GC Revenue & Margin Advisors
Win the Right Work
Keep the Margin
15 questions, 7 minutes, instant results
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Margin Growth Advisor for GCs
I work on the full path of winning
work to keeping the margin
See where you stand on a
profitability standpoint
I work with GCs doing $50M-$200M.
Just one extra point of Gross Profit Margin is worth $500K to $2M a year, and I work on-site with your team to go get it.
Bill is a consummate professional, client focused and driven by results that recognize both the impact on people and bottom line. He has a unique set of skills that allow him to quickly grasp critical issues and pull together the right solutions.
- Paul Courtemanche, Past P&G Executive
Where GC Margin is Really Won or Lost & How I Work
CFMA's 2024 benchmark data makes the point. The best contractors run about a 21.8% gross margin, while their overhead looks a lot like everyone else's. They aren't winning by cutting costs. They're winning on the jobs themselves.
It starts before the job does
A lot of that margin is decided before anyone mobilizes
01
What you pursue.
When six GCs chase the same hard bid, the winner usually got closest to break-even. A disciplined go/no-go decision keeps your team on work you can actually make money on.
02
How well scope is defined.
Gaps and overlaps that nobody catches in preconstruction come back later as change orders and disputes.
03
How you buy out the job.
Checking every sub's inclusions, exclusions, and assumptions against the full scope finds problems before they cost you. On lump-sum work, that can put margin back in your pocket. On GMP work, buyout savings often go back to the owner, so the payoff there is protecting your fee.
04
What you sign.
Contract terms and scope letters written with enforcement in mind, not just award, are what you'll be defending six months later.
But preconstruction isn't the whole story
You'll hear that margin fade "almost always" starts in preconstruction. It often does, but not always. Execution, change order management, and how closely you track job costs all play a part. And no credible research puts an exact percentage on how much margin is decided before construction starts. Anyone who quotes one is guessing.
Why I look at the whole picture
Most help for GCs focuses on one piece: lead generation, estimating, or preconstruction.
I look at the full path from winning work to keeping the margin:
About SL
I'm Bill Shapcott, and Shapcott Lauber is my margin growth advisory firm for privately held general contractors with revenues of $50M–$200M. I help them stop buying work, win the right projects, and add gross profit points. With 28 years of advising trade business owners behind me, I work on site with your team to win, protect, and measure margin.
My Discovery
Before any engagement, I start with a Discovery scaled to your company. GCs doing $50M to $100M get a focused five-day review, and firms above $100M get a deeper ten-day look. Either way, I examine how you bid, sell, and price work, then deliver clear findings and next steps, backed by a full satisfaction guarantee.
My Deliverables
My engagements blend consulting, coaching, and training, with an optional Fractional Chief Sales Officer on site. I set go/no-go discipline, train and coach your business development team, build a steady pipeline, and defend your fee, so you win the right work at better margins and stop panic-bidding.
Decisions that Affect GP
Construction growth is not about winning more work.
More work at thin margins just means more risk, more cash strain and more exposure.
Many GCs fall into the same trap:
They cut the price to win the bid, then hope to make it up in the field. They rarely do.
Your estimators see the numbers.
Your business development team sees the relationships. Ownership sees the backlog and the cash.
When those three line up:
You bid the right jobs. You sell on value, not price. You defend your fee.
And that's our aim:
One more point of gross profit on every job you win.
GC Segments I Dive into With My Clients
Our clients work across commercial, multifamily, residential, and design-build construction, plus the specialty trades that make every project possible. The work looks different in each segment, but the business problems are the same: winning the right jobs, protecting margin, keeping cash flowing, and building a team that doesn't depend on the owner for every decision. Whatever you build, if you're privately held and ready for more control, we can help.
✓ Residential Remodeling Renovation
✓ Light Commercial Construction
✓ Multi-Family Renovation
✓ Industrial Warehouse Construction
✓ Custom Home Builders
✓ Tenant Improvements & Interior Buildouts
✓ Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Build-Outs
✓ Healthcare & Medical Office Construction
✓ Church School & Institutional Projects
✓ Restoration & Insurance Repair
✓ Design Build Firms
✓ Commercial Public Works
Insights
Running a construction company is complicated enough without guessing where the problems are. We look at the whole business, from how you win work to how you run jobs, track costs, and lead your people. Then we boil what we find down to a few clear priorities. You don't get a stack of theory. You get plain answers about what's working, what's leaking profit, and what to fix first, so you can make decisions with confidence and spend your time where it counts.
Testimonials
"Bill is an excellent leader who cares about his team's and clients' success. He's one of the smartest, most ethical, hardest-working leaders I've met. I'd recommend him to anyone seeking a strong leader. He'll deliver with commitment and exceed expectations."
Reid Retherford
Executive, Lexus Nexus
"I was impressed by Bill's vision, strategic thinking, and planning. He had a broad and deep understanding of our current situation, and he not only saw practical new business development opportunities but clearly outlined how we could pursue each one."
Jaroslav Kramar, Dr. Sc, MBA
Owner, CzechInvest
"Bill brings extensive knowledge of business development, sales, and strategic planning to quickly drive new growth or turn a company around. He is a person of high character, an excellent communicator, and someone who can successfully manage any business project."
John Blakeney
CEO & Serial Entreprenuer
"Bill leads by example and from the front. He talks the talk and walks the walk. I learned as much watching him as listening to him, and I credit him with laying the foundation for the sales path I still follow."
Darryl Ellis,
Sales Executive, Wholesale Distribution
