Lean Dirt: Add 2–5 Net Margin Points in 12 Months

For $5M–$30M Civil Contractors

Add 2–5 Net
Margin Points
in 12 Months.

If you're doing $5M–$30M in civil and still feel like every job runs through you, you're not broken. You've just grown faster than your systems. We help you install the structure so your business hits its profit targets without you holding it together by hand.

Book a Free Operations Review 30 minutes to see where your margin is leaking today and what to fix first.

Sound Familiar?

You're Working Hard.
The Business Isn't.

Contractors in the $5M–$30M range all describe the same pattern: top line is healthy, but net margin feels stuck at 2–4% and fragile. Revenue is there, but it feels like you're constantly putting out fires instead of building something.

Field crew reviewing plans on site

You're the answer to every question on every job. Nothing moves without you, and every hour you spend there is an hour you're not running the business.

Equipment goes down and nobody knows what to do, or what broke it in the first place. Downtime is eating your margin and nobody's tracking it.

You know money is leaking somewhere: rework, schedule slip, idle time. You just can't put your finger on exactly where or how much.

Rework and variation are just "part of the business." You've accepted it. But every callback and redo is a direct hit to your net margin.

You've tried to get more organized. It works for a week, then the job takes over again and the profit you thought you'd protect slips away.

You can't honestly tell someone exactly how work is supposed to get done around here, which means you can't fix what's costing you.

If three or more of those hit and you're between $5M and $30M, this call was built for you.

The Actual Problem

Industry Average
Sucks.

Most civil contractors assume the margin squeeze is just the nature of the work. It's not. It's the natural outcome of a business that has grown faster than its systems.

The real gap isn't effort. You're already working hard. The gap is systems thinking: the ability to see your operation as a set of repeatable processes, identify where friction and cost live, and build the structure that turns top-line revenue into bottom-line margin.

That's a learnable skillset. And it changes everything: how you make decisions, how your team operates, how work actually gets done in the field, and how many of those dollars you actually keep.

What You Get

The Free Net Margin
& Operations Review

In 30 minutes, we'll map where margin is leaking today and what has to change over the next 12 months to add 2–5 net points.

01

Your Current Net Margin Snapshot and a Clear 12-Month Target

We benchmark where you are today and define what a realistic 2–5 point improvement looks like for your specific business, revenue range, cost structure, and all.

02

Plain-English Language for Why Your Profit Is Stuck

Most owners know the numbers are off but can't name the cause precisely. We'll give you the framework to understand it and explain it clearly to your team.

03

A Concrete First Project to Start Closing the Gap This Month

Whether you work with us or not, you leave with one specific thing to act on: a real starting point toward that 2–5 point margin improvement, not vague advice.

What Happens After

The Operations Review is the first step of a larger 12-month engagement, not a standalone freebie. If we find a real 2–5 point margin opportunity (and we usually do), we'll show you exactly what the full program looks like: what the work is, how long it takes, and what it costs. No pressure, but we're going to be direct about what we see.

Right Fit

Who This Is For
And Who It Isn't

This is for you if

  • You're a civil contractor doing $5M–$30M in annual revenue (typically under ~50 people)
  • You're the owner in an overhead role, not running a crew every day
  • Revenue is healthy but net margin feels stuck, fragile, or hard to explain
  • You're willing to look honestly at how work actually gets done
  • You want to build something that runs without you in every conversation

Skip this if

  • You're under $5M in revenue or still in the field full-time
  • You only want more bids, not a better-run business
  • You want a consultant to come in and do it for you
  • You think the problems are entirely your team's fault
  • You're looking for a quick fix with no follow-through

Who You're Talking To

Why Lean Dirt

Zack Estes speaking at Dirt World Summit

Lean Dirt helps $5M–$30M civil contractors add 2–5 net margin points in 12 months. Operational excellence coaching has never been built for the dirt world. Most frameworks are written for manufacturers, tech companies, or corporate ops teams. None of it translates cleanly to a field-based business.

We work exclusively with civil contractors. The frameworks we use (lean methodology, systems thinking, continuous improvement) are adapted for how this work actually runs: variable sites, equipment and labor-dependent production, and owners who have grown past the field but whose business hasn't caught up. Our 12-month program includes a 3-day onsite to map your operation, two coaching calls per month, and daily WhatsApp access to keep momentum between sessions.

The Operations Review is where we decide if there's a real 2–5 point margin opportunity and whether we're the right partner to chase it. If the answer is yes on both sides, we get to work.

Ready?

30 Minutes.
Real Answers.
No Obligation.

Book the call. Show up ready to talk honestly about your operation. Walk away knowing what to do next.

Book Your Free Operations Review Spots are limited. Zack works with a small number of operators at a time.