--- title: "FAQ: Working With Rechtien Consult | Rechtien Consult" description: "Straight answers for owners of manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses: how the work runs, what it costs, how long it takes, and how it ends." --- [Go Back Up](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/faq#top) [Skip to Content](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/faq#body) [![Rechtien Consult Nav Logo](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png?width=300&height=200&name=nav_logo.png "Rechtien Consult Nav Logo")](https://www.rechtienconsult.com?hsLang=en) Toggle Menu - [How We Help](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/how-we-help) Toggle children for How We Help Main Menu (Press to Return) \> How We Help - [Operations & Scaling](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/operations-consulting) - [Executive Leadership & Accountability](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/leadership-alignment) - [Execution Partnership](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/execution-partnership) - [About](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/about) - [FAQ](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/faq) - [Insights](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/insights) - [Resources](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/resources) - [Get Started](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/contact) # Frequently asked questions Straight answers to the questions owners of manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses ask before they bring in outside help. ## Who is behind this ### Have you actually run a business, or do you just advise? He has. Thomas Rechtien has sat in the seat: P&L responsibility, payroll that had to clear. A $150M+ industrial business run from the top, and the years before that on the floor and in the trade. He owns businesses of his own and has exited one, so the questions an owner eventually reaches are not theoretical to him. It is the first thing worth asking anyone who offers to help you run your business. ### Are you a coach, a consultant, or something else? All three, and the work lives where they meet: coaching you as the owner, facilitating your leadership team through the real decisions, and teaching the tools so your people can use them on their own. What we add on top is execution and accountability. We stay with the work in the weeks after the meeting, when decisions actually get done or quietly die, until your team can run it without us. That combination is what sets this apart. ### Do you know my industry, or will I spend six months explaining it? You know your industry better than any outside advisor ever will, and that is not what is missing. What most owner-led businesses are missing is how to run the company so it does not depend on one person. That is Thomas's expertise, from years in the top seat, and it carries across industries. He works mainly with owners of manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses, and it helps that he grew up in a carpenter's family, in his grandfather's carpentry shop, and spent his career in steel, manufacturing and industrial operations. So you will not have to explain what a backlog, a rush order or a missed delivery costs you, on the shop floor or on the job site. That makes the first conversation easier. It is not what makes the work work. ## What this is and how it works ### What do I actually get? For most owners the value shows up in one or more of three ways: revenue that was leaking from inconsistent execution gets back into the business; your team learns to run the business without everything going through you, which gives you your time back; and a business that runs without its owner is worth more when the day comes to sell or hand it on. Which of those matters most is different for every owner, and we find that out in the first conversation. ### How does the work run? We agree on the rhythm together, based on what your business needs: regular working sessions with you and your leadership team, if you have one, and real work assigned in between. Decisions do not die in the meeting. They die in the weeks after it, while everyone is busy. A short loop closes that gap: what was committed to gets looked at while it is still live, slippage shows up early, and accountability stops depending on anyone's memory. Between sessions your team does the work they committed to. ### Where are you based? Do you only work with businesses in Houston? Rechtien Consult is based in Houston, Texas. Thomas works with owners of manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses in the Houston area, across the US and in Germany. Most of the work runs virtually: the regular working sessions are on video, and we meet in person when it makes sense, which is easy to arrange in and around Houston. So where your business is located matters less than whether it fits: an owner-led business where the owner is still the ceiling. ### Does my whole leadership team have to be in the room? Usually, yes, because the goal is a team that runs the business without you, and that only happens if the team is part of it. Some engagements start with the owner one-on-one and bring the team in as it makes sense. If you do not have a leadership team yet, and plenty of good businesses do not, we start with you and build the team as part of the work. We decide that together at the start, based on where your business actually is. ### Is this another system we have to bolt on top of everything else? No. We do not hand you a binder of rules to follow. We coach judgment, not checklists. The work is built around how your business actually runs, and it replaces the firefighting and the meetings that go nowhere rather than adding to them. Most owners find they have fewer moving parts at the end, not more. ### How long before anything changes? Owners usually notice the difference in the first couple of months: fewer decisions landing on their desk and meetings that end with clear commitments. Making it stick takes longer. The Four Moves are worked through in order, typically over eighteen to twenty-four months, because habits change more slowly than org charts. ## Is it right for my business ### Is my business the right size for this? There is no hard number. What matters is whether the business has outgrown the way it's run. Where that point sits depends on the business: where materials are expensive or margins are thin, owners stay hands-on longer; in higher-margin firms the team can take over earlier. Our focus is owner-led manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses, but if the problem sounds familiar, it's worth a conversation. ### What if my business partner is not convinced? That is more common than most owners admit, and it is better to say it out loud early. We are happy to start with a conversation that includes both owners. If you do not agree on where the business needs to go, that is the first thing to work on, because nothing else holds until you do. ## Cost and commitment ### What does this cost? Every engagement is different, because every business is different. The goal is always the same, a company that runs without the owner in the middle of it, but the path there is built around your business. So there is no rate card on this page, and that is deliberate. Scope comes first: a conversation about what is actually stuck, what it is costing you now, and what would have to change. The price follows the problem. You get a specific number for a specific scope, before anything starts, and you will know what it is meant to return. What we will not do is quote you a monthly figure before we understand what you are buying. ### What am I committing to, and can I stop? The first three months are a fixed commitment, so the work has time to take hold. After that, either side can end it with 30 days' notice. You stay because it is working, not because you are locked in. You will know the scope and the price before anything starts. ### How much of my time does this take? The working sessions themselves, at a rhythm we agree on together, plus the follow-through you and your team commit to between sessions. The time comes back quickly, because the point is to take decisions off your desk, not to add meetings to it. ## Results and the end ### How will I know it is working? We agree at the start what success looks like for your business, in your terms, and we look at it every session. The signs are practical: fewer decisions coming back to you, commitments that get done on time, and a team that raises problems before you find them. If something is not working, you will hear it from us first. ### Does this ever end, or am I signing up for a permanent advisor? It is meant to end. We build what your team can run without us. The measure is not how long we stay; it is whether it still holds after we go. When your team can run it all without us in the room, the engagement is done. ## The alternatives ### Why not just hire a COO or a general manager? Sometimes that is the right answer, and we will tell you if it is. But a COO hired into a business that still runs on the owner usually ends up as one more person waiting for the owner's decision. The structure has to change first. Many owners hire that person later, into a business that is ready for them. ### Can't AI do this now? AI can draft a plan, a policy or an agenda in seconds. What it cannot do is sit in your leadership meeting, notice who went quiet, and hold your team to what they said last time. Accountability is a human job. We use AI where it saves time, and your team should too. ### How do I choose between advisors who all sound the same? Ask three questions. Have they actually run a business like yours? Can they tell you exactly how the work runs and with whom? And what happens when the engagement ends? Anyone worth hiring should answer all three plainly. Those are the same questions this page tries to answer. ## Still have a question? The fastest way to an answer is a short conversation. [Start with a conversation here.](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/contact?hsLang=en) [![Rechtien Consult Nav Logo](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png?width=300&height=200&name=nav_logo.png "Rechtien Consult Nav Logo")](https://www.rechtienconsult.com?hsLang=en) Copyright © 2026 Rechtien Consult. All rights reserved. | [Privacy Policy](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/privacy-policy?hsLang=en) | [Speaking](https://www.rechtienconsult.com/speaking?hsLang=en) +1 [(281) 845-4242](tel:+12818454242) · [assistant@rechtienconsult.com](mailto:assistant@rechtienconsult.com) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "areaServed" : [ { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "United States" }, { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "Germany" } ], "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "contactType" : "Business Inquiries", "url" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/contact" }, "description" : "Rechtien Consult provides coaching and an execution partnership for owner-led businesses in manufacturing, construction, and industrial services.", "founder" : { "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#thomas-rechtien" }, "image" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png", "knowsAbout" : [ "Leadership Coaching", "Leadership Accountability", "Sales Coaching", "Organizational Alignment", "Executive Coaching", "Scaling Businesses", "Post-Acquisition Integration" ], "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png" }, "name" : "Rechtien Consult", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/rechtien-consult" ], "telephone" : "+12818454242", "url" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#localbusiness", "@type" : "LocalBusiness", "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "US", "addressLocality" : "Houston", "addressRegion" : "TX" }, "areaServed" : [ { "@type" : "City", "name" : "Houston" }, { "@type" : "State", "name" : "Texas" } ], "description" : "Rechtien Consult provides coaching and an execution partnership for owner-led businesses in manufacturing, construction, and industrial services.", "founder" : { "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#thomas-rechtien" }, "image" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/hs-fs/hubfs/nav_logo.png" }, "name" : "Rechtien Consult", "parentOrganization" : { "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#organization" }, "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/rechtien-consult" ], "telephone" : "+12818454242", "url" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.rechtienconsult.com/#thomas-rechtien", "@type" : "Person", "description" : "Thomas Rechtien, founder of Rechtien Consult, works with owners of manufacturing, construction and industrial businesses who have a good business but are falling short on execution. 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