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Human-Led · AI-Enabled · SME Advisory · NSW & Australia-wide

Your business is profitable.
So why does it feel
like it isn't?

We identify the constraint limiting your profitability — and remove it. Most primary constraints are resolved within 90 days. Owner-led SMEs in construction and disability services. $1M–$20M revenue. NSW and Australia-wide.

Scorecard free · valued at $795  ·  Call: 20 min · no obligation  ·  Limited new engagements each month
$1M–$20M
Revenue range served
–4×
EBITDA multiple range
NSW+
NSW & Australia-wide
3
Engagement stages
SCAFFOLD
Structure · Method · Execution
AI Engine
Diagnostics · Modelling · Precision
Your Business
Profitability → Valuation → Exit
Results

What a SCAFFOLD engagement
looks like in practice.

Illustrative scenarios based on owner-led SMEs where one identified constraint was limiting profitability. Specific results vary by business size, sector and engagement stage.

Construction · Hunter Region · $4.5M revenue
Profitable on paper. Couldn't explain where the margin went.
The constraint was utilisation and untracked margin leakage across project streams. A construction management firm with strong revenue but shrinking take-home. Owner working 60-hour weeks. Three years of P&L showed declining EBITDA despite growing billings. No financial model. No exit plan.
Margin leakage identified across 4 project streams — $68K unrecovered annually
Utilisation closed: 61% → 74% over 90 days
Debtor days: 52 → 31 days — $44K working capital freed
EBITDA normalised and documented for exit readiness
Value gap identified
$180K+ annual improvement
Stage 01 + 03 · identified within 2 weeks
Disability Services · NSW · $2.8M revenue
Solid participant numbers. Margin compressed to breaking point.
The constraint was NDIS pricing misalignment and invisible cross-subsidisation between service lines. A registered NDIS provider growing headcount but not profitability. Pricing hadn't been reviewed since NDIS rule changes. Support coordination and plan management cross-subsidising each other unknowingly.
NDIS pricing misalignment identified across 3 service lines
True margin per service visible for the first time
Revenue concentration risk: top 3 participants = 41% of revenue
Overhead rationalised — $38K annual saving identified
EBITDA improvement pathway
$95K–$140K per annum
Stage 01 · constraint identified in 3 weeks
Engineering Consultancy · NSW · $6.2M revenue
Stable business. Considering exit in 18 months. No idea what it was worth.
The constraint was owner dependency and unnormalised financials suppressing the exit valuation. Mid-sized engineering firm with consistent revenue but unstructured financials and heavy owner-dependency. Owner's target sale price was gut-feel, not data. Stage 01 was the starting point.
3-year EBITDA normalisation — owner salary add-back alone lifted EBITDA $180K
Exit readiness scored 3.8/10 — 6 specific value detractors identified
Valuation: $1.9M–$2.6M current vs $3.1M–$4.1M potential
18-month improvement roadmap built ahead of planned sale
Potential valuation uplift
$1.2M – $1.5M
Stage 01 · valuation gap quantified in 4 weeks
Property Developer · Hunter Region · $3.5M revenue
Multiple sites. No consolidated financial view across the portfolio.
The constraint was no consolidated financial view — the portfolio had no single source of truth. A property development firm managing multiple sites without a consolidated view. Project-level P&Ls inconsistent. Procurement informal. No KPI framework across the portfolio.
Consolidated Looker Studio dashboard built — live across 4 active sites
3 supplier agreements renegotiated through formalised procurement process
5-metric KPI framework tracked weekly, reported monthly
18-month cash flow model built — forward visibility for the first time
Operational outcome
Systems built in 90 days
Stage 01 + 03 · full implementation

* Illustrative scenarios based on SCAFFOLD Advisory's methodology and target client profile. Results vary by business size, complexity and engagement stage.

AI-powered advisory

The speed of AI.
The judgment of
human expertise.

Most advisory firms run on spreadsheets and gut feel. SCAFFOLD deploys a purpose-built AI pipeline that analyses years of financial data in days — not weeks — identifying the single constraint limiting your profitability before a traditional consultant has even finished their engagement letter.

Make.com automation Claude AI Looker Studio Google Forms Notion Xero / MYOB
Human-led by design. AI identifies the patterns. SCAFFOLD identifies the constraint within them. Every output is reviewed and validated by Henderson before it reaches you — AI provides the speed, human expertise provides the judgment.
24-hour diagnostic turnaround
Traditional firms take 2–4 weeks to produce a financial diagnostic. Our Make.com pipeline processes your data, runs Claude AI analysis across 15 metrics and generates your Looker Studio dashboard — ready within 24 business hours of complete data receipt.
vs 2–4 weeks traditional
🔍
15-metric financial health score
Revenue quality, cash flow runway, gross margin trend, utilisation rate, debtor days, pipeline coverage, EBITDA normalisation — all scored automatically from your 64-question diagnostic intake, benchmarked against sector averages and ranked by constraint impact.
AI-powered + human validated
📊
Live Looker Studio dashboard
You receive an interactive dashboard — not a static PDF. Revenue trends, margin waterfall, cash conversion cycle, value gap visualisation. Yours to keep and use independently after the engagement.
Interactive · yours to keep
🤖
Automation opportunity mapping
Henderson uses the AI diagnostic findings to map specific automation opportunities — identifying tools, time savings and implementation costs for your business. In Stage 03 we build the automations alongside you, not just identify them.
Stage 02 deliverable

At some point,
the numbers stop
making sense.

Revenue is growing but profit is not following. Cash flow is inconsistent despite strong billing. The owner is working harder each year for the same take-home. Margins are unclear across service lines or projects. Something is absorbing the profit — but it's invisible from the inside.

The answer is almost always one constraint. You just can't see it from inside the system.

🎯
Most businesses don't have twenty problems. They have one.
One bottleneck limits the output of the entire system. Fixing everything else doesn't help — because the constraint remains. This is why owners work harder and harder without the results improving.
🔍
The job is not to fix everything. It's to find the one thing.
And remove it. That's what we do. We find the constraint, quantify its cost in dollar terms, and fix it — before expanding to the next bottleneck.
📈
When the constraint is removed, the improvement flows through the entire business.
Revenue, margin, and cash move together — not in isolation. This is why constraint removal outperforms cost-cutting every time. You're not trimming the edges. You're clearing the blockage.
That's what we do. We find the constraint. We quantify its cost. We fix it.
Our performance fee structure — paid only when EBITDA improves — ensures our interests are fully aligned with yours. We don't get paid for findings. We get paid for outcomes. Stage 03 fees are tied to verified EBITDA movement — we get paid when you do.
Who we serve

Three types of business.
One firm that serves all three.

Owner-led SMEs with revenue between $1M and $20M — primarily in construction, property development and disability services. Serving NSW and Australia-wide, with active outreach across Sydney CBD, Central Coast and Hunter Region.

📉
Underperforming
The constraint is costing you money you haven't counted. Revenue is there — but it's not reaching the bottom line. The gap between what the business earns and what you take home has a specific cause. We find it.
Margin compressionCash flow stressUtilisation gaps
📊
Stable but unoptimised
The constraint is limiting your ceiling. The business works and it's profitable. But there's one bottleneck quietly capping your throughput — in pricing, in utilisation, or in overhead structure. Identifying and removing it is what turns a good business into a great one.
Pricing misalignmentSystem inefficiencyGrowth constraints

We bridge the gap traditional advisors leave open.

Business Brokers
List and sell — but don't improve performance before sale. You go to market with whatever the business is worth today.
SCAFFOLD fills this
Constraint identification and performance improvement before market. Fix the bottleneck first — then list with stronger EBITDA and a better multiple.
Accountants
Compliance-focused, backward-looking. Great at reporting what happened. Not built for forward-looking performance improvement.
SCAFFOLD fills this
AI-powered constraint diagnostics and structured execution. We turn the numbers into the one thing to fix — and implement it alongside you.
Management Consultants
Strategy without implementation. Expensive reports that sit on shelves. No accountability for outcomes.
SCAFFOLD fills this
Hands-on constraint removal with outcome-aligned fees. Performance fee only triggers when your EBITDA moves.
Free · Valued at $795

Know where your
profit is going — in 10 minutes.

Answer 22 questions about your business. Receive an indicative value score, your key performance gaps, an estimated valuation range, and your top improvement priorities — at no cost. This is the starting point, not the full answer.

22 questionsInstant outputValuation rangeNo obligation
Get Your Free Value Scorecard →

Takes 8–10 minutes. Delivered to your inbox.

The scorecard shows you something is wrong. The diagnostic shows you exactly what to fix.

Used by construction and disability SME owners across NSW to understand where their profit is going — before committing to a full engagement.

⚠ Limited to a small number of new engagements each month

Sample output — $4.5M construction firm
Business value score58 / 100
Indicative valuation today$1.8M – $2.4M
Potential valuation (improved)$2.8M – $3.6M
Exit readiness score4.2 / 10
Top gap: cash conversionHigh risk
Top gap: revenue concentrationModerate
#1 priorityDebtor days → 30d

* Illustrative. Your actual scorecard is based on your specific business data.

How we work

Assess. Build. Realise.

Three stages. Each stands alone. The scorecard starts the conversation — the diagnostic finds the constraint — the plan aligns everything around it — the execution removes it. No stage is skipped. No constraint is attacked before it's identified.

Stage 01 — Assess
Assess the Value
Constraint Diagnostic — understand exactly what's limiting your profitability and what it's costing you.
$6,000 – $12,000
Fixed fee · 2–4 weeks + 30 days support
  • Full financial & operational diagnostic — up to 3 years of data across six dimensions
  • EBITDA normalisation — 3-year table adjusting owner salary, one-offs and non-cash items
  • Value Gap Assessment — current valuation vs potential uplift with EBITDA multiple applied
  • Primary constraint identified and quantified in dollar terms — plus supporting action roadmap
  • Exit readiness snapshot — scored out of 10 across six dimensions
  • Looker Studio dashboard — interactive metrics and trend visualisation
  • 30 days email support for self-implementation
Stage 02 — Build
Build the Plan
Constraint Acceleration — convert the diagnostic findings into a structured 90-day execution strategy with a financial model and KPI framework.
$10,000 – $18,000
Fixed fee · 90 days · Requires Stage 01
  • Value Creation Plan — constraint removal strategy plus secondary optimisation initiatives, with EBITDA impact and timeline for each
  • 24-month financial model — baseline vs improved P&L, EBITDA and cash flow
  • KPI framework — 4–6 metrics with baselines, targets and reporting cadence
  • AI & automation opportunity map — tools, time savings and implementation cost
  • Full Exit Readiness Report — scored across 6 dimensions, top value drivers and detractors
  • Current + potential valuation range with improvement pathway
  • 90-day execution roadmap with owner accountability milestones
Stage 03 — Realise
Realise the Value
Performance Partnership — hands-on execution across three workstreams. Fee tied to verified EBITDA movement.
$3,000–$5,000/month + performance fee
3–6 months · Requires Stages 01 & 02 · Limited to 1–2 concurrent engagements
  • Performance Uplift — removing the primary constraint and the systemic improvements that follow: margin recovery, cash flow improvement, and revenue realisation
  • Systems & AI Enablement — dashboards live, workflow automations built, reporting systematised
  • Exit Readiness Preparation — normalisation, documentation, value detractor mitigation
  • Weekly check-ins — 30-min KPI review, blockers, next-week priorities
  • Monthly performance report — EBITDA movement, initiative status, next priorities
  • Performance fee — 10–15% of verified EBITDA uplift, signed baseline required upfront
  • Transaction fee — 1.5–3% if a sale occurs within 18 months of engagement close
💳

Payment terms: All fixed-fee engagements are 50% upfront, 50% on delivery. Performance fees are settled at engagement close once EBITDA uplift is verified and agreed by both parties.

Sector expertise

Sector depth. Not a generalist.

Two sectors. Calibrated constraint diagnostics for each. Insider knowledge from both.

Sector 01 — Construction & Property
Construction, development & professional services
Architecture firms, engineering consultancies, construction management, project managers and quantity surveyors. $1M–$20M revenue. Typically profitable on paper — but carrying significant margin leakage across project delivery, utilisation gaps, and overhead structure. The constraint is usually invisible until the right diagnostic surfaces it.
ArchitectureEngineeringConstruction managementQuantity surveyingProject managementProperty development
Sector 02 — Disability & Care
NDIS providers & disability service organisations
Registered NDIS providers, support coordination and plan management firms across NSW. Complex pricing rules, tight EBITDA margins, and significant compliance overhead. Our diagnostic tools are calibrated specifically for NDIS financial structures — the constraint is often in pricing misalignment or service line cross-subsidisation.
NDIS providersSupport coordinationPlan managementRegistered providersNSW-wide

"Most owners know something is wrong. What they can't see is the single constraint causing most of it. We find it, quantify it, and fix it — and our performance fee only triggers when your EBITDA actually moves."

Henderson K Gondwe — Founder & Principal Consultant. 10 years across architecture, construction and property development. AI implementation specialist. NSW-based.

10 years across architecture practice and property development management — direct experience in project delivery, financial analysis, procurement and cost management
Direct hands-on experience in disability support delivery — understanding NDIS funding structures, support hour economics, and rostering pressures from the inside, not from a textbook
AI implementation specialist — purpose-built diagnostic systems, workflow automation and data visualisation deployed for real advisory outcomes
Building referral relationships with insolvency practitioners across NSW — SCAFFOLD operates upstream of formal insolvency, providing the operational intervention that formal processes cannot
Architecture & constructionProperty developmentAI implementationDiagnostic systemsPG Dip Business AdminNSW-based
Common questions

Questions we get asked
before the first call.

What's the difference between the Value Scorecard and the Stage 01 Diagnostic? +

The Value Scorecard is a 10-minute, free, high-level assessment. It identifies where value may be leaking and signals that something is wrong — but it does not identify your primary constraint or quantify its cost. The Stage 01 Diagnostic is a structured 64-question analysis of your financial, operational, and structural performance across six dimensions. It produces one primary constraint, quantified in dollar terms — for example, 'your utilisation gap is costing you $87,000 per year in recoverable revenue.' It also includes a full EBITDA normalisation, Value Gap Assessment, and 90-day action roadmap. The scorecard shows you something is wrong. The diagnostic shows you exactly what to fix.

How are results measured? +

Results are measured against a signed EBITDA baseline established at the start of each engagement. For Stage 01, we document the current financial position and identify the improvement opportunity in dollar terms. For Stage 03, both parties sign off the baseline before work begins — our performance fee is calculated on verified EBITDA movement at engagement close. Every initiative is tracked, documented and reported monthly so you always know what is moving and by how much.

What happens after Stage 01? +

Stage 01 is a complete, standalone engagement. You receive a full financial diagnostic, EBITDA normalisation, a Value Gap Assessment and a prioritised 90-day action roadmap — with 30 days of email support. You can implement it yourself and stop there. Most clients find that once they see the findings, they want structured support to execute. Stage 02 builds the strategy and financial model. Stage 03 implements it alongside you. Progression to the next stage is always your decision — never the default.

Does this replace my accountant? +

No — and we actively work alongside your accountant. Accountants are compliance-focused and backward-looking by design. SCAFFOLD Advisory is forward-looking and performance-focused. We take the financial data your accountant already produces and convert it into an action plan for improvement. Many of our clients find that our work actually makes their accountant's job easier — cleaner financials, better records and a clearer picture of where the business is heading.

How is my data handled? Is AI safe to use with my financials? +

Your financial data is treated with strict confidentiality. We use enterprise-grade AI tools with zero retention and zero training on client data — meaning your information is processed but never stored or used to train any AI model. All data is handled in accordance with Australian Privacy Principles. No automated decisions are made — every output is reviewed by Henderson before it is delivered to you. You retain full ownership of your data at all times. We do not share client data with any third party under any circumstances.

What if the AI diagnostic identifies the wrong constraint? +

AI identifies patterns across 15 financial metrics. Henderson identifies the constraint within those patterns — these are not the same step. Before any finding is delivered to you, the AI output is reviewed against your business context, your sector, and the qualitative information you provided in the diagnostic intake. If the data points to one constraint but your business narrative points elsewhere, Henderson reconciles both before the report is finalised. The output you receive is human-validated, not a raw AI print. If after delivery you believe the primary constraint has been misidentified, that conversation happens in the 30-day email support window — and if a significant error is found, we revisit the finding at no additional charge.

Does this replace a restructuring or insolvency practitioner? +

No. SCAFFOLD Advisory operates upstream of formal insolvency. We work with businesses that are distressed but viable — where early operational intervention can prevent insolvency rather than manage it. If a business requires formal restructuring, administration or liquidation, that sits with a licensed insolvency practitioner. We actively partner with insolvency practitioners who refer clients to us for pre-insolvency triage — businesses that need operational support before formal processes become necessary.

Free discovery call

20 minutes.
No obligation.
Clear next step.

We'll understand your situation, confirm whether there's a clear constraint and improvement pathway, and recommend the right starting point. No pitch. No pressure. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.

We'll tell you honestly if we're not the right fit
You'll leave with at least one useful insight
No commitment required to proceed
Available via phone or video call
NSW-based · Available Australia-wide
Limited to 4 new engagements per month — current availability shown in the calendar
Transparent pricing

Fixed fees. Outcome-aligned.
No surprises.

Fixed fees. Outcome-aligned. Every engagement scoped before we start. Stage 01 is the entry point — it identifies the constraint. Everything else builds from that.

Stage 01 — Assess
Financial Health Check
Constraint Diagnostic
$6K – $12K
Fixed fee · 2–4 weeks · 50% upfront, 50% on delivery
Full financial & operational diagnostic
EBITDA normalisation (3-year table)
Value Gap Assessment + valuation range
Exit readiness snapshot (scored /10)
Looker Studio dashboard
Primary constraint identified and quantified ($)
Supporting action roadmap
30 days email support
Stage 03 — Realise
Strategy Rollout
Performance Partnership
$3K–5K/mo
Retainer + 10–15% EBITDA performance fee · 3–6 months
Hands-on performance uplift execution
KPI dashboards + workflow automation built
Exit readiness preparation in-flight
Weekly check-ins + monthly reporting
Performance fee on verified EBITDA uplift
Transaction fee (1.5–3%) if sale within 18 months
All fixed-fee engagements: 50% upfront · 50% on delivery · No lock-in · Each stage stands alone
Get in touch

Start with the scorecard.
Or just reach out.

Request your free Value Scorecard, ask a question, or tell us about your business. We'll respond within one business day — and we'll tell you honestly if we're not the right fit.

scaffoldadvisory.com
Based in NSW · Active across Sydney, Central Coast & Hunter Region
ACN 696 757 874 · ABN 93 696 757 874
Serving NSW and Australia-wide

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SCAFFOLD Advisory is a human-led, AI-enabled SME advisory firm based in NSW, identifying the constraint limiting profitability for owner-led SMEs in construction and disability services. We specialise in business performance improvement, EBITDA improvement, business valuation and exit readiness advisory for owner-led SMEs with revenue between $1M and $20M. Our three-stage engagement model — Assess, Build, Realise — combines AI-powered constraint diagnostics with hands-on human execution to deliver measurable, documented outcomes. Active across Sydney CBD, Central Coast and the Hunter Region, with remote engagements available Australia-wide. ACN 696 757 874.