Start a Contracting Business

If you have been doing construction for a company or just love using your hands, starting a general contracting business can be a great way to become your own boss and scale a business that can make you a fortune. When it comes to starting a general contracting company, the two main things you will have to focus on are getting workers to work for you and finding new business. In this section we will go over exactly how to do those things and how to scale your business once you get to that point.

The first thing you will want to do is figure out what type of labor you would like to focus on starting out. You can be broad with your services if you have experience in construction but if you do not have a lot of experience start with something that you feel most comfortable with. If you are great at tile work or doing dry wall, focus on that to start and as you go you can learn other aspects of building that you can incorporate into your business. Whatever your expertise, just make sure you have a clear idea of what kind of work you are going to offer and what workers you can have readily available to you.

Now that you know exactly what services you will offer the next step is to create an LLC which you can do with a service like Zen Business or you can set it up yourself from your state’s commissioner site. Then you will want to get your EIN number, which is essentially a social security number for your business and use this to set up a business bank account and get builders insurance for your company. NEXT Insurance is great for general contractor companies, and they are typically more affordable than most places. No matter what company you go with though just keep in mind you will legally need this insurance in most places in order to conduct business. For contracting you will most likely need to take a test and get a contracting license as well depending where you are located, so be sure to check out the regulations where you live.

After you get your LLC, bank account and insurance set up, you will be ready to find workers for your company. As crazy as it sounds you can always find some people at Home Depot that are willing to work for fairly low wages. You can also post on Indeed for free and make a few accounts on free trials so that you can get the best chance of finding quality people for free! Join every construction and contracting related Facebook group you can in your area and post in those groups to find workers. Post to craigslist and job boards in groups around your area. You should sit down for a full day and challenge yourself to post as many job posts as you can in these places, and you will have plenty of workers to call on before the end of the day.

Once you have people that have applied to your company you will want to give them all a call and save their numbers so that you start building up a crew that you can call on as soon as you get work. Even if you feel you have enough people at some point, call every person that applies because you will need them later, trust me. In this business people will get sick or have other jobs or they just won’t feel like working some days, so it is always good to have people on standby when you run into issues with your normal crew.

Now that you have some contacts that you can call to work for you, you will want to start getting work for them to do. Yelp is an amazing place to place ads on that will help get you new business very quickly. I would suggest posting multiple ads for each of the specific services that you are offering so that you can plant as many seeds for new business as possible. You can also make a craigslist account and post your services on there every day. Make sure that you post frequently to keep your posts from falling to the bottom of the list. Also be sure to join every local community group on Facebook that you can and start interacting with those groups. You can download bots that will alert you when a keyword such as drywall is mentioned so that you can respond offering help. You should join every real estate and home flipping group as well so that you can build up a book of business with them. Respond to any post about help with a flip home and you can quickly grow a list of flippers that may use you for years if they see you do good work. Angie’s list is also another place that you can create an account to get leads from, but they can be much more expensive than these other options. These are some great ways to find business fast. Just remember that volume is the name of the game. Post as many times as you can to all these places for a day straight and continue to set aside time each day to check your leads, follow up and post new ads. If you do this consistently you will be sure to get a large amount of traction quickly.

Now that you have some leads coming in for new business, you will want to get a good idea of what competitors are charging in the area. Spend a day calling competitors and getting quotes for the same services that you will be providing. They will give you a hard time giving you prices for work they have not seen but try to get a rough cost based on pictures you can find on the internet. When you get a good understanding of what people are charging in your area, you can base your pricing on these and give a bit of a discount until you build up a good book of business and social proof.

Now that you have some business and workers to do the work, you will need to get all the tools and materials that you will need to do the job. If you do not have the money for this up front it is no big deal. Have your customers give you half of the money up front to purchase everything that you will need for the job. Get all the biggest expenses that you will need out of the way first and then you will have them for jobs later on and you won’t have to worry about them.

One of the biggest things that you want to keep in mind is that now that you are a business owner you are always representing your company with everything that you do. Be as professional and kind as possible to all your potential customers and employees. Treat all these people how you would want to be treated in the same position as them. When you go to quote your jobs, make sure that you are dressed cleanly and professionally and that you have the knowledge you will need to impress them with your expertise. Also be sure to mention that you are insured to do the work and make professional looking business cards at staples that you can give them if they ever need to reach you. As for your employees, make sure that you reward them for a job well done. Share the wealth that you are making by buying them food once or twice a week. Give someone a day off if they need it and have been loyal to your company. Pay them well and on time and be available when they call or text you about a job. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of you and your company. Doing these things will quickly grow your business into a reputable brand.

Now that you know the ingredients for a successful contracting business and have hopefully built up a good book of business, you will want to start to scale your company to multiple crews and jobs at once. To do this, you will simply continue the strategies for hiring and finding work that we have talked about, while focusing on staying organized with your jobs and who is working on what. Once you get enough business you can hire a virtual assistant online for cheap from Wing Assistant that can handle the reposting of your ads each day and forward the leads to you that roll in. As you grow, work on offloading some of the tedious work to employees so that you can work on keeping your jobs organized and making sure you have everything your crew needs each day to work.

If you follow these steps consistently, you will be sure to have a successful contracting business in no time. Be sure to continue learning new trades in person and on platforms like YouTube so you can continue to expand your services and grow your business. Remember to be good and honest to your employees and customers and you will have a company that can be around for generations.