Building a construction company from nothing, just as a pandemic arrived

The situation

I founded Susquehanna Services in December 2019, a few months before the pandemic, after being recruited by MainStreet, a venture-backed startup that later became Hoist. It was a chance to keep doing owner-directed project management for retail, high-end residential and medical facilities.

What I did

I built the company's operations from the ground up: estimating, pricing, contracts, purchasing, production tracking, financial controls and warranty response. I also led sales, from prospecting and proposals through negotiation, delivery and collections.

Much of our work was in outpatient healthcare: urgent care, primary care, dental and procedure spaces. We worked as both prime contractor and subcontractor. I worked with MainStreet on a CRM, call center and lead generation platform built for the construction industry, and I coached business owners in other markets on how to scale.

Our culture came down to one sentence: "Do what we say we are going to do, when we say we are going to do it."

What changed

We grew to more than 20 employees and more than 200 projects a year, with 29% growth year over year. Most jobs earned about 35% net profit.

Why I sold it

By early 2023, the economy was changing. We self-performed very little of our work, labor and product costs were skyrocketing, and I couldn't hold the margins I needed. The Hoist business was changing too. I sold the company to one of my subcontractors.

It was a good time to move to a larger organization and learn from people with deep experience in operations, capital, architecture and construction. It also gave me the freedom to earn my Executive MBA, which the time demands of owning a business wouldn't have allowed.

What I took from it

Running this company gave me a deep appreciation for field logistics, trade coordination and subcontractor performance, and for what every decision does to cash and margin. I still bring that to owner-side work.