On "The Small Contractor Advantage"

Small shops don't have an advantage just because they're small—they have one if they actually use their size, and most don't. The real edge is speed and decision-making: a two-person crew can pivot on a bid, swap tools, or cut a client deal in the time it takes a 50-person operation to loop in management. But that only works if you're disciplined enough not to treat your flexibility as an excuse to be sloppy or underbid yourself into a corner. The contractors making money right now aren't the ones bragging about their scrappiness; they're the ones charging what their speed and quality are worth.