The legal lens behind every episode

Premier took on Plaza Coral Gables, a $10 million contract. The largest job the company had ever done was $5 million. Gary signed it without seeing two risks.

The first was in the plant. Precast makes its money by pouring the same mold again and again. This job called for about 7,500 pieces of concrete and 6,800 different molds, so almost nothing could be reused.

The second was time. The general contractor signed the subcontract seven months later than planned, and the finish date did not move. A company that had never needed more than 35 people on a job suddenly had 135 on site.

Premier lost about $2.5 million on the job itself. With more than $2 million of overhead left uncovered, the company finished 2022 down $5 million. At the peak, labor on site was running over $100,000 a week.

Gary’s own read: not many companies with $10 million to $15 million in revenue take a $5 million loss and come out the other side.

He built a preconstruction department that sits in operations, not sales. Every job is planned before it is priced, down to how many molds it will take, whether Premier wins the bid or not.

He set limits he calls bumpers. Premier no longer takes a job over $3.75 million, and it passes on precast work above 200 panels.

He moved the installation risk. On large cast stone jobs, Premier now supplies the material and leaves installation to masonry and stucco contractors who already know how to run crews that size.

And he spread the work out. The largest job on his desk today is $2 million, and his ideal year is 36 half million dollar jobs, so one bad project can no longer take the company down.

Garzone Construction grew fast. The average project went from a couple hundred thousand dollars to over $1 million in two years, with five to ten contracts running at once. To keep up, Anthony got himself out of the field and behind a desk, where he could work on marketing, advertising and the company’s finances.

Then he let go completely. For about a year he handed every job to his field team and was not present for any of the client meetings.

Referrals. The work itself came out well, but on projects that run a year to 18 months, clients wanted to hear from the person whose name is on the contract, and they were not getting that from the field staff.

Anthony does not put a dollar figure on it. He says it cost him referrals from clients who would otherwise have recommended him.

He stayed out of day to day project management and put himself back in front of clients. He calls it a wobble instead of balance: when he has leaned too far toward the office, he leans back toward the field.

That means showing up at job sites, a monthly meeting, and regular calls to clients that are not about the job at all. Five minutes to ask how they are doing and remind them he is there if they need him.

Those calls surface small problems early, like a crew that left a mess outside, and they often turn into a conversation about the next project.