Jeremy Kaplan
A lot of skilled builders, once they’ve been working for a number of years, decide to set up their own small construction firm. This kind of project takes a lot of time and effort, but can be an extremely rewarding way to exercise your skills. In this post, we’ll go over some of the essential steps to running a successful construction firm.
First of all, make sure you have a solid plan in place before going ahead with your business endeavour. As Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is true with almost anything in life, but the sentiment is especially important within the world of business. Write out a detailed plan outlining all the goals of your business, and the methods you’ll use to reach those goals. Address your target clientele, the tools and equipment you’ll need, as well as plans for marketing. You should also start networking with useful contacts in this preliminary stage. This will ensure every part of your work is efficient and streamlined. You may find that commercial aluminium scaffolding hire is hard to get notice at short notice!
Next, you’ll need to get a loan in order to get your company off the ground. This will involve presenting your business plan to a banker, and explaining how you intend to pay the loan back. In this stage, you really need to exhibit your knowledge of the construction industry as a whole. When you go in to pitch your business plan, the staff at the bank need to be convinced that your business will be successful. Otherwise, you won’t be getting that loan! Beforehand, I recommend you check out local government regulations which apply to construction companies. If not, you could risk leaving some huge blunder in your business plan which will completely ruin your pitch.
Finally, market yourself. I really can’t emphasize this point enough. A lot of people who go self-employed fail because they don’t market themselves nearly enough. You may be a builder at heart, but when you’re running your own firm you have to adopt the mind of a businessperson. No one knows who you are at the moment. You need to put a lot of work into turning that around. Get your company advertised in a few local newspapers and home improvement magazines. If there are any trade associations you can sign up for that will give you a seal of approval, this can really help in your early days. You should also set up a website, and use a few digital marketing techniques to get it seen by your target market. You might be the best contractor ever to have picked up a tool. However, if you don’t market enough, your business will slowly fizzle out.
I hope this advice helps you out with starting and managing your construction firm. There’s a lot of money to be made in construction. Pull your business plan off, and you’ll find out all about that!
