Scaling Electrical Contracting Without The Meltdown: Richard Sajiun's Capacity Rules

Growth that outruns systems becomes chaos. New York–based electrical contracting executive, Richard Sajiun’s rule is simple: if backlog climbs faster than staffing, compliance, and bonding capacity can scale, you pass on the work — because reputations don’t survive rework and missed inspections. His insights, drawn from over three decades in the field, point to a reality often left out of the success stories: scaling an electrical business is as much about restraint as it is about drive.

When Revenue Outruns Systems

In industries like construction and electrical contracting, reputations are fragile and mistakes are expensive. A project delivered poorly doesn’t just cost money, it can cost years of credibility. Many contracting firms that sprint into rapid expansion learn this the hard way.

Richard Sajiun explains it simply: “When growth runs ahead of your systems, you end up managing chaos instead of building a company. The danger in this is by the time you see the cracks, it’s already too late.”

In this business, if you assume revenue means resilience, you may be inviting danger to your organization. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of new construction businesses fail within the first year, and nearly 50% close within five years. While market volatility does play a role, in Richard’s experience, a big reason for these failures is businesses growing faster than their operational capacity.

Labor Is the Constraint

Growth, even steady growth, brings its own set of pressures. For contractors, expansion isn’t just about adding team members or bidding on bigger jobs, it also means juggling higher insurance premiums, tougher safety requirements, and nonstop regulatory checklists.

The human strain is just as intense. Not only is there currently a massive workforce shortage in the American electricity sector which itself is the leading cause of delays in constructions, but electrical contracting owners also struggle heavily to balance clients, employees, and compliance demands every day, making matters even worse. A 2020 American Institute of Stress survey found 83% of U.S. workers face job-related stress, with small business owners carrying much of the load.

Richard notes that stress at the leadership level often mirrors stress on the ground. “Once you’re trying to scale up, the pressure gets real — deadlines get tighter, clients expect more, and your team is stretched thin. If you don’t put mental health and support systems on the table early, growth can consume you.”

Culture takes a hit too. A small team may run on shared standards and accountability, but as a firm grows, very often that culture gets diluted. When firms hire faster than they can mentor, precision slips away, mistakes creep in, and employee turnover goes up. With the ongoing shortage of skilled electrical workers in the US, no firm would be able to afford more team reduction now.

The 120% Rule

The electrical contracting industry is full of cautionary tales. Some firms do grow into regional leaders, yet a huge chunk of others collapse after just a few years of fast expansion. What separates them is often determined by simply pacing and priorities.

Firms that grow sustainably invest in training, carefully pace hiring, and develop systems that scale alongside projects. They prioritize technology adoption, using project management software and digital compliance tools to prevent administrative bottlenecks — without outsourcing, skipping secondary inspections, or relying too heavily on automation. Most importantly, organizations that succeed learn to reject contracts that might strain capacity or compromise standards.

Richard lives by the “120% rule”: If the newly awarded backlog exceeds 120% of staffed capacity for 90 consecutive days, Sajiun Electric Inc. does not accept additional awards. In this company, it’s always capacity first, revenue second: “It’s not the projects you say yes to that define you, but it’s the ones you walk away from. Turning down work can sometimes be the best decision you make for real, long-lasting growth for your company.”

Richard notes that in this business, survival and scaling often come down to three simple rules:

●       Hustle: Growth depends on heroic scheduling, ad-hoc compliance, and bonding stretched beyond safe limits.

●       Manage: Stability emerges through crew-to-backlog ratios, rolling cash models, and structured pre-submittal quality assurance.

●       Discipline: Firms that enforce a 120% capacity gate, attach mentors to new hires, and resolve inspector queries in less than 2 days mature better in the long run.

Protecting Culture

Scaling a business is often romanticized as a story of ambition and reward. While these are important, in reality, endurance, pacing, and strategy that spread uniformly through an organization rank even higher for long-term success. Richard believes that a truly successful business is one that not just gets bigger, but stays in the market longer, builds trust among its clients, and sustains its people for generations to come.

In a time when America faces labor shortages, infrastructure demands, and a rapidly transitioning industry, entrepreneurs that wish to succeed need to treat these fundamentals as non-negotiables no matter their company size. In the end, those who survive and win in this harsh world are the ones who are patient, invest in talent and quality work, and never lose sight of the big picture.