The Year 'One-Stop Ordering' Becomes Obsolete: How 'Granular Ordering Power' Saves Companies

In December 2025, the revised Construction Business Act was fully enforced. One of the new rules is an obligation to make efforts to 'create estimates that clearly itemize labor costs, statutory welfare expenses, and safety and health expenses' (Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 'Construction Industry Law Compliance Guidelines (11th Edition)'https://www.mlit.go.jp/totikensangyo/const/content/001765310.pdf ).

This is the year that the estimate of 'Construction work, one-stop: XXX million yen,' which has long been the norm in the industry, is quietly coming to an end.

I don't see this movement as something limited to the construction industry. The very relationship between those who order work and those who receive it is changing in every industry from 'one-stop' to 'ordering by parts.' Today, I would like to write about that, along with the words of a business owner I met the other day.

The Limits of 'Blind Outsourcing' Seen Through Data

Half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) already use outsourcing. According to the 2018 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises, 50.5% of SMEs responded that they have 'experience outsourcing existing operations,' and 14.1% of companies have increased their utilization compared to three years ago (Source: Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, '2018 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises'https://www.chusho.meti.go.jp/pamflet/hakusyo/H30/h30/html/b2_3_2_2.html ).

However, this is where the real issue lies. In the same white paper, when companies considering outsourcing in the future were asked about their challenges, the top response was 'unclear cost-effectiveness at the time of introduction' at 50.0%, followed by 'cannot find an appropriate contractor' at 32.1%.

This means that 'the benefits of introduction are invisible' and 'cannot find a partner' are causing companies to stall at the consideration stage.

Why does cost-effectiveness become invisible? When gathering stories from people who have seen outsourcing sites, a significant part of the cause lies in 'blind outsourcing' (marunage).

Typical patterns where SME BPO fails

・Ordering while leaving the scope of work ambiguous, resulting in increased internal burden due to chasing confirmations, corrections, and explanations
・After outsourcing, no one in the company understands the work, making it impossible to bring it back in-house even if desired
・Choosing a contractor solely because of a 'long-standing relationship,' resulting in a mismatch between the work and the partner

Source: SFA JOURNAL, 'Common Failures and Countermeasures for SME BPO Service Implementation' (https://next-sfa.jp/journal/bpo/common-mistakes-and-countermeasures-for-implementing-bpo-services-for-smes/ ).

In other words, it's not that you 'hit a bad contractor,' but that 'you couldn't measure it because you ordered it without separating it.'

The trend toward mandatory itemization of estimates due to the revision of the Construction Business Act is likely a continuation of this. Society as a whole is moving away from 'one-stop' and shifting the initiative in ordering to the side that can 'state the contents separately.'

Acquiring 'Granular Ordering Power' in 3 Steps

So, where do you start? The order I always follow with the construction company president I am monitoring is these 3 steps.

① Break down and write out tasks

Instead of saying 'our office work' in one line, write it out in the smallest units, such as 'invoice creation,' 'updating the partner company ledger,' and 'consolidating daily site reports.' It will be about 20 to 30 items at most. The moment you write them down, you can finally see, 'This can be done by an employee, this by an outsider, and this by AI.'

② Write down the scope and volume with numbers

Include details like 'how many items per month, equivalent to how many hours, and when the busy months are.' For example, 'Invoice creation: 50 sheets per month, 7 minutes per sheet, equivalent to 6 hours per month.'

Just by having this, the pricing when outsourcing shifts from 'market feel' to 'actual cost for our specific size.' In 50.0% of cases where cost-effectiveness isn't visible, this single line is often missing.

3. Determine verification points

Decide in 1 to 3 lines at the start 'what to look for to consider it passed.' For invoices, it might be 'the three points of vendor name, amount, and tax category match the slip'; for daily site reports, it might be 'man-hours and work content are linked to the date'.

If this part is blank, the client ends up fixing every flaw they find in the deliverables, and it ends up being no different than doing it themselves.

Only when these three are in place does it start working, whether you're asking an outsourcing partner, an AI tool, or a remote freelance partner. 'Break it down, measure it, and set the criteria'—it's just that, but whether or not you have grasped this makes a surprising difference in the results of outsourcing.

Words from a business owner I met the other day

The other day, I met an art director in their second year of independence who only takes work based on referrals. After working in sales at a housing manufacturer for 12 years and 9 months, they went independent and now manage external engineers and designers project by project, running brand and website work alone as a business owner.

Before the business meeting, I had prepared a proposal saying, 'Why don't you break down your tasks, outsource the chores, and free up your resources?' but after listening to them, I changed the priority of my proposal.

That person said this:

'Even if you dump everything on me, I can't create anything. I'm not an artist. The quality of the intermediary determines the quality of the deliverable.'

If the quality of the request is low, I can't create anything either. It's not that the designer lacks skill; if the requester's 'way of breaking down, quantity, and criteria' are vague, anyone will just produce something generic. That's why they sincerely hope that clients will improve their 'ordering literacy'.

This is the same story in the construction industry. Presidents who increasingly feel that 'the quality of partner companies has dropped' or 'recent craftsmen are...' should take a look at the instruction manuals, drawings, and arrangements they are issuing by 'breaking them down, measuring them, and setting criteria'.

I often find that the structure is one where the client has been making 'lump-sum requests' while the content is hollow, and the other party has just been managing to make ends meet through 'conjecture'.

And from here on, with the revision of the Construction Business Act, it will become difficult to issue 'lump-sum' requests in the first place. Whether it's external partner companies or internal general affairs, accounting, or new employees, the flow of work differs depending on whether you are a 'president who can break down tasks and order'.

Ordering power is probably a new management skill.

Summary

Before increasing staff, first break down the work.

This is a concept I am working on with the companies I accompany at ShakeHands, but at the root is the sober reality that 'if you don't break it down, you can't ask anyone'.

There are almost no outsourcing partners you can just dump work on anymore. Whether it's AI, remote freelance partners, or partner companies you've dealt with for years, I believe that 'presidents who can break down, measure, and set criteria before ordering' will have work flowing to them more and more, and people will gather around them.

First, try writing down the work that is currently only in your head into a '20-line list.' Just by doing that, the view you see should change quite a bit.

Recommended Reading

After 'breaking down' comes 'outsourcing.' A more detailed look at everything from task extraction to designing outsourcing workflows.

To ensure that once you've broken down tasks, you don't just hand them over with a verbal promise. A discussion on the 'one sheet' you need before you start.

Typical patterns where outsourcing fails, and three things successful companies do.

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ShakeHands LLC

A business partner that organizes labor shortages from a structural perspective

We are short on staff. But 'hiring' isn't always the right answer.

ShakeHands LLC faces the labor shortages and business expansion challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises, helping to organize options for hiring, outsourcing, and AI utilization to design the optimal strategy.

We don't just make proposals to sell; we think together about choices as management decisions.

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▶〈Warifull〉 Streamlining labor shortages in the construction industry through 'task decomposition'

Before increasing staff, first break down the work. In a 60-minute free consultation, you can take home your company's 'first draft of a task decomposition sheet' (consultation and consulting fees are 0 yen).