Regional general contractor — ENR Top 400
The shortlist problem
A $1.1B contractor was losing work before the interview. We rebuilt how the portfolio told its own story.
- SOQ rewrite
- Messaging framework
- Interview deck
12% → 41%
SOQ shortlist rate over two quarters
Education · Civic · Commercial
The problem
Their statements of qualification were project-data dumps — forty pages of square footage, delivery methods and safety statistics with no argument underneath them. Evaluators scored them competent and forgot them by lunch.
What I wrote
- 01
Interviewed three project executives and two owner's reps to find the through-line: this firm finishes occupied buildings on active campuses without ever closing a door.
- 02
Built a messaging spine around uninterrupted operations, then rewrote the first four pages of every SOQ to lead with it.
- 03
Cut the project list to six builds that proved the claim and gave each one a decision, an obstacle and a result.
The outcome
Two quarters later, the shortlist rate moved from 12% to 41% across public and private pursuits. Their proposal manager reports that evaluators now quote the firm's own language back to them in debriefs.
Next case study
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