Let’s be honest, when you’re building a brand new business or startup, sometimes it can feel like you’re carrying around the burden of the world’s weight. But if you choose the right approach, working under you and learning how your business operates, you’ll soon feel at ease.
Here are 39 Ways to manage a brand new construction business:
Choose a business identity or brand.
To start, you’ll need to decide what kind of construction business you want to run. A full-service construction company will attract bids from all kinds of potential customers, including contractors and even new housing developers. You’ll have a perfect place to build up your brand.
Begin marketing immediately.
Let’s say you’re considering marketing your construction business. If you’re going to be building new homes, a contractor profile and brochure is a necessity, as is a “Builders Directory” and a forum for contracting clients and interested workers. If you want to be a construction company that runs on small contracts, and/or maybe turn a home owner into a construction consultant, you’ll want to get on a city’s schedule for public-works meetings and get that info into a handy business planner to publish.
Take a Career Transition Planning Workshop.
Build your business early, be ready for opportunities later, and give yourself the space to grow if and when you need it. You can find a list of these online and provide it to your trainer for feedback. They may also suggest doing this course yourself or seeking out someone local who’s done this before.
Make room to breathe.
Life is unpredictable. As a sole proprietor or contractor, a lot of people will come and go, the contracts you expect to secure may go away or may be delayed, and things may happen that may keep you from getting what you need. But at least as a construction business, there’s always a chance of starting a new job when the old one is completed or even requesting payment for an existing project. This will become more and more important when you’re running a home builder. But at the same time, you’ll want to project a positive attitude and take care of the smaller details.
Understand the cost of building new homes.
A new home can cost a developer as much as $200,000. That’s a lot of money to work with, so you’ll need to spread the risk, so you’ll want to find a contractor who has good bids and can actually deliver and price out the work. Find a contractor who does their work properly and competently and, if you get business, just be sure they take good care of your work so you won’t have to worry about that in the future.
Stay in touch with your insurance agent and build some continuity into your contract.
Talk with your agent to find out the annual contract limits of the policies you’re working with. If you have a good relationship, they’ll have some helpful tips to give you about how you can lower your exposure or change things around to make your business more manageable. Also, find out whether the policies you’re working with now will fit in well with the smaller ones that might be in place in the future.
Present a realistic budget.
As you craft your estimates, take care to check the contractor’s experience and see if the estimate you’re giving him is accurate. And to add more comfort, come up with how much you would like him to earn. By offering that number, you can better determine the amount of work that should be committed. It helps when the estimation is different and even gives you a point of reference for bigger projects.
Show true loyalty.
When people are purchasing a home, how are you going to advertise to prospective clients? Your best chances are through advertising or networking. Remember to keep the client’s name and contact information in your computer’s mind at all times. You can also reach out and say when the contracts will be settled so you can build a timeline with them so they know when to make a decision.
Learn how to navigate insurance.
According to Home Builders Magazine, adding materials to a home is the single largest expense for most contractors. Although there is no one solution for insurance, most companies can help with a host of common policies, like general liability insurance, worker’s compensation, collision and motor-vehicle liability, and self-insured occupancy.
Embrace video.
Install webcams all around your place to record the progress on home construction. You can make your business look official by recording it for YouTube. This is also a good place to keep customer comments and frustration, and is a great way to build good relationships with happy customers who you’ll be hearing from again and again.
