This is the time of year when "next year will be different" starts echoing around.
Sort the accounts. Get on top of cashflow. Finally pay yourself properly.
These aren't bad intentions. But they're not goals either. They're resolutions.
And there's a massive difference.
Why Resolutions Don't Work
This isn't a construction problem. It's a human problem.
Most business owners - in any industry - set vague intentions at the start of the year, get buried in the day-to-day by mid-January, and by March they've forgotten they ever had a plan.
But in construction, the day-to-day hits harder than most. Sites don't wait. Problems need solving now. And when you're juggling jobs, chasing payments, and managing a team, the "goals" you set in January get buried fast.
Here's why it happens:
The goals are too vague. "Grow the business" means nothing. Grow revenue? Grow profit? Grow team? Grow stress? Without specifics, there's nowhere to aim.
They're based on feelings, not numbers. If you don't know your current gross margin, how can you set a target margin? You're guessing in the dark.
There's no weekly visibility. A goal without a tracking system is just a wish. You need to see progress - or lack of it - regularly.
The business takes over. By mid-January you're back fighting fires. Chasing payments. Dealing with site issues. The "goals" get buried under reality.
There's no accountability. Nobody's checking in. Nobody's holding you to it. And when nobody's watching, it's easy to let things slide.
What Real Goal-Setting Looks Like
I've worked with construction business owners who spent years telling themselves "this year I'll sort the finances." Nothing changed until they stopped making resolutions and started setting actual goals.
The difference? Real goals are specific, measurable, and tied to a system.
Here are five financial goals that actually work for construction businesses:
1. A gross margin target. Not "make more profit" - a specific number. "25% minimum on every job." You can measure that. You can track it job by job. And you'll know immediately when you're off track.
2. Days to payment. "Get average payment days under 30." Cashflow kills more construction businesses than bad work. Knowing this number - and improving it - keeps you solvent.
3. A cash buffer. "Three months' operating costs in reserve by June." This is the difference between surviving a slow month and panicking every time a payment's late.
4. Overhead percentage. "Keep overheads under 15% of turnover." As you grow, overheads creep up. Setting a target keeps you honest about where the money's going.
5. Owner's pay. "Pay myself £5K a month consistently." If you're not on this list, you're subsidising every job. You built this business to support your life - not the other way around.
These aren't arbitrary numbers. They're the metrics that separate construction businesses that thrive from those that just survive. Pick the one that matters most to your situation right now, and make that your focus.
From Annual to Weekly
The biggest mistake I see? Setting an annual goal and hoping it happens.
Hope isn't a strategy. Systems are.
Here's how to actually make progress:
Take your annual target - say, £200K net profit - and break it down.
Quarterly: £50K per quarter.
Monthly: £16.6K.
Weekly: Am I on track? What does my WIP say? What's coming in, what's going out?
When you know the weekly number, you can course-correct before it's too late. You spot problems in February, not December. You catch margin slippage on a job while there's still time to do something about it.
When you only look annually, you find out in December that you missed it - and there's nothing you can do. By then, the year is done. The decisions have been made. The money has either come in or it hasn't.
Weekly visibility changes everything. It turns a vague annual ambition into a series of small, manageable checkpoints. And those checkpoints are where real progress happens.
Your 30-Minute 2026 Planning Session
Before the new year starts, set aside 30 minutes and do this:
Write down last year's actual numbers. Open your accounts or bank statements. What was your turnover? Gross margin? Net profit? Don't guess - look. If you don't know your gross margin, that's your first problem to solve. You can't improve what you don't measure.
Set ONE financial target for 2026. Not five. One. The one that would change everything if you hit it. Ask yourself: if I could only improve one number this year, which one would make the biggest difference? For most construction businesses, it's margin or cash buffer.
Break it into quarters. If your target is £60K net profit, that's £15K per quarter. What does Q1 need to look like to stay on track? What jobs need to land? What margins need to hold?
Pick your measurement. How will you track progress? Monthly management accounts? A simple spreadsheet? It doesn't need to be fancy - it needs to be consistent. The best tracking system is the one you'll actually use.
Book a monthly review. Put 30 minutes in your calendar. First Monday of every month. Non-negotiable. This is where goals become real - regular review and adjustment. Miss this step, and you're back to hoping.
That's it. Five steps. Thirty minutes. Do this before January hits, and you'll be ahead of most business owners who are still running on resolutions and good intentions.
The Real Difference
The difference between construction business owners who grow and those who stay stuck isn't intelligence. It isn't luck. It isn't working harder.
It's specificity. It's measurement. It's the discipline to review, adjust, and keep going - even when the site problems pile up and the invoices need chasing.
The owners who make progress aren't superhuman. They just have a number they're aiming for, a way to track it, and a regular rhythm of checking in. That's the system. Everything else is noise.
A resolution is something you say after a few drinks on New Year's Eve.
A goal is something you track, measure, and actually hit.
So here's the question: what's your one number for 2026?
If you can answer that clearly - with a specific figure, a timeline, and a way to measure it - you're already ahead. If you can't, you've got some thinking to do before January.
The new year is coming either way. The only question is whether you'll spend it chasing vague intentions or hitting real targets.
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