Commercial and tenant improvement: a different customer, not a bigger house
Who actually buys TI work, bidding to specifications rather than drawings, the contract clauses that decide profitability, working in an occupied building, and how to get in.
August 28, 2026 · 14 min CloseoutThe last ten percent decides the review
Why most punch items are created rather than discovered, the walkthrough run as a procedure, what substantial completion should trigger, the handover as a sales event, and the warranty year.
August 28, 2026 · 14 min ContractsAllowances: the promise about money you have not spent
Setting an allowance the client will actually spend, writing it in units rather than dollars, billing overages with markup, and when specifying the product beats carrying a placeholder.
August 28, 2026 · 13 min ScheduleThe schedule is a product feature
Where the days actually go, why client selections are the largest preventable delay, running the schedule week to week, and announcing a delay so it does not become a dispute.
August 28, 2026 · 14 min OperationsSubcontractors: where the margin is actually won
Selecting on something other than bid price, the two-page subcontract that prevents the argument, what your markup is buying, and why a three-day slip becomes eleven days.
August 28, 2026 · 13 min Cash flowDraw schedules and getting paid
A draw schedule built against your real cost curve, how lenders and insurers pay differently, the draw request that clears first time, lien deadlines that pass silently, and $58,800 of capital freed.
August 28, 2026 · 14 min NumbersMarkup is not margin, and the difference is your year
Add 20% and you keep 16.7%. The conversion table, how to derive the markup your own overhead actually requires, and the same jobs producing $260,520 more profit.
August 28, 2026 · 13 min NumbersJob costing: finding out what the job actually cost
A $286,000 addition sold at 25% and delivered 14.2%. The full estimate-versus-actual breakdown, why committed cost beats spent cost, and the over- and under-billing report.
August 28, 2026 · 14 min ContractsChange orders: the profit most builders give away
What an unpriced change really costs, the five clauses that have to be in the contract, how to price a change with supervision included, and $124,300 of newly invoiced revenue in a year.
August 28, 2026 · 13 min SalesFrom estimate to signed contract
Qualifying by phone before you estimate, why the site visit is the sale, what belongs in the proposal, three options instead of one number, and 21% to 42% on the same estimates.
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