Kurt Hegetschweiler has coached residential builders, and only residential builders, since 2004. More than twenty years on the same set of problems, and a process that has been tested, corrected and proven across thousands of building businesses.
Most builders who come to Kurt are busy. The work is there, the reputation is there, the phone rings. The profit still does not match the effort, and the business does not move without them in the room.
Turnover looks healthy. The margin does not. Money goes out before it comes in, and financing jobs out of your own cash flow quietly becomes normal.
Every quote, every variation, every problem on site. Nothing much progresses while you are away, so time off costs money and you stop taking it.
Free quotes, tyre kickers and clients running the process instead of you. The good jobs go to whoever guessed lowest, and half the time they missed something.
It is the overriding strategy in Million Dollar Builder 2.0, and it is where the coaching starts. A bigger building business built on a broken margin is just a bigger problem.
It is not motivation and it is not theory. It is someone who knows your industry working with you on the parts of the business that make and lose the money, and holding you to doing something about it.
Kurt coaches one-on-one. He is the founder, the owner and the coach, and he takes every session himself. That means the work starts with whatever is costing you the most right now, not with module one of a program.
The sales process is where the biggest inefficiency usually sits, and you cannot fix a margin you cannot see, so the numbers and the sales process are usually where the work starts. Usually, not always. If your front end is already strong and the problem is somewhere else, that is where it goes. It is personalised coaching, so it follows the money in your business rather than a curriculum.
Your real margin and breakeven, and the 6-Step Sales Process: qualifying, charging for quotes, preliminary agreements and value management. For most builders this is where the time and the money are hiding.
Vision, defined roles, clear expectations and accountability, so the work stops flowing through you and the good people stay. Your business will never outgrow your leadership.
Documented process, programme and an operations manual, so the margin and the time you got back are the ones you keep. Your systems set you free.
Built for residential builders and refined since 2004. It is the system behind both books and behind every coaching relationship.
The 10 key levers of a building business, scored, so you can see which one is actually costing you money instead of guessing at it.
Qualifying, charging for quotes and preliminary agreements, so your expertise gets paid for instead of given away in a free quote.
Getting involved early, before the design is locked and the budget has already gone. It is the difference between pricing someone else's problem and shaping the job.
There is plenty of business advice available to you. The question is whether it has been tested on a job like yours, and whether the person giving it will still be there in two years.
More than twenty years working with residential builders. Not trades, not commercial, not small business in general. Inch wide, mile deep.
The Million Dollar Builder framework has been tested, corrected and rebuilt across thousands of building businesses and two books. You are not the experiment.
Kurt is the founder, the owner and the coach, and he takes every session himself. No employee coach delivering someone else's framework, and no starting again with a new person halfway through.
Kurt works with some of the strongest residential builders across four countries. What is moving the numbers in their businesses this year is what turns up in your sessions.
Three builders. Three different outcomes. Real numbers.
He was turning over around $3 million on roughly 10% margin, working about 80 hours a week to hold it together, quoting after hours and treating every enquiry as urgent.
Clients now pay around $3,000 for a preliminary agreement before he does any detailed pricing, so his expertise gets paid for instead of given away. His week has gone from about 80 hours to about 35.
He spent years tendering on architect-drawn projects, burning dozens of hours pricing work he had maybe a one in four chance of winning. On one job he lost by $700,000 to $800,000, until it emerged the winning builder had missed roughly $500,000 of scope.
He now charges for pre-construction, which puts him in the project early. On one job a single design adjustment saved the client between $150,000 and $200,000 before a slab was poured.
He inherited a second-generation business turning over around $1.2 million and ran it the way most builders do, with every client, every trade and every decision flowing through him.
He rebuilt it into a multi-branch operation with a real leadership structure, defined roles and systems that do not need him in the room. The proof came when he spent three weeks in the Kimberley with no reception and came back to projects progressing and clients happy.
Real Builders Coach clients. Results vary and depend on the work you put in. More client results.
Kurt has coached residential builders, and only residential builders, since 2004. More than twenty years on the same set of problems, which is what makes the Million Dollar Builder framework a tested process rather than a set of ideas.
He wrote Million Dollar Builder and Million Dollar Builder 2.0, both international best sellers, and thousands of builders have taken up the Million Dollar Builder challenge since. He hosts The Builders Coach Show and has been featured on Channel 7 Weekend Sunrise. He also owned a renovations business and launched a national luxury custom home building franchise before any of the coaching.
"My most significant moments of clarity and change have come from working one-on-one with a top-quality mentor or coach. When you are dealing with a leading specialist in their field, the speed at which they can cut through to your core issue is remarkable."
Personalised one-on-one coaching with Kurt. It is by application and he takes on a limited number of builders, because it is him in every session.
See the Gold ProgramProfit and clarity workshops, development workshops and the annual Builders Coach Summit. A day in a room with builders working on the same problems.
See upcoming eventsStart with Million Dollar Builder 2.0, free if you cover the postage, plus the 6-Step Sales Process and the break-even calculator.
Get the bookCustom home builders, renovation and extension builders, and residential construction businesses that have grown past the owner doing everything. Some are turning over several million. Some are smaller and ambitious.
What they have in common is that they want to be in control of the numbers, the team and their own time, and they are prepared to change how they run things to get there. Kurt does not coach commercial builders, developers or trades without a real building business behind them.
If that sounds like where you are, or where you are trying to get to, the conversation is worth having.
Thirty minutes with Kurt. Where the business is now, what is possible from here, and whether working together makes sense. No cost.
Book your free strategy sessionJust have a question? Email info@builderscoach.com.au
Works on the parts of a building business that make and lose money: your real margin and breakeven, the sales process, leadership and team, and the systems underneath all of it.
For most builders the sales process is the single biggest inefficiency, and you cannot fix a margin you cannot see, so that is usually where it starts. Usually, not always. The work follows the money in your business, not a set of modules everyone goes through.
It is practical. You leave every session with something to do, and Kurt holds you to it.
A general business coach will give you general advice. Set goals, hire better, work on the business. None of it is wrong, and none of it helps on a job where the margin was lost in pre-construction six weeks before anyone turned up on site.
Kurt has worked with residential builders only since 2004. Twenty years on the same set of problems, with a process that has been tested and corrected across thousands of building businesses. The examples, the language and the numbers all come from your industry.
Kurt coaches builders across Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. There are also live workshops and events through the year.
The one-on-one coaching is personalised, so the structure and the investment depend on where the business is and what it needs. It is not a fixed package price on a page. Ask Kurt on the strategy session.
A free 30 minute strategy session. Someone from the team will be in touch to arrange a time and send you a few questions beforehand, so Kurt has the context before you speak.
