Per Pettersson didn’t grow up dreaming of building houses… but today, his company, LinMak Construction, is setting a new standard for what it means to run a profitable, process-driven, and transparent building business.

On our most recent episode of Builders, Budgets, and Beers, Per joined Reece for a conversation about what makes great projects actually great. They covered everything from scheduling chaos and bank draws to breaking bad habits and redefining professionalism in the trades. What followed was a crash course in construction financials, led by a builder who learned the business not through blueprints, but through data.

A Builder with a Business Mindset

Per didn’t come from the field. His career started in mortgages, then moved into analytics consulting, marketing, and a five-year stint at Microsoft. Along the way, he flipped houses on the side. But the itch to build full-time wouldn’t go away. Coming out of COVID, he spotted a path: partner with a bank-backed spec program, reduce the upfront risk, and finally launch a company that ran construction like a real business.

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That mindset, shaped by years in tech, never left.

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“I’d been in project management, analytics, and software," says Per. "Construction was just another kind of project. There are steps. There are people. You plan it, you execute it.”

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And that’s exactly how LinMak was born.

The Cost of Chaos

Per’s early realizations weren’t about aesthetics or materials. They were about speed and clarity. Especially when it came to spec building, he saw that the true margin killer wasn’t materials. It was time. “We’re paying $800 to $1,000 a day in interest on some of these projects. Every delay costs real money.”

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Missteps in the schedule, like failing to account for tight infill site access, could create avoidable cost overruns. In one case, he had to pause framing on a front unit so they could crane drywall into a rear unit before it was blocked. Without that move, they’d have hand-carried sheets up three stories.

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“I realized that sequencing wasn’t just a scheduling issue. It was a financial strategy.”

Where Project Management Meets Profit

It’s one thing to finish a job. It’s another to run a business that lasts. That realization pushed Per to find the systems and workflows that brought financial clarity to every project.

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Here’s what he saw early on:

• Delays bleed margin. On a spec home, every day of interest carry adds up fast—especially when you’re borrowing millions.
• Disorganization kills leverage. Rushing to order materials last minute means paying more and losing out on supplier competition.
• Site access is strategy. If you don’t plan for equipment or delivery timing, you’ll burn labor hours solving problems you could’ve avoided.
• Every day has a cost. Whether it’s delays, rework, or carrying costs, poor project planning hits your bottom line directly.

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These weren’t abstract ideas. They were real, tangible costs. And Per knew the only way to scale was by avoiding them entirely.

A Smarter Financial Foundation

Per’s experience watching his wife’s interior design budgets get gutted due to builder oversights lit a fire. “These projects come in over budget, and it’s the finishes—what people actually see—that get cut. That’s a communication and planning failure.”

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He made financial clarity a core part of LinMak’s model. That meant setting up meaningful cost codes, aligning them to bank draw schedules, and tracking job costs in a way that kept everyone (subs, clients, lenders) on the same page.

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“I’m not trying to track every screw. I’m trying to build accurate budgets I can learn from and use on the next job.”

Don’t Mistake Complexity for Control

With a background in software, Per sees the trap many builders fall into: buying powerful tools they don’t have time to maintain. “The expensive part of software isn’t the subscription. It’s the time it takes to run it. If it needs a full-time admin to be effective, it’s not saving you anything.”

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He tried tools that boasted product catalogs and down-to-the-nail estimates. But those tools required hours of data entry, upkeep, and training.

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“You feel productive when you build that perfect estimate or catalog. But was that 10 hours better spent finding a better trade or solving a real problem? Usually not.”

Advice for Builders Who Want to Grow

Per’s not out to prove he’s the smartest guy on the job. But he’s built a model that works, and he’s done it without pretending to be something he’s not.

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“Run great projects. Communicate. Be upfront. You don’t need to be a financial expert, but you do need to care about your numbers.”

That commitment to planning, clarity, and professionalism is what keeps LinMak lean, fast, and growing.

Want More from Per?

He recently joined Adaptive for a webinar on labor tracking, showing how he cut 40+ minutes of admin time per project, per month by linking approved time directly to his draw process.

Watch the webinar

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