Winning the Big Contract Isn't the Risk. Delivering It Is | ft. Rafael Diaz | Ep. 519

🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 Book a Free Strategy Call with Tradie Web Guys: https://tradie.wiki/tssyt Most trade business owners talk themselves out of the bigger job before they even price it. The competitor looks too big, the paperwork looks too heavy, and staying at the size that feels safe starts to look like the smart call. Matt Jones sits down with Rafael Diaz from Diaz Group LLC in Chicago, who started out on his dad's landscape crews and has grown the business from residential patios to City of Chicago municipal contracts, a national subcontractor network and now maintenance contracts in Mexico. His view is blunt: the risk was never winning the contract. It's whether your systems and your leadership team can handle what comes after. Rafael walks through the four checks he runs before bidding on any contract (pricing, understanding the contract, capacity, and leadership readiness), how he breaks a won contract down into crews of vendor partners and keeps quality control across them, why "always hiring" is the only way to have people ready when the bid lands, and the four-step onboarding process every new hire goes through, from field worker to office lead. If you've been circling a tender that feels a size too big, this one will tell you whether it's a real capacity problem or just fear. 🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/RPY-nZLaY-U KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:09 - Meet Rafael Diaz 02:00 - From Residential to Municipal Contracts 04:06 - Going International Into Mexico 06:16 - Everything Starts With a Vision 08:49 - Community Service as a Growth Strategy 12:03 - Owner Operator to Business Process Mentality 16:05 - Getting Subcontractors to Follow Your Systems 20:05 - Breaking a Contract Down Into Crews 21:22 - Quality Control Across Subcontractor Crews 24:48 - Taking the Model to Mexico 31:27 - The Four-Step Onboarding Process 34:08 - Field Training and Safety Standards 37:17 - Four Checks Before Bidding on a Big Contract 41:43 - Always Hiring: Building a Recruitment Pipeline 43:12 - Is Your Leadership Team Ready? 46:14 - Promoting From Within and Career Paths 52:23 - Closing Remarks and Resources About the Guest: Rafael Diaz Rafael (Rafa) Diaz is the co-founder of Diaz Group LLC, a Chicago landscape maintenance, vegetation control and snow removal business he started with his brother Ruben in 2007 after growing up working on his father's crews. The business has moved from residential design-build to commercial work, City of Chicago municipal contracts, regional Midwest contracts and a national footprint delivered through subcontractor "vendor partners", and is now six months into its first contract in Mexico. Around the main business Rafael has built an ecosystem of support companies, including Master the How, a training and systems implementation business, and an equipment rental company that helps his subcontractors deliver to standard. Website: https://diazgroupllc.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-diaz-840aba13/ CONNECT WITH THE TRADIE WEB GUYS! Website: https://www.tradiewebguys.com.au/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TradieWebGuysOfficial?sub_confirmation=1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TradieWebGuysOfficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tradiewebguys/ LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/tradie-web-guys Matt's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamthemattj/ If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed Love the audio version of this podcast? Subscribe to the link below: ⭐ https://followthepodcast.com/TheSiteShed #podcast #thesiteshed #tradiewebguys #commercialcontracts #tradiebusiness #businesssystems #leadership #subcontractors #scaleup Your Next Step: Join Tradie Academy, our free community packed with templates, checklists, and resources shared by podcast guests, coaches, and successful tradies. 👉 Join free and grab your next growth tool here: https://tradie.wiki/pod Follow The Site Shed: Facebook: The Site Shed Instagram: @thesiteshed LinkedIn: Matt Jones Website: thesiteshed.com YouTube: @TheSiteShed If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed Love the audio version of this podcast? Subscribe to the link below: ⭐ https://followthepodcast.com/TheSiteShed