The Fractional COO · Mulkern AI Systems
The 100-Day Operations Plan
A board-ready operating plan a new operator could hand the team on Monday and run for 100 days.
Meridian Field Services
Commercial HVAC & Refrigeration
$11M rev · 42 staff
Prepared for: Founder/CEO + incoming COO
Engagement Dossier — what the SPEC was given
The momentFirst-ever ops hire (fractional COO); growth has outpaced the founder's ability to run it by gut.
Goal (6–12 mo)$11M → $14M on the same headcount; get founder out of dispatch; ready a tuck-in acquisition.
Top pains(1) Reactive scheduling chaos; (2) slow cash — DSO ~68 days; (3) zero operating visibility.
OrgFounder in everything · 6 dispatch/CSR · 28 techs (3 informal leads) · 4 sales · PT bookkeeper. No middle layer.
SystemsServiceTitan (~50% adopted), QuickBooks, Excel schedules, WhatsApp dispatch, paper tickets.
ConstraintsHiring freeze on overhead (billable techs only); tight cash; ServiceTitan already paid for.
Section 01
Executive Summary & Operating Thesis
Meridian Field Services is an $11M, 42-person commercial HVAC and refrigeration contractor growing ~20% a year on the strength of its reputation and its founder's instincts — and it has reached the ceiling of what one person can run by gut. Dispatch, cash, and decision-making all route through the founder; the system that built Meridian to $11M will not carry it to $14M.
Operating thesis: The next 100 days convert Meridian from a founder-run, reactive field operation into a scheduled, same-day-closed, metrics-visible business — without adding overhead — so the founder steps out of dispatch and growth is funded from recovered cash and recaptured tech capacity.
The Three Moves
- Make the schedule the source of truth. Dispatch from ServiceTitan, not texts — and protect tech capacity from emergency churn.
- Close the cash loop. Same-day job close → next-morning invoice → collect. Kill the 68-day DSO.
- Put a scoreboard on the wall. Utilization, first-time-fix, DSO, job margin — so the founder leads by metric, not by phone.
Expected outcomes by Day 100
- DSO ~68 → ≤45 days, freeing an estimated $0.7–0.9M of trapped cash.
- Billable utilization +8–10 pts (est. ~55% → ~64%) — roughly $1.2–1.5M of annualized capacity at current rates.
- ServiceTitan adoption ≥90% of jobs logged (from ~50%).
- Founder out of daily dispatch — zero routine dispatch decisions routed to the founder.
- First-time-fix measured and ≥75%.
Section 02
Operational Diagnostic & Baseline
| Lens | Current state (specific) | Maturity | Biggest gap |
|---|
| People & Org | 28 techs, 3 informal leads, no management layer. Founder is the de-facto dispatcher and sole escalation point. | 2 · Reactive | No accountable ops layer between founder and field. |
| Process & Workflow | Dispatch by text; paper tickets; jobs not closed on-site; parts not pre-staged, forcing repeat visits. | 1 · Ad-hoc | No standard dispatch-to-cash workflow. |
| Systems & Data | ServiceTitan owned but ~50% used; QuickBooks + Excel + WhatsApp in parallel. Double entry, data gaps. | 2 · Reactive | ServiceTitan is not yet the system of record. |
| Metrics & Visibility | Revenue, bank balance, rough AR only. No utilization, first-time-fix, job margin, or backlog. | 1 · Ad-hoc | No operating scoreboard exists. |
What this tells us: Meridian's constraint is not demand or talent — it is that the operating system lives in the founder's head and a half-used software seat. The 100 days are about making that system external, standard, and visible.
Section 03
Bottleneck & Risk Map
A · Bottlenecks throttling the business
| Bottleneck | Business impact | Root-cause hypothesis | Fix window |
|---|
| Reactive dispatch | ~30% of the tech day lost to drive time & rework; emergencies detonate the schedule. | Dispatch by text + no schedule discipline; emergencies interrupt freely. | Days 0–30 |
| No same-day close → late invoicing | DSO ~68; ~$0.7M+ trapped in AR; disputes from missing photos/notes. | No close-out rule; paper tickets; ServiceTitan half-used. | Days 0–60 |
| Parts not pre-staged | Repeat visits kill first-time-fix and burn scarce tech capacity. | No truck-stock standard or morning parts pull. | Days 31–60 |
| Founder = single decision point | Caps throughput, blocks scale and the acquisition. | No ops layer; no role clarity or escalation rule. | Days 0–30 → 100 |
| No job-level profitability | Can't see which work or customers actually make money. | No labor/parts costing captured in ServiceTitan. | Days 61–100 |
B · Operational risk & single points of failure
| Risk / SPOF | Likelihood | Impact | Early mitigation |
|---|
| Founder dependency (dispatch & escalation) | High | High | Shift dispatch to a promoted lead + ServiceTitan boards in Days 0–30. |
| ServiceTitan adoption stalls again | Med | High | Tie tech pay/bonus to jobs closed in ServiceTitan. |
| Cash crunch during the DSO fix | Med | High | Attack AR first; deposits / COD on new customers. |
| Key-tech attrition (tribal knowledge) | Med | Med | Lead-tech roles + documented standard work for top jobs. |
Section 04
The 100-Day Roadmap
PHASE 1 · DAYS 0–30 — Diagnose, Stabilize & Quick Wins
Objective: make the schedule and same-day close the new normal, and get the founder out of routine dispatch.
| Initiative | First concrete step | Owner | Depends on | Milestone |
|---|
| ServiceTitan dispatch board = single source of truth | Turn off text dispatch; all jobs created and assigned on the board. | Dispatch Lead | ST data cleanup | 100% jobs dispatched in ST — Day 21 |
| Same-day close-out rule | Techs capture photos, notes & signature and close the job before leaving site. | Ops Lead (COO) | — | ≥80% same-day close — Day 30 |
| Daily 8-minute dispatch huddle | Leads + dispatch align the day and flag emergencies. | Dispatch Lead | — | Running daily — Day 10 |
| Founder hand-off of dispatch | Route all dispatch to the Dispatch Lead; founder on escalation-only. | Founder + COO | Dispatch Lead named | 0 founder dispatch calls — Day 30 |
| 24-hour invoicing | Office invoices daily from the prior day's closed jobs. | Office Manager | Same-day close | Invoice lag ≤1 day — Day 30 |
PHASE 2 · DAYS 31–60 — Build & Systematize
Objective: lock in first-time-fix and cash discipline.
| Initiative | First concrete step | Owner | Depends on | Milestone |
|---|
| Truck-stock / parts pre-stage | Standard van inventory + morning parts pull for each scheduled job. | Lead Tech + Office | Schedule discipline | First-time-fix ≥75% — Day 60 |
| AR collection cadence | Weekly AR review + dunning sequence; deposits on new/large jobs. | Office Mgr + COO | 24h invoicing | DSO ≤55 — Day 60 |
| Standard work for top 5 job types | SOP + checklist built into ServiceTitan. | Lead Techs | ST adoption | 5 SOPs live — Day 55 |
| ServiceTitan adoption ≥90% | Tie tech pay/bonus to jobs closed in ServiceTitan. | COO + Founder | Same-day close | ≥90% logged — Day 60 |
PHASE 3 · DAYS 61–100 — Scale & Sustain
Objective: visibility, margin, and acquisition-readiness.
| Initiative | First concrete step | Owner | Depends on | Milestone |
|---|
| Weekly operating scorecard | Stand up the 7-KPI board; review every week. | COO | ST data integrity | Reviewed weekly — Day 70 |
| Job-level costing | Push labor + parts to each job; margin by job type & customer. | COO + Bookkeeper | ≥90% ST adoption | Margin visible — Day 90 |
| Capacity & utilization plan | Target ≥65% billable; reschedule or reprice low-value work. | COO | Scorecard live | Utilization +8 pts — Day 100 |
| Acquisition-readiness ops pack | Documented processes + clean ST data + metrics summary for diligence. | COO + Founder | SOPs + scorecard | Diligence-ready — Day 100 |
Section 05
Quick Wins — First 30 Days
In a 100-day mandate, visible wins in week one buy the credibility to make the harder changes stick. These need no budget approval and no new hires.
| Action (start this week) | Pain it relieves | Effort | Visible result |
|---|
| Kill text dispatch — one ServiceTitan board | Scheduling chaos & double-booking | Med | One schedule everyone trusts |
| Same-day close-out + photos/notes | Late invoicing & billing disputes | Low | Invoices out next morning |
| Daily 8-minute huddle | Emergency churn & surprises | Low | Calmer days; founder unhooked |
| "Founder on escalation-only" memo | Founder bottleneck | Low | Techs stop calling the founder first |
| Call-down on top 20 past-due invoices | Slow cash | Low | Cash in the door in week 1 |
| Morning parts pull for scheduled jobs | Repeat visits | Low | More first-time fixes immediately |
| Deposit / COD on new customers | New DSO accruing | Low | Stops the bleeding on cash |
Section 06
Operating Cadence & KPI Scorecard
A · Operating cadence (sized for 42 people — lean on purpose)
| Cadence | Purpose | Attendees | Length | Key output |
|---|
| Daily dispatch huddle | Align the day, flag emergencies | Dispatch Lead + 3 leads | 8 min | Confirmed schedule |
| Weekly ops review (L10-style) | Read scorecard, clear blockers | COO + leads + office mgr | 45 min | Actions + owners |
| Weekly cash review | AR aging & collections | COO + office mgr + bookkeeper | 20 min | Collection actions |
| Monthly business review | Margin, utilization, trend | Founder + COO + leads | 60 min | Month priorities |
| Quarterly planning | Targets, capacity, acquisition | Founder + COO | Half day | Quarter plan |
B · The operating scorecard (watched weekly)
| KPI | What it measures / why it matters here | Target | Owner | Source |
|---|
| Billable utilization % | Billable vs paid tech hours — the core growth lever at fixed headcount | ≥65% | COO | ServiceTitan |
| First-time-fix % | Jobs resolved in one visit — capacity & CX | ≥75% | Dispatch Lead | ServiceTitan |
| DSO (days) | Speed of cash conversion | ≤45 | Office Mgr | QuickBooks |
| Same-day close % | Jobs closed on site — drives invoicing & data | ≥90% | Ops Lead | ServiceTitan |
| Backlog (days booked) | Demand health & schedule runway | 5–10 days | Dispatch Lead | ServiceTitan |
| Revenue vs plan | Weekly output against target | ≥ plan | Founder | QB / ST |
| ServiceTitan logged % | Data integrity behind every other metric | ≥90% | COO | ServiceTitan |
Section 07
Resourcing, Risks & Day-100 Success Criteria
Resourcing — within the hiring freeze
No new overhead headcount. Promote a CSR to Dispatch Lead and designate 1–2 Lead Techs (stipends, not new seats). Core tools are already owned — the spend is adoption, not licenses: budget ~$5–10K for ServiceTitan configuration help and a modest tech-incentive pool tied to close-out. The real resource is COO time; the founder must protect it from being pulled back into firefights.
Risks to the plan
- ServiceTitan adoption fatigue → tie pay to jobs closed in ST; make the board the only way work flows.
- Cash too tight to wait for the DSO fix → deposits + week-one dunning bring cash forward.
- Founder relapses into dispatch → explicit escalation rule + weekly founder check-in on "did anything route to you?"
- Acquisition pulls focus early → gate diligence to Day 90 so ops stabilize first.
Day-100 success criteria (definition of done)
- DSO ≤45 days · Utilization +8 pts · ServiceTitan ≥90% · First-time-fix ≥75%.
- Founder out of daily dispatch; escalation-only.
- Weekly scorecard live and run by the team, not the COO.
- Diligence-ready operations pack complete.
After Day 100: hand the cadence and scorecard fully to the Dispatch Lead and COO, then turn to integrating the tuck-in acquisition — a natural next engagement (this is exactly where The 100-Day Integration Roadmap picks up).
Pre-delivery
QC Notes
What the QC pass reconciled & fixed
- Coverage: mapped all five bottlenecks and four risks to at least one roadmap initiative — no orphans (founder-dependency now carries a Phase-1 start and a sustained Phase-3 hand-off).
- Consistency: aligned the DSO target to ≤45 as the Day-100 goal across S1/S6/S7, with ≤55 by Day 60 clarified as the interim milestone in S4 (earlier draft conflated the two).
- Quick-win sync: every Day-0–30 quick win in S5 now appears as a Phase-1 initiative in S4.
- Constraint check: removed an implied admin hire; Dispatch Lead is an internal promotion, honoring the overhead hiring freeze.
- De-genericized: replaced "improve operational efficiency" and "leverage best practices" with the specific Meridian mechanisms (same-day close, parts pre-stage, ST-as-record).
- Flagged assumption: cash/utilization dollar figures are modeled, not actuals — tagged in S1 for kickoff validation.
Quality score
Rubric Score
91/100
| Criterion | Score | Note & one fix |
|---|
| Specificity to this client | 23 / 25 | Unmistakably Meridian throughout. Fix: name the actual top-20 past-due accounts at kickoff. |
| Operational rigor & diagnosis | 18 / 20 | Sound bottleneck logic. Fix: validate the ~55% utilization baseline before committing to +8 pts. |
| Sequencing & feasibility | 19 / 20 | Realistic phasing within the freeze. Fix: confirm Dispatch Lead candidate exists internally. |
| Measurability | 14 / 15 | KPIs & milestones quantified. Fix: add a dollar target to the utilization KPI, not just points. |
| Board-readiness | 9 / 10 | Reads in ~12 minutes. Fix: a one-page cover dashboard would top it off. |
| Completeness & consistency | 8 / 10 | All sections reconciled post-QC. Fix: add explicit baseline column to the scorecard. |
"Board-ready and unmistakably about Meridian — fund the cash and utilization fixes first, validate two baseline numbers, and run it."