Summertime: Pools, Playtime and Planning?

Summertime – the Best time for Long Range Planning

Wow! You get a gold star for clicking the link to the blog that talks about planning in the summertime! Cause, we get it! Summertime hits, and suddenly your brain trades spreadsheets for sprinkler systems, job sites for jorts, and goal-setting for grilling. But while the sunshine and cooler might say “sit back and relax,” the calendar says, “Q3 starts now”.

And trust us; now is the perfect time to start thinking long-term.

Still not convinced?

If you start now, your future self will thank you! The work you do now sets the tone for how your business will scale (or won’t scale) in the next 3–5 years. Planning does not have to be stressful, unlike that lake day you just pulled off with two kids, a dog, and a flat tire. In fact, planning now might get you more of those lake days; but hopefully, without the flat tire. 

At Executive Allies, we work with construction companies all across Idaho and beyond, and we know summer is go-time. But while your crews are pouring concrete, we’ll help you start laying the foundation for the future:

Step 1: Start with a Gut Check

Before you start mapping out goals or navigating the spreadsheets, hit pause and ask: Where are we right now?

Not just in revenue or profit, but in your capacity, team health, and project flow. This step is less about numbers and more about clarity. Are you profitable? Busy but broke? Growing, but flying blind? Taking the time to take a good inventory of the reality of where you are today is an important first step.

What to do:

• Pull your latest profit and loss statement and balance sheet. Do they make sense to you? If not, contact someone that can help you better understand them! About half of what we do is translate these statements into meaningful information for our clients, so you are not alone in this!
• Review your current backlog—how many months of booked work do you have? Use this information to determine if you need to turn on additional marketing or business development or hire new crew members.
• Look at job performance: Which projects were profitable? Which ones weren’t and why?
• Check your labor force: Are your team leads solid? Are you burning people out?

This is where most business owners realize their financials don’t reflect what’s really going on and find that they have hit a few of the accounting pitfalls over the past years. That’s okay. We help clean that up every day.

Step 2: Define Where You’re Going (Seriously, Write It Down)

A goal without a plan is not really a goal; it’s a wish. So now that you’ve taken stock, it’s time to get clear about what you want over the next 3–5 years.

Consider what success looks like for you. Higher revenue? Higher margins? A second crew? More time off? Selling the company in 3 years? More community involvement? There is no “one size fits all” here. This is probably the toughest part of the exercise as it involves narrowing down what you really want from your company.

What to do:

• Write down your overarching goal.
• Set realistic revenue and profit targets. For example: $10M in annual revenue with a consistent 15% net profit.
• Identify key milestones over the next year, three years, and five years: Adding a new division? Expanding into commercial projects?
• Get personal: Want to work fewer weekends? Take 2 weeks off every summer? Include that in your goals as well.

Clarity here gives you permission and the parameters for when you need to say “no” to things that don’t move you toward your long-term vision.

Step 3: Identify the Drivers That Actually Matter

Now we reverse-engineer it. If your goal is to hit $10M in revenue in 5 years, what has to happen to get there? It can be challenging to conceptualize numbers that seem unrealistic or elusive now so break it down into numbers you can understand. Ten million a year is $833,333 each month or $192,307 per week. How many people does it take to run that amount of revenue? Do you need additional equipment? Taking the time to paint the picture of what your organization will look like at that level is impactful! If you still aren't sure where to start, eat a quick piece of humble pie and ask an owner of a business that is already at the level you are aiming towards to see what their organization looks like. You might gain some valuable insights into what your next step needs to be.

This step connects the dream to the math. You’ll look at sales capacity, project size, crew output, and the kinds of jobs that move the needle.

What to do:

• Break your revenue goal into backlog: How much work do you need to line up and when?
• Forecast your labor needs: How many hours can one crew produce per month? Will you need to hire more PMs or skilled labor in year 2?
• Review your overhead and capacity: Can your current office staff and systems scale with that growth?

If you’re doing $5M with three crews today, you probably won’t get to $10M without adding crews, tech, or project size. Understanding that conclusion is the whole point of this exercise.

Step 4: Build a Budget That Backs It All Up

This is where vision meets execution. A solid long-term plan deserves a real-world budget to support it. No guesswork, no “copy last year and bump it 10%”.

This budget becomes your guide, showing you what needs to be true for the plan to work.

What to do:

• Build a revenue forecast based on secured backlog + realistic close rates on upcoming bids
• Forecast labor costs using real productivity data, not best-case scenarios
• Plug in planned investments: new equipment, office hires, training, software
• Account for seasonality, tax strategy, and project cash flow timing

Need help here? This is where a Fractional CFO shines—bringing clarity, structure, and confidence to the numbers.

Step 5: Set Checkpoints and Track Progress

A 5-year plan without checkpoints is like building a spec home without a blueprint. You need to know if you’re on track or wildly off-course. If you have incredibly lofty goals or a history of staying on course for a long period of time, it may make sense to bring in a Fractional CFO and potentially an EOS Implementer to be your guide. For perspective, as a backpacker, you might be confident in taking on the Sawtooth Mountains without a guide, but you would definitely hire a professional if you wanted to tackle Mount Everest or K2. 

What to do:

• Set annual and quarterly milestones (revenue booked, margins, backlog health, etc.)
• Establish KPI dashboards so you don’t have to wait for your accountant to tell you what’s going on
• Review monthly: What’s working? What’s lagging? What needs to be reallocated?

This part is all about staying nimble. Course-correct fast instead of waiting until year-end to freak out.

Step 6: Make Planning a Habit, Not a One-Time Event

Effective long-range planning is not a set it and forget it process. It’s a tool you sharpen each year. Your business will change. The market will shift. The plan should flex with it.

What to do:

• Revisit your plan every year (we recommend Q3 so there’s time to think, plan, and adjust)
• Update key assumptions - cost of labor, sales close rates, lead times, etc.
• Get feedback from your team! Your crew leaders often know where the wheels are about to fall off

Planning should help you sleep better, not give you more anxiety. Done right, it becomes your compass.

We Can Help You Start (and Stick With) the Plan

At Executive Allies, we help construction companies like yours translate vision into action. We make the numbers make sense, and we help you see what’s possible when you have the right plan in place.

Whether you want to double your revenue, improve margins, or just stop guessing about what’s coming next. We’ll guide you every step of the way.

Ready to build your 3–5 year plan? Fill out the contact form for a free one- hour strategy session.