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Frequently Asked Questions
No fluff. Just clear answers to the most common questions CEOs ask about growth, exit planning, assessments, and working with us.
Your Questions, Answered
Yes. Every discussion, assessment, and diagnostic is confidential. I sign mutual NDAs on request, and no client name or number appears in any marketing without written approval.
Most coaches give advice. I run a measurement system. You start with a Value Builder Score, we work the drivers underneath it, and we re-score, so the change is a number rather than an impression. Companies that improve their score have sold for up to 71 percent more than the average business, using the Value Builder System. I am an Accredited Value Guide, and I have coached more than 886 business owners (architects, engineers, builders and contractors included) who created more than 15,000 jobs and $11 billion in revenue.
Yes. Most engagements include the owner and the leadership team, because a firm that depends on one person is worth less to a buyer. That usually means naming a second point of contact on your largest client relationships and giving your project leads real decision authority before we call the work done.
The work focuses on de-risking the firm: systems, leadership bench, client concentration, and improving profit, so you are more attractive to buyers and better positioned to negotiate terms, not just price. Most owners start 2 to 5 years before a transaction, because that is how long it takes for the changes to show up in the price.
Owners come to me for tight cash flow, a feast or famine pipeline, a good employee giving notice, or a surety or banker asking harder questions. Underneath almost all of those is one root: the firm depends on the owner. Working harder, hiring a business development person, or buying software does not touch it. Removing the dependency is the work.
No. Many clients begin with growth or leadership challenges. Preparing for a stronger future exit is a byproduct of scaling well today. Value building creates options: whether you sell, transition internally, bring in private equity, or continue to own the firm long term. Most of my clients plan to hold for ten years.
You lose margin, because pricing stays inconsistent. Bonding and borrowing capacity, because sureties and bankers price owner dependency as risk. Opportunities, because you cannot take the project you cannot staff. And people, because talented principals do not wait forever for a path. Later, when a buyer, partner, or successor finally looks, the discount for dependency gets applied all at once.
No. A $10 million firm that cannot survive a week without its founder is worth less than a $6 million firm that can. Revenue is not value.
Now. Your firm is already being valued every day: by the surety setting the bonding line, the banker setting the covenant, and the senior engineer deciding whether to stay. Value is built in the years before an exit, not the months. Whether you plan to sell in two years or ten, the work is the same and it starts now.
The CPA reports the past. The fractional COO runs the firm for you, which deepens the dependency instead of removing it. The peer group gives you company. None of them give you a number and a plan to move it.
It is. That is why I score it before I say anything about what to change. You get a number and a gap map for your firm, not a generic plan. And you do not have to take my word for it: the score is one a banker, a surety, or a buyer would recognize.
Three steps in a fixed order. Score the firm. Name the dependency. Build what removes it. The Value Builder Score sits inside step one. The Firm Health Snapshot is where the dependency gets named and priced. The Foundation, Growth, and Enterprise tiers are how step three gets delivered, depending on how far you want to go.
A 60 minute working session. You leave with a gap map, your two biggest leaks priced in dollars, and a ninety day plan. It is $1,500, fully credited toward coaching booked within thirty days. It is the first step of every coaching program, so you never pay for it twice.
Three kinds of owner. If your firm is under $1 million and still finding its footing, you need clients more than a value plan. If a sale closes in the next ninety days, we are too late to change the number and I will say so. And if you truly do not want to let go of anything, no method fixes that, and I would rather tell you than take the check.
Most advisors give advice. We deliver measurable results: 886+ owners helped, 15,000 jobs created, $11B in revenue impact, and up to 71% higher valuations.
Yes. All six assessments are free: the three scorecards, the Value Builder Assessment, the Freedom Score™, and PREScore. Paid work is named as such. The Business Efficiency Assessment is $495 and reads your score for you. The Firm Health Snapshot is $1,500, prices your two biggest leaks, and is credited toward coaching booked within thirty days. The Scalability Finder Session is $875 and the Business Growth Mastermind is $1,485.
Start with whichever scorecard matches the problem in front of you: The Profitable Firm for margin, The Owner-Free Firm for dependency, The Cash Flow and Control for cash. Each is 8 questions and about 2 minutes. When you want the full picture, the Value Builder Assessment takes about 13 minutes and scores your firm out of 100 against the 8 drivers.
In about 13 minutes, you’ll answer questions about your company. You’ll receive a personalized report showing your baseline valuation and the 8 key drivers that influence your business’s worth.
Our focus is architecture, engineering, and construction businesses in the $1M to $20M range. If you are smaller, the free scorecards and e-books will still give you useful guidance as you grow toward that milestone.
Book a discovery call. The $1M to $20M band is where owner dependency is usually the binding constraint. Above that, the problems shift toward governance and capital structure, and we can talk about whether the work still fits.
Yes. All of the e-book downloads are free.
No. These e-books are valuable whether you’re growing now or planning your exit later.
These three guides cover principles that apply to any owner led firm. The discipline specific material, including the case studies and valuation ranges for architecture, engineering, and construction, sits in the coaching work and in the Scale and Sell series.
Take the Value Builder Assessment. It takes about 13 minutes and gives you a personalized report on what your company is worth and the 8 drivers behind that number.
Most events are online for accessibility, with select roundtables available in-person.
Every webinar is recorded. Registrants get the replay by email within 24 hours. In person roundtables are not recorded.
Both, and the calendar tells you which is which. Webinars are free, and so are the replays. One program is paid: the Business Growth Mastermind, which runs 10 weeks at $1,485. Each program page shows the price before you register.
Both. She delivers keynotes, workshops, and seminars online and on stage.
CEOs, founders, and leadership teams of architecture, engineering, and construction businesses in the $1M to $20M range. Association chapters, industry conferences, and firm leadership retreats are the usual settings.
At least 4 weeks is recommended to secure your preferred date.
Yes. Every talk is built for the room. A planning call with the organizer, short interviews with people who will be in the audience, and a draft outline back to you 3 weeks before the date. Case examples are swapped to match the disciplines in the room. Current topics are Constructing Your Cash Flow, Capital and Contracts; Focus Your Energy For Business Value; Focus Your Energy For Action; Significant! Step Up and Scale; and Turning Poison and Paralysis to Performance and Profits.
Architecture, engineering, and construction firms generating $1M to $20M in revenue. That is the practice. The framework behind it, The Value Builder System™, has been applied more broadly, but the tools, benchmarks, and case studies here are built for design and building firms.
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