Jul 23, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
A long-time contractor in his native Australia, Dan Morton became frustrated with using multiple software tools from multiple vendors, none of which could communicate with each other to generate a…
Dan MortonGuest
Patrick FlanneryHost
So in that vein of bringing everything together and having visibility, you know, the one objective you want visibility on is your profitability at the end of the day.
That's the ultimate place that you're going, right? So why don't we start by thinking about what are the information gaps that prevent builders from having that visibility? Where are they missing knowledge of their processes and of their projects today? that leads them to not having a good view of that.
I know it's a saying that's been said a lot, but the seven P's that, you know, a piss poor preparation leads to a piss poor performance.
But, you know, anything that you go about, and it's funny, a lot of builders are brilliant tradespeople.
You ask them to build a, you know, a crazy roof, you know, cladding with some, some really difficult materials and they'll do it with their eyes closed and they'll know how to prepare really well for it to make sure everything's straight, true level and built well.
And, and I say to people, when you're thinking about running your business, you need to approach it the same way.
So when you prepare and do an estimate, be very thorough in how you get your numbers for your estimate.
You know, don't, don't just assume things, make sure you go on and, and, and, qualify things and numbers that you're not qualifying let's say um you've got an allowance in there for appliances make it clear to the client that that's only an allowance it's not fixed so just making sure that you're preparing your estimates and taking the time to do them properly and one of the the pushbacks that i get talking to builders about that yeah but how do i know i'm going to win the job why do i go spend a week on that well talking to a lot of young builders at the moment i've been mentoring a few back in australia is to prepare that property, you actually need to build a relationship with the client and know that they're invested with you before you go and spend all that time estimating the job.
So a lot of things happen before you do that estimating and that financial control to shore up that, You, you're going to put the great time and effort into this and get a result out of it.
So I think that's a big part of getting your numbers right is having a, having a process that when you're talking to a client, you know, they're serious.
I mean, early on in the days when I was building my company, building company, I'd have, you know, a phone call once in a while from a person.
Can I get a price? And, you know, I'd stay up all night and estimate the job and quickly learnt that there's a lot of price shoppers out there and they're not the people you want to build for.
You want to build for people that are invested in who you are as a tradesperson and as a builder and what you can offer.
And then that flows through into you having time to put into the proper estimating and processes, which off the back of that, you're going to end up making more money rather than being on the hamster wheel of just trying to quote more and more and win more and more.
What do you think about the process of doing just in the neighborhood of that sort of a pre-estimate that gives a broader picture and then having those meetings with the client and saying later, like the detailed estimate will come next.
process yep and and if you think about a client's journey when they first come to you they're not invested in you you haven't built a relationship with them so along the way before you get to that detailed estimate you need to build up trust and rapport um so one of the things that we do at home when someone wants to build a new home go to them at five o'clock in the you know, a bottle of wine if they're drinkers or, you know, a hot cup of coffee and a donut and sit at their kitchen table and talk to them about their house.
It might take you an hour, but you've just made the first step in creating a personal relationship with that person.
So in that vein of bringing everything together and having visibility, you know, the one objective you want visibility on is your profitability at the end of the day.
That's the ultimate place that you're going, right? So why don't we start by thinking about what are the information gaps that prevent builders from having that visibility? Where are they missing knowledge of their processes and of their projects today? that leads them to not having a good view of that.
I know it's a saying that's been said a lot, but the seven P's that, you know, a piss poor preparation leads to a piss poor performance.
But, you know, anything that you go about, and it's funny, a lot of builders are brilliant tradespeople.
You ask them to build a, you know, a crazy roof, you know, cladding with some, some really difficult materials and they'll do it with their eyes closed and they'll know how to prepare really well for it to make sure everything's straight, true level and built well.
And, and I say to people, when you're thinking about running your business, you need to approach it the same way.
So when you prepare and do an estimate, be very thorough in how you get your numbers for your estimate.
You know, don't, don't just assume things, make sure you go on and, and, and, qualify things and numbers that you're not qualifying let's say um you've got an allowance in there for appliances make it clear to the client that that's only an allowance it's not fixed so just making sure that you're preparing your estimates and taking the time to do them properly and one of the the pushbacks that i get talking to builders about that yeah but how do i know i'm going to win the job why do i go spend a week on that well talking to a lot of young builders at the moment i've been mentoring a few back in australia is to prepare that property, you actually need to build a relationship with the client and know that they're invested with you before you go and spend all that time estimating the job.
So a lot of things happen before you do that estimating and that financial control to shore up that, You, you're going to put the great time and effort into this and get a result out of it.
So I think that's a big part of getting your numbers right is having a, having a process that when you're talking to a client, you know, they're serious.
I mean, early on in the days when I was building my company, building company, I'd have, you know, a phone call once in a while from a person.
Can I get a price? And, you know, I'd stay up all night and estimate the job and quickly learnt that there's a lot of price shoppers out there and they're not the people you want to build for.
You want to build for people that are invested in who you are as a tradesperson and as a builder and what you can offer.
And then that flows through into you having time to put into the proper estimating and processes, which off the back of that, you're going to end up making more money rather than being on the hamster wheel of just trying to quote more and more and win more and more.
What do you think about the process of doing just in the neighborhood of that sort of a pre-estimate that gives a broader picture and then having those meetings with the client and saying later, like the detailed estimate will come next.
process yep and and if you think about a client's journey when they first come to you they're not invested in you you haven't built a relationship with them so along the way before you get to that detailed estimate you need to build up trust and rapport um so one of the things that we do at home when someone wants to build a new home go to them at five o'clock in the you know, a bottle of wine if they're drinkers or, you know, a hot cup of coffee and a donut and sit at their kitchen table and talk to them about their house.
It might take you an hour, but you've just made the first step in creating a personal relationship with that person.
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