shelved. They needed a new approach.
After being engaged through a referral, Elliott Davis conducted an in-depth discovery visit, spending several days on-site with leaders from both offices. Through focused interviews and candid conversations, we surfaced operational roadblocks, identified what was driving success, and pinpointed areas holding the organization back.
From that process, three major pillars emerged:
Instead of continuing to operate as two separate regions, we recommended a bold move from a location-based model to a sector-focused structure, where each sector represented a specific building type aligned with the strengths and expertise of key leaders. This new approach encouraged collaboration over competition and enabled the company to organize around strategic priorities rather than geography.
Several key executives within the company were promoted into newly defined sector leadership roles. With this change, each new leader took full ownership of their market, including setting strategy, managing resources, hiring and developing talent, and overseeing business development and preconstruction execution. For the first time, accountability was tied directly to outcomes in each sector.
To support this transformation, leadership adopted a simplified strategic planning framework centered around a “Strategy on a Page.” This included:
The impact was immediate. The business plan went from a lengthy, rarely referenced document to a tool used in every meeting and shared with all 100 employees. Communication improved across teams. Priorities were no longer buried. Instead, they were clearly visible, regularly reviewed, and widely understood. Leaders knew where they were headed and what role they played in getting there.
In less than a year, the contractor went from fragmented and frustrated to aligned and forward-looking.
The shift in mindset was transformative. Today, each sector leader is responsible for charting their own course, setting targets, owning relationships, and driving results in their market. The system now supports itself, setting a clear path forward.
The information provided in this communication is of a general nature and should not be considered professional advice. You should not act upon the information provided without obtaining specific professional advice. The information above is subject to change.
