How to sell to Founders at Construction companies
Founders in construction are primarily measured on project profitability. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear impact on their bottom line, such as reducing costs or improving project timelines. Understanding their specific challenges, like managing subcontractor reliability or supply chain disruptions, can prompt a positive response to your outreach.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 564 construction company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- subcontractor reliability issues
- unexpected project delays
- rising material costs
- cash flow management
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent project delays
Research construction firms that have recently reported project delays in industry news or local publications. Use keywords like 'delayed project' or 'construction setback' to filter your list. These delays create urgency for solutions that can help them avoid future issues.
- 02
Target firms with rising material costs
Look for construction companies that have publicly discussed rising material costs in their financial reports or interviews. This signals a pain point where they may be seeking cost-saving solutions. Use industry reports or news articles to identify these companies.
- 03
Craft a message around subcontractor reliability
When reaching out, focus on the importance of subcontractor reliability and how it impacts project timelines. Mention specific examples of how other firms have improved their subcontractor management to enhance project delivery. This shows you understand their operational challenges.
- 04
Follow up after industry events
If a construction firm recently attended a trade show or industry conference, follow up shortly after. Reference the event in your outreach to create a connection. Firms are often looking for new partnerships or solutions after engaging with industry trends.
- 05
Schedule calls around project kickoffs
Identify when construction companies are starting new projects, as this is a peak time for decision-making. Use project timelines or public announcements to time your outreach. Founders are more likely to engage when they are in the planning phase of a new project.
Can construction companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 564 construction companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 19.2% of 1–10-person companies against 73% of the largest — 54 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Addressing your project delays
- Improving subcontractor reliability
- Navigating rising material costs
Questions
- Why do founders in construction ignore cold outreach?
- Founders often receive numerous cold outreach attempts, leading to desensitization. They may ignore messages that lack specific insights into their current challenges or fail to demonstrate a clear understanding of the construction industry. Tailoring outreach to their immediate pain points is crucial.
- What motivates construction founders to respond?
- Construction founders are motivated by solutions that directly impact profitability and operational efficiency. They respond to outreach that offers clear, actionable insights into how to reduce costs, improve timelines, or enhance subcontractor management. Demonstrating industry knowledge can also capture their attention.
- How can I demonstrate value to construction founders?
- To demonstrate value, share case studies or examples relevant to their specific challenges, such as reducing project delays or managing costs. Highlighting measurable outcomes and showing a deep understanding of the construction landscape will resonate more than generic pitches.
- What timing is best for reaching out to construction founders?
- The best timing for outreach is just before or during project kickoffs, as founders are actively seeking solutions to ensure smooth operations. Additionally, following up after industry events or conferences can also lead to higher engagement, as they are in a mindset to explore new partnerships.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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