- Highspire
- Posts
- The hardest step in scaling most builders never talk about
The hardest step in scaling most builders never talk about
What breaks construction companies trying to grow from Level II to Level III?
Most builders don’t struggle to grow — they struggle to scale.
And the real friction starts when moving from Level II to Level III.
Before we dive into the challenge, let’s define the 5 levels of growth:
Level I: Solo operator — just you, a truck, and tools.
Level II: 0–20 employees. You run everything: sales, ops, finances, HR, marketing.
Level III: You start delegating. Ops manager, finance lead, office admin — you only manage sales.
Level IV: Leadership team runs the business. You’re truly the CEO.
Level V: GM runs the entire company. You step out fully.
This issue is all about the hardest jump — going from Level II to Level III.
The #1 Mistake: Hiring the Wrong Ops Lead
We’ve seen it many times.
An owner hires someone “professional” — former Coast Guard manager, lead project manager from a hotel chain, maybe even a rep from a transit authority.
Looks great on paper.
But the problem? No boots-on-the-ground experience.
They’ve seen construction.
They haven’t experienced construction. The minutia of issues that constantly arise.
And the field teams know it.
Respect goes down. Confusion goes up. Friction is constant.
Leadership Titles Don’t Earn Loyalty
Here’s where most ops leads fail: they lead from the title, not from trust.
John Maxwell’s 5 levels of leadership break it down:
People follow you because you’re the boss.
They follow you because of your experience in the industry.
Next, it’s about what you’ve done for the company.
Stronger still — what you’ve done for them.
And at the top: they follow you because you’ve built something bigger than yourself
Many leaders never advance beyond level 1.
You want someone who can become a Level 3 — ideally someone who's already in your company.
So What Actually Works?
Promote internally.
Find the site superintendent or project manager who already commands respect and knows your people and your systems.
Then invest in their leadership development.
It doesn’t just feel better — it performs better.
We have seen this play out, the internal hire adapts faster, builds more trust, and scales the organization.
Thinking About Promoting Someone Into Operations?
We’ll show you how to build their development path — so they succeed in the role, and you step out of the day-to-day with confidence.
Get this right, and you’re already halfway to Level IV.
Next week: we will discuss handing off sales so your company can move from Level III to Level IV.
Forward always,
Highspire