If you are an individual contractor doing construction work, then you can often find yourself running multiple areas of your business—oftentimes alone. While this can be exciting and liberating, it can also require you to take on a lot more than you would working for someone else. An organized business can be what makes your contracting business stand out from others, and you want to make sure you have systems put in place to make things as simple as possible.
Here are a few ways you can organize your contracting business.
Consider a CRM
One of the most difficult aspects of having your own contracting business is, in fact, your contracts. While you should have templates available, not all of them are going to be a perfect fit for every job. You are also going to want to have a proper place to store them, which is where a CRM for construction can be incredibly useful. Not only does it give your clients a chance to look at the information online, but you always know where everything is located and whether or not they are requesting changes.
Be realistic of how long projects will take
One mistake contractors make (especially when they are first starting out) is that they often underestimate how long it might take to complete a project. Not only can this decrease the amount of trust clients have in your business if it ends up taking months longer than predicted, but it can also be bad if you have other projects lined up. Give every single one of your customers a realistic timeline on when things might be done and some time in between for you to discuss contracts.
Consider outsourcing
You might love the idea of building, but you might like the idea of paperwork and sales less so. Fortunately, these are all areas where you can hire a VA or remote worker to take care of tasks for you. Having an assistant online is not very expensive, and it can free up a lot of your time in order to develop relationships with customers and to work on projects faster. Many contractors have chosen to do this as an alternative to doing it themselves.
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Keep records
No matter whether you are documenting things yourself or you have hired someone to handle this part of your business, you’ll want to make sure that you keep information on each client and which projects went well. You can also determine which projects used more supplies than was expected, which took more time, and which clients you would work with again. These records can be invaluable when you are looking to determine how you want to improve your contracting business in the future.
In summary
When you are running your own contracting company, the more organized you are, the better. If you can have a clear system that works and where you can store records for the future, then you are setting yourself up for success.
