The Slow Season Is a Growth Opportunity for Contractors

For many contractors, the slow season means fewer projects, quieter schedules, and uncertainty about what's coming next. But what if a slower period wasn't a signal to pull back? What if it was an opportunity to get ahead?

According to Brisa Renteria, owner of Improve Floors and Design, contractors may be looking at the slow season all wrong.

"Slowing things down is not your season to slow down, it's your season to go out there and sell some stuff," Brisa said during a Togal20 webinar.

It's a mindset that has helped Brisa and her husband grow their flooring business from residential projects into larger commercial and multifamily opportunities. And it offers a useful lesson for contractors in any trade: Business growth doesn't have to stop when project activity slows.

Whether you're a general contractor, specialty subcontractor, or small business owner, slower periods can be a valuable time to strengthen your pipeline, improve your operations, and prepare for the opportunities ahead.

Here's how to make that time count.

1. Look for Opportunities Where Others See Slowdown

When business slows down, it's easy to assume your customers are slowing down, too. But that's not always the case.

As Brisa points out, many businesses are working against their own deadlines. Some need to use remaining budgets before the end of a fiscal year. Others are already planning upcoming projects and determining how much they'll spend in the next one.

That creates opportunities for contractors who stay engaged.

Instead of waiting for new projects to appear, use slower periods to reconnect with customers, follow up on outstanding bids, and identify work that may be ready to move forward.

A few ways to get started:

• Revisit outstanding bids. Reach out to prospects who haven't made a decision. Project timelines, budgets, and priorities can change, and a simple follow-up may reopen a conversation.
• Reconnect with past customers. Previous clients already know your work. Ask about upcoming projects, maintenance needs, or other opportunities where your team might be able to help.
• Ask about budget timelines. Understanding when customers allocate and spend their budgets can help you time your outreach and get involved earlier in the planning process.
• Look for smaller opportunities with room to grow. A modest project or initial engagement can help establish a relationship that leads to larger work later.

The goal isn't to pressure customers into spending money they don't need to spend. It's to make sure you're part of the conversation when they're ready to move forward.

2. Build Next Season's Pipeline Before It Arrives

Business development is often one of the first things to fall off the schedule when contractors get busy. Crews need managing, materials need ordering, and active projects demand attention. But consistent outreach is what helps create a steady stream of future opportunities.

Brisa has seen firsthand how important it is to take initiative rather than wait for business to come to you.

"Things are only going to move if you move. Like, how often do things just fall on your laps?" she said during the webinar.

For contractors, that means treating business development as an ongoing part of operations, not something to revisit only when work dries up. Slower periods offer a chance to step back and focus on the relationships and activities that can generate future work.

Consider these steps:

• Identify your target customers. Think about the GCs, developers, property managers, facility owners, or other businesses that regularly need your services.
• Research upcoming projects. Look for projects in planning or preconstruction where your trade or services may be needed.
• Schedule introductory conversations. Use quieter weeks to meet prospective clients, learn about their needs, and introduce your business before a bid opportunity comes up.
• Create a follow-up routine. Track conversations and set reminders to reconnect. A prospect who isn't ready today may have work available in a few months.
• Review where your best projects come from. Look at your previous work to identify the customer types, project sizes, and relationships that have delivered the most value.

The key is to build relationships before you need them. That way, when project activity picks up, you're not starting your sales efforts from scratch.

3. Invest in the Construction Software and Skills That Help You Compete for Bigger Projects

Sometimes, the biggest barrier to growth is adopting new processes — which takes time and effort. For Brisa and her husband, that became clear when they started moving beyond residential flooring into commercial and multifamily projects.

Their residential work had helped them build experience, establish relationships, and generate revenue. But larger projects came with a different set of requirements, including detailed construction plans and accurate quantity takeoffs.

Initially, they outsourced that work. But the results weren't what they needed.

"The information was not accurate," Brisa explained.

After trying another estimator, she encountered the same problems again: long turnaround times, high costs, and inaccurate results.

They realized they needed a better way to handle construction takeoffs if they wanted to pursue larger opportunities with confidence.

Brisa began researching construction takeoff software, came across Togal.AI, and decided to learn it herself.

Rather than casually experimenting with the software, she committed to figuring it out. She attended training webinars, asked questions, and worked through the platform's features until she could complete takeoffs independently.

Within about a month, she felt comfortable enough with the software to use it for real projects. During that period, Improve Floors and Design won a $311,000 project using Togal.AI.

For Brisa, the investment in learning a new tool opened up opportunities that previously felt out of reach.

Her experience highlights an important lesson for contractors: sometimes, improving your ability to pursue work is just as important as finding more work in the first place. Slower periods can provide the breathing room to identify and address those limitations.

Here's how to put that into practice:

• Identify your biggest bottlenecks. Is estimating taking too long? Are you spending too much time on administrative work? Are outdated processes making it harder to manage projects or respond to customers?
• Evaluate tools that solve specific problems. Look for technology that addresses your actual workflow challenges rather than adopting new tools simply because they're popular.
• Set aside time to learn. Training takes an investment of time, especially when you're already managing a business. Establish a realistic learning schedule and stick to it.
• Start with one process. Focus on improving a single workflow before introducing multiple new systems at once.
• Measure the results. Track how much time, money, or effort a new tool saves and whether it helps your team pursue opportunities you previously couldn't handle.

For contractors who regularly work with construction plans, AI-assisted takeoff software is one example of an investment worth evaluating. Tools like Togal.AI can help teams measure and count quantities faster, reduce manual work, and spend more time reviewing bids and managing opportunities.

The goal is to make your business better equipped to compete, not simply to add more technology to your workload.

4. Make Time for Forward-Thinking Work

One of the biggest challenges of running a construction business is that there's always something demanding your attention: Managing crews, ordering materials, coordinating projects, handling invoices, hiring employees, and keeping finances on track can easily consume an entire day.

Brisa understands that reality. She acknowledges that it's hard to prioritize learning and business development when you're constantly managing your company's immediate needs.

But she also emphasized that investing in your own education and capabilities is essential to long-term growth.

"You have to get to the point where you prioritize your own education, or you have somebody else who prioritizes this," she explained.

It's a simple idea, but putting it into practice requires a deliberate change in how you manage your time.

If every available hour is spent reacting to the day's problems, there's little room left to improve the business or prepare for what's next.

A slower period can be a chance to break that cycle.

Consider a few ways to make more room for strategic work:

• Block time for business development. Set aside dedicated hours each week for prospecting, following up on bids, and building relationships.
• Assign responsibility for learning. If you're introducing new software or processes, make someone accountable for learning the system and sharing that knowledge with the team.
• Set specific goals. Instead of vaguely planning to improve your business, establish measurable objectives, such as reconnecting with 10 previous customers or evaluating a new estimating workflow.
• Document your processes. Use quieter periods to create checklists, standardize recurring tasks, and identify work that could be delegated.
• Review your priorities regularly. Make sure your time is going toward activities that support both immediate operations and longer-term business goals.

Not every contractor has the resources to dedicate entire days to planning or training. Even a few focused hours each week can create momentum.

The important part is making strategic work a regular priority instead of something you only get around to when everything else is finished.

5. Grow Strategically, Not Just Quickly

Finding new business and increasing your bidding capacity are important goals. But growth also needs to be sustainable.

Brisa's experience offers a useful reminder that pursuing every available opportunity isn't necessarily the right strategy.

Before adopting Togal.AI, Improve Floors and Design was bidding on roughly two to three projects per month. With faster takeoffs, the company gained the ability to complete several bids within a week, depending on the projects involved.

But Brisa doesn't measure success simply by how many bids the company can submit.

"We have to manage our growth," she explained. "Can we take 10 jobs all at once? The reality of it is right now we can't."

Instead, Improve Floors and Design focuses on opportunities that match its current capacity. Depending on project size, the company can take on approximately two to three jobs at a time.

It's a deliberate approach that recognizes an important distinction: winning work and successfully delivering work are two different challenges.

For contractors, this is especially important during slower periods. The goal isn't to fill your pipeline with every possible project. It's to identify the opportunities that align with your capabilities, financial resources, and long-term objectives.

Before pursuing new work, consider:

• Your team's capacity. How many projects can your current workforce realistically handle without sacrificing quality or overloading your employees?
• Project profitability. Does the opportunity offer enough margin to justify the time, labor, materials, and resources required?
• Cash flow. Can your business manage the upfront costs and payment schedules associated with the project?
• Your existing commitments. Will taking on new work interfere with projects already underway or relationships you've established?
• Your long-term goals. Does this project help your business move toward the types of customers, contracts, and services you want to pursue?

A slower period is also a good time to assess whether your current operations can support the next stage of growth.

That might mean improving estimating workflows, building relationships with reliable subcontractors, training employees, or developing a clearer picture of your financial capacity.

The objective is to build a business that can take advantage of new opportunities without stretching itself too thin.

Make the Slow Season Work for You

A slower period doesn't have to mean putting your business goals on hold. It can be an opportunity to strengthen customer relationships, build your pipeline, improve your operations, and prepare for the projects you want to win next.

Brisa Renteria's experience shows what can happen when contractors take a proactive approach. By recognizing the limitations of her existing estimating process, investing time in learning new technology, and pursuing larger opportunities, she helped Improve Floors and Design expand beyond its original residential market.

Her advice is straightforward: don't wait for business to pick up before taking action.

As you plan for your next slower period, start with a few practical questions:

• Which existing relationships could lead to new work?
• What opportunities are already in your pipeline that deserve another look?
• What's the biggest bottleneck keeping your business from pursuing larger or more profitable projects?
• What skills, processes, or tools could help your team work more effectively?
• What kind of growth can your business realistically support?

You don't have to tackle everything at once. Choose one or two areas where you can make meaningful progress and build from there.

For more ideas, explore Brisa's guide to finding new business during the slow season, featuring actionable strategies and outreach ideas contractors can put to work.

And if estimating is one of the bottlenecks holding your business back, see how Togal.AI can help.

Request a custom demo of Togal.AI on your plans to see how AI-assisted takeoffs can help your team measure faster, manage quantities, and pursue new project opportunities with confidence.