CASE STUDY: FAMILY SUCCESSION REDEFINED: HOW RIDGEWAY BUILDERS* GREW THE TEAM, THE BUSINESS & A GREAT TRANSITION
- Brad Gaulin
- Jul 30
- 5 min read

*NOTE: Names and certain identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy.
Industry: Mid‑sized General Contracting & ConstructionFamily Generation: First‑to‑secondEmployees: 85Annual Revenue: CAD $20 million
1. Background
Ridgeway Builders started in 1989 when master carpenter Paul Ridgeway left a large contractor to launch his own firm, focusing on commercial renovations across Alberta. Nearly four decades later, Paul was ready to step back—but he wasn’t convinced his children had the management depth to run the company alone. Privately, he considered selling to a larger contractor with a stronger executive bench. His daughter Megan, a civil engineer overseeing project management, and his son Daniel, who led estimating, both wanted the business to stay in the family. They recognised, however, that future growth hinged on building a broader and deeper leadership team—one that could find new clients, deliver projects on time, protect thin margins, and uphold Ridgeway’s hard‑earned image and reputation for craftsmanship.
Key Concern: “We can manage projects, but running every aspect of the company ourselves isn’t sustainable. We need a leadership team that can scale with us and uphold Dad’s standards.” — Megan Ridgeway, Incoming COO
2. Challenge
Limited leadership depth: Key decisions had always rested with Paul, he’d tried sharing responsibilities, but failed, leaving no senior bench strength for growth or emergencies.
Leadership not functioning as a cohesive team: Sales, estimating, project operations, and administrative leaders operated in silos, making for slowing decisions and creating friction.
Lack of documented processes: Inconsistent site planning, estimating, project delivery and back‑office procedures led to delays, cost overruns, missed billing and confusion.
Insufficient systems and timely information: Financial and operational data arrived weeks or even months late, making it difficult to manage cash, schedules, and risk. In some areas operations data wasn’t being collected at all, making optimization impossible.
Re‑work eroding profits: Quality issues and change‑order disputes consumed time, ate up profit margin and undermined client trust.
Difficulty attracting talent: The firm struggled to bring in and keep the right technical and administrative people needed to scale.
3. Approach
Action | Detail |
Engage a Business Growth Coach | The Ridgeways hired a MExit business growth coach with engineering / construction expertise to guide strategy, facilitate leadership team building, and to build a culture of accountability. Paul had tried and failed at growing the team’s performance himself, recognizing he is the captain of the team, not the coach and the team needed a coach to make it an effective high performing team. Harvard research found an external coach works better: |
Expand Leadership Depth |
Promoted high‑potential employees already in the business into four mission‑critical roles— COO, Project Construction Manager, Safety & HR Manager, and Business Development Manager—while engaging an external fractional CFO to provide strategic financial oversight and growth financing functions, relieving founder bottlenecks and signalling growth opportunities for staff. |
Install Strategic Planning & Execution Rhythms | Introduced annual strategic planning, quarterly strategy sprints, KPI reviews, and weekly “Monday Scrums” meetings that link task accountability, work backlog, current reality, and risk. |
Leadership Development | Family successors and non‑family managers received leadership & business skills training, structured mentoring, role rotations, and external certifications (Core Certification, Lean Construction). |
Document Processes & SOPs | Incorporated the new financial and operational software to standardised project workflows, cost tracking, estimating templates, and back‑office procedures to reduce errors and re‑work. |
Implement Systems & Reporting | Deployed a cloud‑based ERP, operations management and project‑management platform, delivering real‑time dashboards for operational performance including WIP, cash‑flow, and project cost‑to‑complete metrics; external fractional CFO oversees monthly closes. |
Organization‑Wide Training | Rolled out skills development in business, leadership, communications, project controls, safety, and change management to elevate performance at every level. |
4. Results (18 Months)
Metric | Baseline | 18‑Month Outcome |
Annual Revenue | CAD $20 M | CAD $33 M (+65 %) |
Net Profit | 7 % | 14 % |
Cash‑Flow Forecast Accuracy | ± 22 % variance | ± 7 % variance |
Re‑work Cost (% of revenue) | 4.5 % | 1.9 % |
Client Net Promoter Score (NPS) | 36 | 74 |
Employee Retention | 78 % | 90 % |
Qualitative gains
Rapid 65 % revenue growth was achieved without burnout; through clearer processes and shared leadership distributed workload and maintained high team morale.
Founder Paul Ridgeway confidently stepped back—from 55 to 15 hours a week—thanks to a leadership team he trusts to run day‑to‑day operations.
Topgrading disciplines enabled the hiring of A players and internal advancement. Employee engagement and retention climbed, with staff citing stronger communication and career‑path clarity.
Profitability was doubled, and debt and financing capacity to fund further growth was sourced, reflecting market confidence in the expanded management depth.
Client perspective
“Working with our business growth coach unified our leadership team around common goals. Transparency improved, accountability became part of our daily rhythm, and the discipline of regular planning gave us predictable results. Also, the universal skills training really connected us at all levels across the business. We now tackle challenges collaboratively and with greater confidence.” — Megan Ridgeway, COO
5. Lessons Learned

It takes a team to grow the business. Teams grow companies, not individuals. Individual effort—even from talented successors—was not enough; real progress began once roles were clarified, people were aligned and the extended leadership team worked as a single unit toward a shared vision they created.
Depth reassures customers and money. A visible, high performance leadership team, with a culture of accountability gave clients confidence to give them more work, their biggest revenue growth came from existing clients. It also gave their bank and other lenders to expand their access to capital to grow the business, greatly reducing the financial strain growth can create.
Role clarity, team‑training builds empathy and trust. Working through people skills and disciplines training as a team brought the team closer together from the shared experience and understanding they gained about each other, empathy breads trust that is the foundation of high performance teams.
Data driven decision making and healthy accountability. Real‑time financial and operational dashboards turned guesswork into evidence‑based decisions. It also made performance transparent and enabled the team to rally around each other and support each other when any team member struggled or needed help.
Culture travels through teams. When every department owns their part of a shared vision, hold to core values, promotes the behaviours that drive success and don’t tolerate destructive forces or individuals, it creates a pattern of behaviour that makes the business the best in class.
6. Next Steps for the Family Succession
With the business flourishing under the leadership of the next generation supported by a well balanced, high performing team, the family needs to focus on formally building a succession plan recognizing that a lot more wealth and potential legacy impact is being generated. This is specific to the family and does not involve the extended leadership team in the business.
Initiate Transparent Family Communication: Begin open, structured discussions to set clear expectations, timelines, and responsibilities for the formal family succession.
Establish Clear Governance Through Documentation: Create a formal family constitution or governance agreement outlining roles, responsibilities, and succession procedures to prevent misunderstandings and ensure alignment.
Continue to Empower the Next Generation Through Intentional Development: Continue the comprehensive leadership training and mentoring to empower the successors to take the business to the next level under their leadership.
Clearly Distinguish Ownership from Management: Use tools such as non-voting shares and professional boards to ensure fairness and merit-based management practices, preventing ownership disputes from disrupting the business.
Partner with Professional Advisors: Engage experienced family business advisors, life
coaches and others who can objectively guide discussions, mediate conflicts, and help develop and implement robust strategies and governance structures.
Grow the team around your family successors, and you’ll grow the business—safely and profitably—for the next generation. Building leaders around the next generation of family in your business takes time and intent. Starting now ensures your family business can thrive well into the future, regardless of family involvement.
Chief Transformation Officer
MExit Inc.
July 29, 2025
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