Most contractors don’t pick their projects. The projects pick them. Whatever bid hits the inbox, they chase, because saying no means people sit idle. In this episode of Construction Genius, Matthew Neuberger of Neuberger and Company breaks down why business development inside most construction companies is broken, and how the contractors who win 60 to 70 percent of their revenue from inbound calls actually do it.
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Why Most Contractors Are Stuck on the Bid List
When you take whatever bid comes in, you have no choice. You compete on price. Your margin shows it year after year. Matthew calls this the default mindset, and it’s the most important thing most contractors have never thought about.
The contractors who grow consistently are different. Around 60 to 70 percent of their revenue comes from owners who pick up the phone before the project ever goes public. They get the call. Everybody else gets the bid invitation.
The “Quiet Period” Most Contractors Never Build
Matthew uses the phrase “quiet period.” Eric pushes back. Where’s the quiet period for a contractor who is running hard every day? Matthew is direct about it.
“Selectivity isn’t something that you claim. It’s what you earn during those quiet periods.”
You will never have a quiet period as long as you’re playing the busy game. The mindset shift has to come first. If you decide business development matters, you build the time. If you don’t, you stay on the bid list.
Why Business Development Has No Accountability in Most Construction Companies
Matthew calls business development the least-discussed part of the contractor’s job. It’s not in anybody’s calendar. It’s not measured. It’s not reviewed. It happens when somebody remembers. And in a construction company running multiple jobs under real pressure, nobody remembers.
“When the BD depends entirely on one person’s memory and motivation, you haven’t built a system. You built a person.”
People get busy. People get distracted. People leave. The fix is not a motivational push. It’s an expectation that someone owns and someone reviews.
The Three-Part Business Development System
Matthew’s system is simple. Three pieces. All three have to exist.
A specific owner list. Who do you actually want to work with? Owners who respect your expertise. Owners who pay cleanly. Owners who don’t manufacture disputes on the final invoice. Owners who introduce you to other people. Most experienced contractors can tell you in 30 seconds whether they’d work with an owner again. The problem is none of them write it down. So it never becomes a system. The next generation never inherits it.
A defined contact cadence. If you’re not in touch with an owner on your list at least every 90 days, somebody else has the relationship. Ninety days goes fast. So does the rest of your year.
A weekly review question. Someone with real authority sits down with the BD person every week and asks: How many owners on the list have you had a meaningful conversation with in the last 90 days?
That’s the engine. Without it, the list is decoration.
How to Add Value So Owners Take Your Call
Matthew is blunt about cadence. Grabbing beers is not a business development plan. The bar is higher.
You should know what each owner on your list is trying to accomplish. Are they developing the next generation? Expanding into new markets? Building a name in real estate? When tariffs shift, when permits change, when material prices move, you pick up the phone with a reason. You add a piece of value the owner did not have a minute ago.
That’s a trusted source of information. That’s how you stop blending in with everyone else bidding on the next RFP.
Why CRMs and LinkedIn Posts Are Not Business Development
Matthew is direct about this. A CRM is a half-organized filing cabinet. Posting on LinkedIn is shouting at the market. Both have a place. Neither is business development.
Business development is a deliberate list, real conversations, and value delivered with purpose. Pick up the phone. Old-fashioned style. Talk to people with an agenda.
Where Most Contractor Business Development Falls Apart
Eric and Matthew connect the failure point to a framework Eric uses with his coaching clients called EAR. Encouragement, Accountability, Recognition.
Most owners are great at the first one. They tell the BD person “you can do it.” They go quiet on the second. Nobody asks “did you do it?” And so the activity dies.
The fix is a weekly meeting. Not a quarterly check-in. Weekly. With ownership in the room. Eric recommends running it Friday morning before lunch, with the BD person expected to have a target client lunch already on the calendar that day. Matthew recommends early morning Monday. Both work. Pick one.
The First Move If You Recognize Yourself in This Episode
Matthew’s advice is to figure out where you actually stand. Most contractors think they know. Most are wrong.
“If you think you’re on the preferred list when you’re on the bid list, the difference between those two things is your entire margin.”
Matthew built a free assessment that shows where the leaks are in your business development process. Where you’re solid. Where you’re losing revenue. Take the assessment here.
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Connect with Matthew Neuberger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neubergerco/
👉 More from Construction Genius
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