Construction Positions and Responsibilities

In a recent first time visit to a growing contractor, the owner of the company openly discussed the difficulty of expanding the Company's operations. He talked of the individual capabilities of staff members and how some staff members were simply not qualified and therefore the company could not grow. I asked if he thought the staff members should be replaced. His response, to no surprise, was that he could not replace them because it would be too difficult to find a replacement. Well, we were just scratching the surface of his problem.

I asked him to draw his company structure on the white board in front of us and he proudly did so, identifying each person by name and what they did. I asked him if he could show me how he would add personnel to double his volume as he stated was his desire. At that, he was somewhat stuck. After a long pause, he drew additional "To Be Named" personnel but labored over who should be in charge of the additional personnel. At this, I brought a halt to the process, as I had seen enough.

This exemplifies an age old problem that I have witnessed time and time again, and this problem is usually found in growing companies. The problem is simply that contractors tend to build their companies around the capabilities of their employees rather than building their companies around the fulfillment of defined positions.

This problem is particularly evident in construction because of the field-based mentality of many construction company owners. Many construction owners have origins in the field and are used to looking for people to fill very specific roles with a very narrow set of skills. For instance, a carpenter may be needed who can do finish work or an operator may be needed who can run a dozer. For many owners, this skill based mentality extends into the office, however it is particularly unsuitable.

Many construction owners hire new office personnel or assign work to existing office personnel in a task specific manner based on the skills of the employee. In this manner, specific tasks are usually adequately handled, however, many unassigned tasks are either not handled at all. Moreover, without identifying all of the tasks that need to be accomplished, as tasks are encountered, mutually qualified employees may contend for the same tasks, while tasks that no employees are qualified to perform are often left poorly handled. The net result is a poor running office that is incapable of supporting a growing field operation. The growth of a construction company should never be constrained by the capabilities of the office, but all too often, it is the case.

To correct the problem, positions must be defined within a well conceived organizational chart and specific responsibilities must be assigned to each position. The organizational structure of the company must accommodate rapid growth. For smaller sized company's this may require one individual to handle multiple positions, and then relinquish the responsibilities of one of the positions so that the responsibilities can be handled by a new hire.


As you can see, to function efficiently and welcome growth, a company needs to be built around defined positions with distinct responsibilities. Existing employees or new hires must be able to perform all the responsibilities of the position otherwise they are not suitable for the position. In a dysfunctional scenario, gaps and overlaps of position responsibilities exist, leaving a company poorly run administratively, therefore constraining field growth. Owners often experience an "out of control" feeling at the office, thus impacting the decision making of the owner and causing missed opportunities.

To fix the problem, a philosophical change must take place within the company and specific steps are required to change the way the company functions. This requires a precise approach requiring specific expertise and a good deal of patience. If you recognize that your firm requires a transformation that will allow it to grow without administrative constraints, visit MyRiskControl and let us show you the way.