This is the way one scaleable custom builder I know, I’ll call him Bob, began to grow his company. Bob, whose company had three other employees at the time, began by developing the “ultimate organizational chart” for his business. He defined all the positions needed in a custom building operation. First he listed the overall leader—the CEO and president. Looking at the next management level, Bob defined the positions of director of sales and marketing, director of operations, and chief financial officer. Below the director of sales and marketing, he developed the positions of sales manager and marketing manager. Below the sales manager, Bob added boxes for three salespeople. Under director of operations, he added positions for a production manager, estimating and purchasing manager, customer service manager, and design team manager. Reporting to the production manager were four superintendents. The estimating and purchasing manager would supervise an estimator, purchaser, and purchasing administrator. The customer service manager would oversee the selections coordinator and warranty manager. The design manager had a team of three designers reporting to him. And the chief financial manager would have responsibility for a controller and human resources manager. Each of these positions had several boxes below them.
After defining all the positions on the organizational chart, Bob wrote job descriptions for each position. He then sat down and evaluated his own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of his three employees and determined which boxes on the organizational chart each of the team members fit into in his current company. When this exercise was complete, Bob found himself in 10 boxes on his chart and had job descriptions for each of those 10 positions. One employee was in five boxes while the other two team members filled out the remainder of the positions on the organizational chart.
This ultimate organization chart has been a great tool for planning his company’s growth. It allowed Bob to see the shape of his future company and to develop a growth plan that includes a timetable for ultimately removing himself from 10 boxes to occupying only two or three.
