If you’ve ever seen excavators for sale and thought about starting up your own small construction or general contracting business, now might be the time. Forecasts are predicting that the value of the construction industry will rise steadily over the coming years. There is plenty of need for construction, home improvement and general contracting services like Tony’s Roofing, so it’s time to turn your ideas into reality. Here are some tips for bringing your business to life:
1. Familiarize Yourself with the Basics of Starting a General Business
Before starting to think about the specifics of the construction industry, it’s important to understand the basic steps needed to plan and form any type of business. These include creating a business plan, choosing a location, and determining the legal structure of your business. Will you be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, LLC (limited liability corporation) S corporation, nonprofit or cooperative?
Also, you must register a business name, get a tax ID number and register your business for state and local taxes.
2. Get Licensed, Bonded and Insured
It is absolutely essential for any construction business to have not only the proper business licence, but any other specific licenses that might be required by the industry. For example, you would need different licences for electric, plumbing or gas related work that might come up during construction. You will also need a surety bond and definitely several types of insurance. Think about purchasing general liability insurance, as well as vehicle and property insurance.
3. Learn About Industry Regulations
The construction industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries, so it’s important to understand how your work will be regulated before you get started. Plenty of resources exist online to help you out.
4. Find and Hire Labor
As the manager of your new business, you’ll be distributing the work out to workers from four different sources. These include subcontractors, hired employees, labor brokers and independent contractors. Different laws exist when working with each of these different kind of workers, so make sure you’re familiar with these before you get started. For example, taxes, wages and benefits might be different from independent contractors to hired employees. Labor brokers are people you pay to help you find labor, so they will receive a fee directly.
