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The First 100 Days: Which Leadership Seats Should PE Firms Assess After Acquiring a Contractor?

After acquiring a construction company, sponsors should assess the CFO, operations leadership and the founder's role first. Here is how to prioritize leadership decisions in the first 100 days.

Shawn DesgrosellierOct 19, 20267-minute read

In the first 100 days after acquiring a construction company, assess three seats before anything else: the CFO, the head of operations, and the founder or outgoing owner's future role. Those three positions determine whether the company can produce sponsor grade reporting, deliver projects profitably at a larger scale, and keep the client relationships that justified the purchase price.

The three seats, and what each one protects
  1. Chief Financial Officer: sponsor grade reporting.
  2. Head of operations: profitable delivery at a larger scale.
  3. The founder's role: the client relationships that justified the purchase price.

01 · CEO turnover in private equityLeadership Change Is Not a Side Issue

In AlixPartners' 2026 Private Equity Leadership Survey of 427 investors and portfolio company executives, 65% of PE firms reported CEO turnover during the holding period (AlixPartners). An earlier AlixPartners study found that 58% of CEO replacements happened within two years of the deal (AlixPartners).

Data
Figure 1. Out of every 100: firms that changed the CEO, and replacements that came early
100 PE FIRMS 100 CEO REPLACEMENTS 65% of PE firms reportedCEO turnover duringthe holding period 58% of CEO replacementshappened within twoyears of the deal AlixPartners 2026 · 427 respondents Earlier AlixPartners study
Sources: AlixPartners 11th Annual Private Equity Leadership Survey (2026); earlier AlixPartners private equity survey.

Decisions made early, with good information, are far less disruptive than changes made in year two after performance slips.

02 · Founder built, relationship drivenWhy Construction Is Different

Many construction companies acquired by private equity are founder built and relationship driven. Revenue depends on a small number of people: the owner who knows the clients, the operations leader who knows how to staff jobs, the chief estimator who knows how to price risk, and a handful of superintendents and project managers whom clients specifically request. Many of these people have never worked under institutional ownership, monthly board reporting or an aggressive growth plan.

Illustrative
Figure 2. The revenue rests on a few people. Remove one and it tilts.
AT CLOSE IF ONE OF THEM LEAVES REVENUE AND BACKLOG Founder / owner Head of operations Chief estimator Supers and PMs ClientsStaffingRisk pricingRequests Four people carry the revenue REVENUE AND BACKLOG Founder leaves Head of operations Chief estimator Supers and PMs ClientsStaffingRisk pricingRequests Clients and backlog can follow the person out

That creates both the opportunity and the risk. The upside comes from professionalizing the business. The risk comes from disrupting the people who generate the revenue.

03 · Seat 1Chief Financial Officer

This is the most common upgrade. Many founder owned contractors have a controller or a long tenured finance lead who is excellent at job costing, billing and cash management but has never managed lender covenants, monthly sponsor reporting, add on acquisitions or an audit at a larger scale.

Hypothetical
Figure 3. Four questions to ask, and how a typical long-tenured finance lead scores
Assess
Why it matters after close
Typical result
Can the current finance leader produce accurate monthly WIP schedules and forecast fade and gain reliably?
The sponsor reads margin through the WIP every month.
Often strong
Can they manage a lender relationship and covenant reporting?
New debt brings covenants and lender reporting.
Often new
Have they integrated an acquisition before?
Add-ons are usually part of the plan.
Often new
Will they welcome a stronger finance leader, or leave if one is hired?
Losing them takes job cost knowledge with them.
Ask directly
A typical pattern for a founder-owned contractor, not a scoring of any real person.

Often the right answer is to hire a PE experienced CFO and keep the existing controller in a role where they excel.

04 · Seat 2Operations Leadership

The sponsor's growth plan usually assumes more volume, new markets or new sectors. The operations leader must deliver that growth without eroding margin. Assess whether they can scale systems, develop project managers, and hold the field accountable across more projects and more geography than they have managed before.

Hypothetical
Figure 4. What the growth plan asks of one operations leader
Today Growth plan Active projectsProject managersMetro marketsStates 5522 208 41 31 2.5×2.5×4×3×
Made-up numbers for a single-metro contractor. Judge the operations leader against the right-hand bars, not the left.

05 · Seat 3The Founder's Role

Founders frequently stay on after a recapitalization, sometimes as CEO, sometimes in a business development or chairman role. Define this early and in writing. Ambiguity about who makes decisions creates friction with the sponsor and confuses the team.

Illustrative
Figure 5. Write down who decides what. Example: the founder moves to business development
Decision
Founder
CEO
Sponsor board
Key client relationships
Leads
Joins
—
Bid and pricing approval
Consulted
Decides
—
Hiring senior leaders
—
Decides
Approves
Annual budget
—
Proposes
Approves
Add-on acquisitions
Consulted
Recommends
Decides
One possible split. The point is not this exact table, but that a table like it exists, in writing, before the team has to guess.
Plans on a table, where roles and decision rights are worked out

06 · Beyond the top threeOther Seats to Evaluate in the First 100 Days

  • Assess

    Director of Preconstruction or Chief Estimator

    Bid discipline, win rate by project type, risk pricing

  • Assess

    Business Development leader

    Client concentration, pipeline quality, reliance on the founder

  • Assess

    Safety Director

    Experience modification rate, program maturity, readiness for larger clients

  • Assess

    HR or People leader

    Ability to support rapid hiring, compensation design and integration

  • Assess

    Key superintendents and PMs

    Flight risk and client dependence

Hypothetical
Figure 6. A flight-risk map of the people clients ask for
Loading map…
HeadquartersHigh flight riskWatchRetention in place
A made-up Texas contractor. Building this map is part of the first 30 days: who holds which clients, and who is likely to leave.

07 · Day 1 to day 100A Practical 100 Day Sequence

Illustrative
Figure 7. The first 100 days on one page
DAYS 1–30DAYS 31–60DAYS 61–100 Meet every leaderMap who holds clientsConfirm retentionCompare to the planDecide each seatBegin searches Days 1 to 30 Days 1 to 30 Early, for critical people Days 31 to 60 Days 61 to 100 Searches begin and continue past day 100 critical people Develop · supplement · replace continues past day 100 → CloseDay 30Day 60Day 100
Days 1 to 30

Meet and map

Meet every leader individually. Map who holds client relationships and who is a flight risk. Confirm retention agreements are in place for critical people.

Days 31 to 60

Compare to the plan

Compare each leader's capabilities against the value creation plan, not against how the company ran before the deal.

Days 61 to 100

Decide and search

Decide which seats will be developed, which will be supplemented, and which will be replaced. Begin searches for any seat that needs to change.

08 · ClosingWhat This Means for Your Firm

In construction, the cost of changing leaders too slowly is usually larger than the cost of acting early. But changing the wrong person, or the right person in the wrong way, can trigger departures that take clients and backlog with them.

A structured assessment in the first 100 days gives sponsors the facts to move with confidence.

For the work that comes before close, see Talent Due Diligence: How to Evaluate a Construction Company's Leadership Before You Close.

Vitality Group works with private equity sponsors and their construction and real estate portfolio companies on leadership assessment and executive search. If you are planning for a recent or pending acquisition, we are glad to talk through priorities.

Sources

About the author
Shawn Desgrosellier is Founder, President and CEO of Vitality Group, an executive search firm specializing in construction and real estate, and founder of Vitality Talent Acquisition, which helps employers improve talent acquisition performance.

FAQCommon Questions

Which leadership seats should a PE firm assess first after acquiring a construction company?

The CFO, the head of operations, and the founder or outgoing owner's future role. Those three positions determine whether the company can produce sponsor grade reporting, deliver projects profitably at a larger scale, and keep the client relationships that justified the purchase price.

How common is CEO turnover in private equity portfolio companies?

In AlixPartners' 2026 survey of 427 investors and portfolio company executives, 65% of PE firms reported CEO turnover during the holding period. An earlier AlixPartners study found 58% of CEO replacements happened within two years of the deal.

Should a PE sponsor replace a contractor's controller with a CFO?

Often the right answer is to hire a PE experienced CFO and keep the existing controller in a role where they excel, such as job costing, billing and cash management.

What should happen in the first 100 days after a construction acquisition?

Days 1 to 30: meet every leader, map client relationships and flight risk, and confirm retention agreements. Days 31 to 60: compare each leader against the value creation plan. Days 61 to 100: decide which seats to develop, supplement or replace, and begin any searches.

Recent or pending acquisition?

Make the leadership decisions in the first 100 days, not in year two.

We work with private equity sponsors and their construction and real estate portfolio companies on leadership assessment and executive search.

Talk to Vitality Group