Construction Business

  • Four Steps to a Successful Construction Business - It doesn't matter whether you're just starting out as a contractor or trying to expand your construction company, these four steps can help you develop a more successful construction company.
  • Making the Big Bucks As a Home Building Contractor - I've met a lot of home building contractors who make a very good living and I've met even more who don't. What's the secret to making the big bucks as a home building contractor?
  • Always Looking for Good Clients - Construction Business - Every contractor that I've ever met is always looking for good clients. If you're one of these contractors, and I'm sure that you are, read this article carefully. You've got to be able to understand the difference between a good client and a bad one, for starters.
  • One Job Put This Contractor Out Of Business - It was only a few years ago that I was talking to a friend of mine about a plastering contractor who had just went out of business. He didn't underbid the job, he had a good contract, but the person he was working for, went out of business and took the plastering contractor down with him.
  • The One Million-Dollar Client - Construction Business Advice - I'm going to share a story with you today about someone working in the construction business. This contractor wasn't any different than you and me and didn't really have any special skills that were out of the ordinary.
  • Problems with Contractors Using Undocumented Labor - If you're a contractor who uses the illegal immigrants or undocumented workers, you could easily find yourself dealing with more problems than you ever believed you would have. I know plenty of contractors who go down to their local donut shop to find someone who is willing to work hard for very little money.
  • Marketing Tips for Contractors Who Desperately Need New Customers - When is this recession ever going to end. I live in Southern California and when I go down to the Home Depot, it's packed with customers, but I can't seem to get their attention, any of them. I see them walking out of the stores with big-ticket items, but whose doing all the work.
  • Construction Partnerships That Don't Work - I was taking my daughter to a Girl Scouts event and needed to pick up two other fathers and their daughters. By the time I was done with the baseball game that we went to, I never wanted to see either one of these fathers again. Each one of them wanted to be my partner, but didn't have anything to offer.
  • My Biggest Mistake As a Building Contractor - The Pen Truly Is Mightier Than the Sword - Everyone makes mistakes, but in the construction business you're required to pay for them. I'm not talking about paying with Monopoly money, I'm talking about mistakes that cost you a lot of money.
  • Starting a Construction Business Doesn't Require A Lot Of Capital - If you're planning on building hotels, strip malls and hundreds of homes, right off the bat, you might need a lot more capital to start a construction business. If you're planning on starting a construction business and working your way up, by working on smaller jobs.
  • Five Ways to Increase Profits As a Contractor - This will probably be one of the most popular articles that I have ever written. Every contractor that I know wants to know some of my secrets about my success. I rarely share them with anyone, but today I'm going to share them with you. I hope you can use at least one of them to make more money as a contractor.
  • Help Your Construction Business by Asking Successful People for Advice - You're probably not going to believe the story that I'm about to tell you, but it's what makes America great. You can come to this country, learn a trade within a short time and become a millionaire in less than five years.
  • Construction Knowledge Gained through Books - Have you ever wanted to remodel a bathroom, build your own house or simply be able to replace a kitchen faucet? How many people get pride and develop a sense of worth, from your ability to fix something and in the process save yourself some money? As a contractor for over 30 years, I've heard the women talk poorly about their husbands ability to fix or repair anything that's wrong with the home.
  • Creating a Good Image of Yourself - As long as I've been in the construction business, I have seen some of the lousiest contractors make the most money, while some of the best contractors, seem to struggle. It's not always about what you know in the construction business, a lot of times it's more about who you know or how people perceive you.
  • The Key to a Successful Construction Business Is Referrals - It seems like, I have had to start my business over, each time that I move into a new community. I live in the same state, but have lived in three counties and each move has seemed to cost me a lot of old business. Here's what I've learned, in my travels as a general contractor.
  • Internet Marketing Advantages for Contractors - There are thousands of contractors all over the United States who know how to build new homes and remodel old ones. These contractors understand construction law and the construction business, but rarely do they understand marketing principles.
  • Fundamentals of Asking for Construction Referrals - If you're seriously planning on staying in the construction business, you should consider asking your previous customers for referrals. Some of the best jobs that I have ever received have been from referrals.
  • Benefits of Placing Links in Articles - It's not actually going to be the act of writing articles that will provide you with more business or traffic to your website. It's the links that you put in the articles that will provide the benefits from the search engines.
  • Benefits of Writing Articles - If you don't understand the benefits of writing articles, let me explain it to you. It's not actually all about writing the articles, it's more about placing links to your website on other peoples blogs, directories or websites.
  • Protecting Your Company and Personal Information - It seems like, ever since time began, people have been looking for easy ways to acquire information that would be beneficial to them and others. Your personal information, is extremely valuable to marketing companies and e-mail spammers.
  • Stair Builders Directory Page Positioning Experiment -
    In the advertising world, bigger is always going to be better and first position is always going to be better than second. I can't stress the importance of signing up for the Stair Builders Directory, before your competition does.
  • Moneymaking Secret for Remodeling Contractors -
    If you're a remodeling contractor and your business isn't working as well as you would like it to, I would like to share a few moneymaking secrets with you. Hopefully these secrets will take your remodeling business to the next level.
  • Jobsite Cleanliness Is a Must for Building and Remodeling Contractors - When I first started working in construction, I was constantly stepping over large pieces of lumber that were spread all over the jobsite. I would often trip or fall over these large cumbersome items and never even thought about cleaning any of it up.
  • 10 Ways a Contractors Can Make Their Clients Mad without Even Knowing It - If you've been in business as long as I have, you probably said things to your clients that either weren't taken the way they were meant to be or said something to them that was out of line.
  • Con Artist Even Work in the Construction Industry - I would like to share another construction story with you about a contractor who desperately tried to take advantage of one of the people that I was working for. This was an intelligent contractor who had been in business for 10 years.
  • Five Wacky Things Homeowners Ask Me to Do - The Nerve of Some People - Just when I think I've seen everything in the construction business, someone does something to prove me wrong. I can't believe how many wacky things homeowners have asked me to do while giving estimates.
  • How to Avoid Home Repair Lawsuits by Doing Good Work - If you really want to avoid any type of lawsuits, you need to educate yourself and use caution with everything that you do. Construction lawsuits are no different, if you understand construction lawsuits and use caution, you could easily avoid them in the future.
  • Remodeling Contractor Becomes Multimillionaire - I don't know if you have ever noticed or not, but there are very few contractors that are billionaires but there are some that are millionaires. I would like to share a story with you about a remodeling contractor who became a multimillionaire, by working hard and investing wisely.
  • Remodeling Contractors Surviving the Recession - There are thousands of remodeling contractors all over the United States that are only interested in doing a good job and making their clients happy. There are a few who think a little different, but for the most part, remodeling contractors are interested in making their clients happy, so that they can refer them more business.
  • Tools for Calming Down Anyone Working in the Construction Industry - When I first started working in construction, in the late 1970s it seemed like every person on the job had an attitude. The carpenters didn't like the plumbers, the plumbers didn't like the electricians and the electricians didn't like the plumbers or the carpenters.
  • Who Would Ever Start a Home Building Business? - One of the biggest problems in the home building business is the amount of materials and labor that are needed to complete one house. There are so many things that could go wrong, yet millions of homes are still built year after year.
  • The Best Money Ever Spent - Construction Business Secrets Revealed - A contractor shared something with me a long time ago and I would like to share it with you today. Taking someone out to lunch, could be the best money you ever spent and I'm about to tell you why.
  • Professional Home Remodelers Are Changing the Business - As more and more people become educated about how contractors do business in the United States, I'm starting to see a shift in the way home remodelers do business. It seems like were finally getting rid of the crooked contractors and replacing them with honest reliable professionals.
  • Universal Construction Methods Remain the Same -
    In case you're wondering why most houses look similar and are constructed and relatively the same method, you're absolutely right. Most homes are designed and constructed in similar manners, using standard construction methods.
  • How Much Money Is a Contractor Actually Worth? - I've been a contractor since 1986 and this seems to be one of the biggest problems that homeowners and other employers of mine seem to have. Is my contractor charging me too much money? This seems to be one of the biggest issues and confrontational problems in the construction industry today.
  • Construction Shortcuts Create Big Problems - I've seen plumbers poorly fastened pipes together, only to create water leaks that damage large sections of homes. I've seen electricians create fire hazards by splicing electrical wires in concealed areas and I've seen roofers improperly flash around skylights without any knowledge of the problems that they were actually creating.
  • What I Learned from Carpenters in the 1970s - When I started working in construction, the year was 1978 and carpenters usually brought their dogs to the job, had their radios blasting out loud music and there was plenty of alcohol that was consumed on a regular basis. These carpenters that I'm talking about, weren't really interested in safety or doing exceptionally good work.
  • Think Twice before Making Your Own Changes during Construction? - My grandfather was a carpenter and he taught my father and his brother the art of home construction. I was talking to my uncle one day when he said something that I would never forget. He said,” We are just assembling the homes, it's not our job to reengineer or design them.”
  • Don't Mix Alcohol with Construction Labor - When I first started working in the construction business, in 1978 it seemed like everyone drank alcohol on the job. These people seem to function pretty good, even though some of them were definitely under the influence of alcohol.
  • Abusive Homeowner Gets Mad at Contractor - Whenever we think of home remodeling or new home construction, we rarely think of the homeowner taking advantage of the contractor. It's usually the other way around, but this time the homeowner got a little carried away with the contractor.
  • My Ex-Wife and Construction Problems - What does my ex-wife have to do with any construction problems? If you keep your eyes open in your mouth shut, you could learn an extremely valuable lesson about solving construction problems. I learned this one from observing my ex-wife after we were divorced.
  • How to Deal with Construction Know It Alls - If I was to ask you, do you know someone who knows everything about the construction business, but realistically doesn't know much? This type of person likes to get in your face and tell you what you're doing wrong, even though they know very little about home building. How can we deal with the construction know it all?
  • Contractors - How to Get Paid on Time - One the biggest problems that I have found, working in the construction business as a contractor and business owner is getting paid on time. If you've been a contractor for over five years, there's a good chance that you know what I'm talking about. Here's a couple of tips from a concerned professional.
  • Good Contractors Don't Sell Themselves Short  - When I was young, I had dreams of becoming rich and successful. These dreams were changed, once I started working in construction. If you notice, there are very few billionaires in the construction business. It seems like most contractors live in a dog eat dog world and will often take jobs cheaper than other contractors, simply because they don't know any different.
  • Removing The Scammers from the Construction Business - Whether you're in the construction business as a laborer, superintendent, Foreman or you're actually the boss, you have an obligation to your trade to honesty and fairness. This goes both ways of course, if you're working for someone and they're not treating you fairly or being honest, it's time to find another job.
  • Spotting Though Clients in the Construction Business - Some clients can make your life a living nightmare, if you choose to work for these people, they could make your life extremely miserable. Here's a story about a man that called me one time for an estimate, but didn't seem to understand, how to treat people, especially people that don't need to work for people like him.
  • Ending Construction Delays before They Even Start - One of the biggest problems in the construction industry is construction delays and these are usually created by avoidable problems. Some of these problems were unforeseen, while others happened and now you need to deal with them. You might not be able to stop every single construction delay before they ever start, but you can do your best to avoid them, with some simple planning.
  • Finding Good Contractors, Creates a Win-Win Situation - All the years I have spent in the remodeling business, home building business and all of the work that I have done that doesn't fall into either one of these categories, in the home repair business, has taught me a lot about people.
  • Hope for Remodeling Contractors During Tough Times - Well this is about the third time for me, going through some tough times and the bad economy, in the construction business. If you're a remodeling contractor or are currently working in the remodeling business, you're in a better position than those who are used to working in new construction, track framing or commercial tilt ups.
  • Take As Many Pictures As You Can - Protecting Homeowners - What if I could tell you a secret that some contractors know about, but it seems like most homeowners never do? What if I told you something that could save you thousands of dollars in home repairs, litigation and insurance problems, in the future? I think I have your attention, don't I.
  • How Do I Become a Licensed Contractor? - So you're finally ready to take the next step and become a licensed contractor. Before you do this, I would like to share a couple of things with you about contractors licensing schools and what it takes to become a licensed contractor in most states.
  • How Hard Was It to Get Your Contractor's License 20 Years Ago? - Well to be honest with you, it wasn't as hard as I thought. It's probably easier today to get your state contractors license than it was 20 years ago. When I took my test in 1986, there were plenty of people who didn't have much experience in the construction business, taking their test to become a general contractor. Quite frankly, I was surprised.
  • Construction Website Building Tips - Attracting New Customers - It wasn't long ago, that contractors didn't need websites, but today things are a little different and we do. If you don't have a website for your construction company, there is no time like the present for you to get one. If you have more business than you know what to do with, you can stop reading the article right here.
  • Working for Your Church - Pay Attention Christian Contractors - One of the best things you could do for your construction company is work for your church. If you belong to a large church, you might not ever have to advertise again. What I'm about to share with Christian contractors can also be applied to other organizations. Don't limit your thinking, because the possibilities here are endless.