Home inspectionOwner-led, local
Over seven years we grew from about $250K to $550K. The bigger win was getting cash flow from negative to reliably positive by getting clear on the numbers.
Fractional COO for owner-led service businesses
You didn’t start a business to feel stuck in it.
I help owners get out of the middle of their own business: your time back, your margins up, and a team that carries the day-to-day so you can lead.
The Owner Bottleneck Score is free and takes about 5 minutes. It shows how much the business still depends on you and what that costs. If it shows I can help, I’ll invite you to a free First Fix Session.
- 13+ yearsrunning operations in owner-led service businesses
- $1.7M → $2.7Mrevenue at the company I run ops for, with the bottlenecks removed
- Negative to positivecash flow, once the numbers were clear
- 2x, two years runningpest control division revenue, without matching headcount
01 / Who this is for
Busy isn’t the same as working.
Owner-led businesses, roughly $1–20M and 5–100 people, where growth or profit is stuck because operations can’t keep up.
- “We’re busy, but the margins don’t show it.”
- “Everything still runs through me. I’m the bottleneck.”
- “We’re about to hire an ops manager.”Often the wrong first hire. Systems first.
- “I don’t trust our numbers. It’s all in spreadsheets and one person’s head.”
- “We keep dropping balls as we grow.”
- “We should be using AI but don’t know where to start.”
02 / How an engagement moves
An operation that doesn’t need you for everything.
You decide how involved you want to be. I build the business to hold that line: systems handle what they should, your team handles the rest, and you’re in the work you choose.
Five stages, in this order.
- DiagnoseFind where time and margin are leaking.
- StabilizeCalm the fires, restore rhythm and clarity.
- SystemizeSOPs, ownership, scorecards.
- AutomateAI on the repetitive layer.
- Hand offYour team owns the machine.
In scope
- Operational turnaround: chaos to scalable systems
- Team build-out: hiring, onboarding, coaching daily ops
- Financial visibility: KPIs, margin, cash-flow infrastructure
- Sales & CRM operations: the machinery around sellers
- AI & automation: custom tools and agentic workflows inside the operation
- Operating cadence: weekly leadership rhythm and scorecards
Out of scope
- Bookkeeping / accounting execution
- Marketing & sales campaign execution
- Building software products outside your operation
- 24/7 on-call firefighting
Engagements often start in emergency mode. The point is to exit it.
03 / After the First Fix
The Owner Bottleneck Diagnostic.
If your First Fix Session shows there’s more to untangle, this is the next step. Over two to three weeks, I map where your time and margin are leaking and hand you a plan your team can run.
- Your time
- About 4 to 6 hours in total
- Timeline
- Two to three weeks, kickoff to readout
My promise: If the readout doesn’t give you a plan you’d actually act on, tell me and I’ll refund the fee.
Start with a free First Fix Session
Price quoted after your First Fix Session.
What I do
- Kick off with you: where your week goes, and what better looks like in 90 days
- Short interviews with the two to four people closest to the day-to-day
- Walk your core workflow, from first contact to cash collected
- Look at the numbers you already have, wherever they live today
- Review the decisions and questions that still route through you
What you get
- A one-page workflow map, with a name on every handoff
- A draft decision-rights list: what the team decides, and what stays with you
- A draft weekly scorecard: up to ten numbers, each with an owner
- The leaks ranked, with a rough cost in hours and dollars for the top three
- A 90-day plan: what to fix, in what order, and who owns each piece
- A 60-minute readout where we walk through it together
04 / Free · 5 minutes
How much does your business still need you?
The Owner Bottleneck Score: your operator profile, what it costs you in hours and dollars, and the first fix for your two biggest bottlenecks.
Take the Owner Bottleneck ScoreReal-world questions about your week, your people, and your numbers. Instant results.
ProfileThe Human Router
Hrs / week tied up14
Sample resultYours uses your numbers
Free guide · 8-minute read
5 Ops Leaks Keeping Owner-Led Businesses Stuck
Where time and margin quietly drain out of growing businesses, what each leak costs, and one first fix per leak you can start this week.
Read the guide05 / Where I’ve learned this
Built inside real businesses.
Pest control divisionGeneral Manager
Helped build a division from the ground up. Revenue doubled year over year for two years, without adding headcount at the same pace.
National field marketingDirector of Operations
Came in when operations were stretched thin. Rebuilt the core day-to-day systems alongside the team, and trained the people who now run them.
Custom ops toolsIn daily use
An operations portal for campaign status and kit logistics, a work-order intake that replaced Airtable and feeds the project system automatically, and a spend-control layer that ties event spending to approved budgets. Built with the team, used by the team.
“Nathan was our General Manager and was always so pleasant to work with! He was innovative and developed systems that helped our company track things better and established a stronger outreach in marketing, financial, and personnel. We would recommend him to anyone who wants to improve all avenues of their business!”
Dawn WilderOwner, Ace Home Inspection“Nathan provided a deep understanding of sales, marketing, and organization. His ability to develop talent is unmatched as is his drive for continuous improvement. Ultimately his leadership is service oriented and ethical, a complementary disposition for his commitment and accountability.”
Michael DantonaMarketing Director, InspecticoreClient reviews: Upwork · GoFractional
06 / About Nathan
Hands-on, then hands-off.
I help owners build operations that don’t need them for every decision, pairing hands-on leadership with the right tools so the gains last instead of creating new bottlenecks.
13+ years leading operations in owner-led service businesses: home inspection, pest control, and field marketing. Currently Director of Operations at a national field marketing agency. Previously General Manager at Extermicore, Systems Strategist at Inspecticore, and Company Manager at Ace Home Inspections.
- Commitment
- Starts with a fixed-scope diagnostic, then 10–15 hrs/week
- Location
- Remote nationwide · on-site in West Michigan (Grand Rapids area) · leading remote teams since 2020
07 / Common questions
Straight answers.
What owners usually ask before we talk.
What does a fractional COO do?
A fractional COO runs operations part-time for a business that needs senior operations leadership but not a full-time executive. I build the systems, set the weekly operating rhythm, coach the team that runs the day-to-day, and put the right tools in place, so the business stops depending on the owner for every decision. After a fixed-scope diagnostic, engagements are usually 10 to 15 hours a week.
How is this different from hiring an operations consultant?
Most consultants hand you a plan and leave your team to build it. I build it with them: the workflows, the scorecards, the decision rights, and when it helps, the custom tools and automations. The goal is systems your team is already using when I step back, not a binder on a shelf.
Who is this for?
Owner-led service and trade businesses, roughly $1M to $20M in revenue with 5 to 100 people, where growth or profit is stuck because operations can’t keep up and too much still runs through the owner.
How does working together start?
Start with the free Owner Bottleneck Score, about 5 minutes. If it shows I can help, I invite you to a free 45-minute First Fix Session on Google Meet, where we build the first fix for your biggest bottleneck together. If there’s more to untangle, the next step is a two-to-three-week Owner Bottleneck Diagnostic that ends with a 90-day plan.
How much does it cost?
The Owner Bottleneck Score and the First Fix Session are free. The diagnostic is a fixed price, quoted after the First Fix Session, and if the readout doesn’t give you a plan you’d act on, I refund the fee. Ongoing fractional work is priced by scope and hours.
Do you work remotely?
Yes. I work with owners across the US remotely and have led remote teams since 2020. I’m also available on-site in West Michigan, around Grand Rapids.
Where does AI fit in?
After the process is clear, not before. I use AI and automation on the repetitive layer, like intake, reminders, follow-up, and reporting, and build custom tools inside the business when off-the-shelf software doesn’t fit. Automating a broken process just breaks it faster.
What is the Owner Bottleneck Score?
A free scorecard of about 20 questions about your last few weeks. It gives you an owner-dependency percentage, the gap between how involved you want to be and how involved the business makes you, your operator profile, an estimate of the hours and dollars tied up in work your team should be handling, your blind spots, and the first fix for your two biggest bottlenecks.
08 / Next step
Start with a free First Fix Session.
Take the 5-minute scorecard first. If it shows I can help, I’ll invite you to a 45-minute working session on Google Meet where we build the first fix for your biggest bottleneck together.
- I read your answers before we meet, so we start with your numbers
- 45 minutes on Google Meet, spent on your biggest bottleneck
- You leave with the fix drafted, plus a short 90-day plan
- If I’m not the right help, I’ll tell you, and point you somewhere better
My promise: You leave with the fix drafted, not just discussed, or the next session is on me.
I take 3 of these a month. Slots open again on the 1st.
“He was innovative and developed systems that helped our company track things better…”
Dawn Wilder, Owner, Ace Home Inspection
Rather just email? [email protected] · LinkedIn
Know someone this might help? Forward this page or introduce us by email. I’ll follow up and keep you posted.