Built to scale, or built around you?

Cash is running you. If one late payment would squeeze payroll, you have a visibility problem, not a work problem.

Fix this first: This Monday, build a 13-week cash forecast. Put payroll and tax in first, use realistic payment dates rather than hopeful ones, and update it every week. Then put every application, payment and retention date for your live jobs in one list.

You've got a handle on cash, but you're seeing weeks ahead, not months.

Fix this first: Stretch your forecast to 13 weeks and stress-test it: what happens if your biggest payer is a month late? Then check that every live job had its payment terms agreed in writing before a tool went on site.

Cash is under control. Keep it that way as you grow, because bigger jobs mean bigger gaps between paying out and getting paid.

Fix this first: Set a reserve rule, meaning how much stays in the business before you take anything out, and review it every quarter.

You're likely busy but not keeping enough of it. Underpricing is rarely a maths problem. It's usually fear of the empty diary.

Fix this first: Price your next job in four layers (direct cost, prelims, overhead recovery, margin) and decide your walk-away price before you send it. From today, nothing extra gets built until it's priced and agreed in writing.

Your pricing is better than most, but money is slipping out through overhead guesses or changes on site.

Fix this first: Work out your true overhead as a percentage of turnover from last year's accounts, and load it into every price. Start a variations register on every live job, and back-fill anything still open.

You price properly and you control change. At your level, the most profitable tender can be the one you decline.

Fix this first: Add a bid/no-bid check before every tender: client quality, payment terms, programme, win chance and risk. If it fails, walk away.

You're running on gut feel and the bank balance. By the time the accountant tells you, it's history.

Fix this first: Set up a simple P&L for every live job showing contract value, cost to date, forecast cost to complete and forecast margin. Update it weekly.

You're getting the numbers, but either too late or with nobody acting on them.

Fix this first: Take your last three finished jobs and compare what you priced against what they actually cost, line by line. The same leaks usually show up: rework, waste, buying, prelims and labour. Fix the biggest one first.

You know your numbers. Now make them work harder.

Fix this first: Give every KPI a threshold and an owner. For example: if forecast margin drops below your line, who reviews it, and when? If a number never changes a decision, stop reporting it.

Everything waits for you. That caps the business at your hours and makes it hard to ever step back.

Fix this first: Write down everything you did last week and mark what genuinely needs you. Hand over the first three things someone else could do to 80% of your standard. Don't take them back the first time they're not done your way.

You're off the tools, but you're still the bottleneck for the big stuff. Delegating without systems just moves the bottleneck.

Fix this first: Pick one area (pricing, cash or client communication) and give it a named owner, a written process and a weekly report back to you.

The business can run without you day to day. Now make it valuable without you.

Fix this first: Check your business against what a buyer looks for: clean management accounts, no client that's too big a share of your work, and a team that owns results. That's what gives you options, whether that's a sale, succession or simply freedom.

The business lives in your head and a few key people's. You're one resignation away from chaos.

Fix this first: Write your first SOP this week. Start with whichever of these hurts most: pricing, project start, variations, payment applications or close-out. And start recruiting before you need to.

You've got some systems and a decent team, but the system isn't yet stronger than the individuals in it.

Fix this first: Put one name against every function in the business. If a box still has your name in it, that's the work to do. Then set a weekly rhythm covering cash, projects, decisions and actions.

You've got strong systems, and a team that owns them.

Fix this first: Keep the standard as you grow. Define what great looks like in a new hire's first 90 days, keep recruiting all year, and be prepared to refresh the squad.

You're exposed. With short-term work and little buffer, one late payer or one quiet month can bite hard.

Fix this first: List every live opportunity, weight each one honestly by how likely it is to land, and look at your secured work on its own. That's the number that tells you when to sell harder. Then name your biggest single risk (a client, a supplier or a person) and write down what you'd do if it happened.

You've got some visibility ahead and some buffer, but not enough to plan with confidence.

Fix this first: Look at your pipeline three ways: secured only, secured plus probable, and everything. Use those views to plan recruitment and capacity, not just sales. And check that no single client is too big a share of your work.

Your pipeline and buffers are healthy.

Fix this first: Stress-test the business on a good day: your biggest client pays late, your largest supplier fails, a key person leaves. Plan the bad day now and it becomes survivable.