If you supply or install anything on a building, you’re probably posting about your projects on LinkedIn the wrong way round.
Not wrong exactly. Just working half as hard as it could.
The familiar pattern
Here’s a pattern I see a lot: “Proud to have installed 400m² of [product] at [landmark].” A photo of the finished elevation. A supplier tag. Job done.
That post does achieve something. It gives the team a good feeling, it feeds the algorithm, and other installers nod along.
But the people who actually award the next job, the main contractor and the client, scroll straight past. The post answers a question they weren’t asking. They don’t care much what you fixed to the wall. They care why, and how you handled it when the site fought back.
Bolt a “why” onto the “what”
You can double the value of a project post with one sentence. Here are some examples:
- “We used a hidden-fix rainscreen here. Why? The client wanted crisp shadow lines with no visible fixings, and we specified A2 non-combustible even though the budget didn’t force us to.”
- “Piled raft on this one. Why? The made ground would have swallowed a standard footing, so we traded upfront cost for zero settlement risk.”
- “Single-ply membrane on the roof. Why? It’s carrying PV and plant, and it had to take foot traffic and penetrations without leaking in year five.”
- “PICV on the hydronics. Why? The building runs at very different occupancies, and the client’s real fear was comfort complaints, not kit.”
What the “why” smuggles in
Look at what each of those sentences carries:
- The constraint: made ground, rooftop plant, variable occupancy.
- The trade-off: higher upfront cost for lower risk, a better spec than the budget demanded.
- The client’s real worry: settlement, leaks, comfort complaints.
That’s no longer just a specification. It’s evidence that you were thinking about the client’s problem, not just doing your bit.
A main contractor reads the first version and sees a subcontractor. They read the second and see someone who would make their life easier. Same project, same photo, one sentence’s difference.
It also makes better reading
Frankly, adding the why makes posts less dry. It gives them a bit of narrative shape, a problem and a decision, and people respond to stories far more than to product names and square metres.
How to find your “why”
If you’re not sure what to say, ask the person who ran the job:
- Why this product or method rather than the obvious alternative?
- What was the client worried about?
- What would have gone wrong if we’d done it the standard way?
- What was the hardest part?
Any one of those answers gives you your sentence.
From posts to case studies
A good “why” post is a case study in miniature. If a project produces two or three of them, it probably deserves a full write-up. For how to turn a project into a case study that wins work, see How to Write Construction Case Studies That Win Work.
Post the what if you like. But if you want the people who hand out work to stop scrolling, post the why too.
Get your projects written up properly
Takooba turns completed projects and happy customers into case studies that win the next job. See how it works or get in touch.
Michael Willoughby