Is Construction Still a Relationship Business?
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Construction Executives Say Yes
I recently moderated a panel of executives from GCs and Subs for ABC Chesapeake’s Regional Summit, discussing the ideal partnership between them. I asked a handful of prepared questions aimed at getting to the root of good and bad GC/Sub dynamics. We also included about a half-dozen questions from the diverse audience of nearly 100 people. The overwhelming takeaway from the conversation was that, for this panel of leaders, trust and communication were essential to every phase of business, from preconstruction and sales to construction. Each panelist shared compelling stories where relationships, good or bad, played the starring role in decision-making and problem-solving. The GCs stated they were more likely to award projects, accommodate needs during construction, and view requests as legitimate when dealing with trusted subcontractor relationships. The subs stated they were more likely to give better pricing, accommodate needs during construction, and submit fewer/fairer change orders with trusted GC relationships. Hearing this, the audience’s questions sought to make sense of the world many felt they were living in, one in which relationships don’t seem to matter anymore.
Where’s the Disconnect?
Since that panel discussion, I’ve reasoned through the issue many times to explain this dissonance, and I’ve come to believe both things are true. Relationships do still matter, and the industry is increasingly less relationship-based. What is different today is that fewer genuine relationships are being developed. Mired in the volume of tasks and reliance on technology, we are simply transacting business together without building enough real, meaningful relationships along the way. Meanwhile, if you take a moment and reflect, I can virtually guarantee that you can think of at least one powerful relationship you’ve developed in this industry that brings significant value to your business. This proves it is still possible to build relationships and that they do indeed matter! Just because you don’t have enough relationships in your business doesn’t mean they don’t matter.
The Efficiency Fallacy
One long-time client of ours reminisces about the days when, first starting his drywall business, he would drive to his GC clients’ offices to physically pick up a set of plans to bid. Perhaps some of you remember those times, too. Wildly inefficient as it was, that process forced a level of human interaction in the earliest stages of project pursuit between GCs and Subs. Today, with the use of any number of estimating software packages, General Contractors invite a wide array of subs to bid projects with the click of a mouse, and subs, in turn, download plans in seconds and submit bids with not so much as a chat about the project. Fundamentally, efficiency is a good thing, but one cannot deny the natural barriers to communication and relationship-building this brand of efficiency creates. The same can be said about countless everyday interactions between GCs and Subs that used to occur in meetings and phone calls that have been replaced with a mountain of emails waiting to be processed alongside everything else we’re all just trying to keep up with.
You know what’s inefficient? Emailing back and forth on a topic for days that could have been resolved with a five-minute call! Wasting hours producing a bid you never had a shot to win! Joining a virtual progress meeting and doing emails the whole time instead of paying attention! If you take nothing else away from this article, take this please…pick up the phone, pay attention, and talk to each other. There. I said it.
Make Relationships Happen
Without forced human interactions to rely on, developing relationships in our industry today requires contractors to be much more intentional. Knowing that relationships and the trust they inspire are essential to success in every phase of business, you must consider proactive strategies to cultivate relationships with one another and be prepared to overcome the barriers presented by the modern world. Certainly, your membership in Associated Builders and Contractors is a step in the right direction. Everyone on the panel discussion referenced the valuable relationships that began at ABC through attending networking events and Board/Committee involvement. While attending these environments should absolutely be a priority for your business, the effort cannot stop there. Once you meet someone at an event, take the next step and schedule time to meet for lengthier business and eventually personal discussions. Then, do it again, but maybe outside of work. Then, resist the temptation to resort to email and suggest a call or meeting to discuss project-specific items. Relationship development takes effort, but it pays off in better win rates, better margins, smoother projects, and an overall more positive work environment. Imagine building amazing things with your friends every day. That’s what this industry can and should be like.
Strangers are Jerks
The absence of relationships makes people transactional and mean. If you need proof of this statement, observe how people drive in traffic. Or perhaps you can just read the threatening, procedural email sitting in your inbox right now from a customer or vendor you’ve never actually met face-to-face. In an industry struggling with some of the worst mental health statistics of any sector in the economy, relationship development can be the antidote to high-stress, low-reward environments. I’ll never forget one interaction I had with a veteran Project Manager who told me, “Every Sunday night I get that feeling that I had in middle school when I knew the next day I had to fight the biggest bully in the school at 8:00 AM under the flagpole…I’ve honestly puked on Sunday more than once, thinking about the battle I’d be in on Monday.” He’s not alone. Nobody should feel this way in their job. Know who doesn’t make us feel this way? Friends. Our friends take time to understand, collaborate to resolve issues, own their mistakes, and thank us for our hard work, making it all worthwhile. Relationships force us to think about the long-term impact of how we treat each other and sometimes cost a little profit in the spirit of a shared future together, but the profits gained in time far outweigh short-term savings.
Planning and Action
Folks, we have an opportunity to build fun places to work on a solid foundation of repeat business with partners who genuinely want to help us succeed. All it takes is planning and intention. Build a relationship development and maintenance plan for your business, assign team members to carry it out, and reap the rewards for many years to come. It is not enough to build just a few relationships. Your business should be built around a long list of friendships. Make it a goal to only work with your friends. That means you’d need a lot of relationships to make it work. Great news, your competition isn’t doing enough of it, so the door is open.
The Spark Notes:
Trust and communication still drive success between GCs and Subs, but true relationships are getting squeezed out by efficiency and endless emails.
Efficiency without connection is a trap—five minutes on the phone beats five days of email chains every time.
Relationships don’t just make projects smoother; they make work more human, more profitable, and a whole lot less miserable.
If you want to win more and enjoy it, stop transacting and start befriending—build a business around people you’d actually want to work with.
