When construction firms hit a revenue plateau, the cause isn’t always the market, the labor pipeline, or even the size of the backlog. More often, the core issue is structural—and the bottleneck is the owner. That’s the central argument made by Jerry Aliberti, principal of Thornwood, New York-based Pro-Accel, who says many small and mid-size construction businesses cap their own growth by refusing to evolve how they operate.
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Aliberti points out that many owners started their companies because they were exceptionally good at building things. They knew how to manage a project from conception to closeout, understood the craft, and delivered high-quality work. But the abilities that fuel a $5 million company are rarely the same ones required to scale a business to $25 million, $50 million, or beyond.
By the time an owner is leading a $10 million, $15 million, or $25 million enterprise, they’re often still making decisions as if they’re running a much smaller shop. They stay buried in approvals, field visits, hiring choices, and client escalations. Aliberti says that hands-on control creates a ceiling. In many cases, it also burns out the owner and the team—and costs the company profitable opportunities.
He describes one client who was overseeing every estimate and job site personally, despite generating $12 million in yearly revenue. When asked whether he could step away for two weeks, the client joked, “The place would fall apart.” That single remark revealed the structural fragility preventing the organization from growing.
Aliberti outlines three distinct stages of scaling a construction business—each requiring a different organizational model and leadership approach:
A flat structure, small team, and heavy owner involvement.
The owner often operates as the central hub of the company, making most technical and operational decisions.
This works—until it no longer does.
Growth requires specialized departments, team leads, and clear lanes of responsibility.
Organizations need 20 to 50 employees, each grouped into functional units such as estimating, project management, operations, and accounting.
This is the phase where owners most resist change, especially when it comes to giving up control. Aliberti notes that successful companies follow one key rule: no executive should have more than five to seven direct reports. Beyond that, accountability and quality start to erode.
The company operates through autonomous business units with their own P&L responsibility.
At this stage, the owner’s job is no longer project oversight—it’s strategy, vision, systems, culture, and leadership development.
This is often the hardest shift. The traits that made an owner a great builder often clash with the mindset required to be an effective CEO of a scaling organization.
To scale successfully, owners must embrace a core truth: systems and people—not personal oversight—are what create consistent quality at scale.
Aliberti explains that many owners fall into what he calls the “control paradox.”
They fear that delegating will reduce quality. Yet their refusal to delegate is exactly what slows production, frustrates employees, and limits growth. Strong systems, paired with capable leaders, deliver results no single person can replicate.
The evolution of hiring strategy mirrors this shift. Early-stage firms rely on flexible generalists. As the company grows, they need seasoned specialists. By Phase 3, they require executives who have led scaling organizations and can operate independently.
But accepting that not all decisions will be made the owner’s way—and that some decisions may even be better—is part of letting the company grow beyond a single person’s bandwidth.
When owners refuse to transition out of day-to-day control, the consequences ripple throughout the business. Teams wait for approvals. High performers leave. Backlogs shrink. Margins compress under inefficiencies.
Aliberti recalls that the client stuck at $12 million for years broke through rapidly once he hired the right leadership team, restructured operations, and stepped back from daily management. Within 18 months, the company reached $23 million in revenue. Same projects. Same market. But a different leadership model.
The lesson, he argues, is clear: if the business collapses when the owner steps away, then it isn’t truly a business—it’s a job. And a particularly stressful and expensive one.
What owners should aim to build instead is a company that functions smoothly without constant oversight—a company worth owning, not merely operating.
Could many construction companies reach $100 million in revenue? Aliberti believes they can.
But the more important question is whether the owner is willing to become the leader that a $100 million company requires.
Because the future company is waiting—and it depends entirely on the evolution of the person at the top.
Originally reported by Jerry Aliberti in Construction Dive.
