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Communicating with clients is absolutely vital to the success of your contracting business. The trouble is that sometimes, it’s not clear exactly how you should be writing for them. These tips help you determine the best communication styles to use for residential, small business and corporate clients. Getting Started When you are just starting out, you have to figure out your …
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One thing lots of new students ask about, as they contemplate the process of becoming a licensed contractor in California, is whether the exam they’ll have to pass is difficult.
The short answer, of course, is that it really depends on who you ask… or for that matter, who you are. Some people pick up the knowledge more easily than others, not to mention the fact that some people feel anxiety at taking tests that others don’t.
In general, though, the best question isn’t whether or not the exam is difficult; it’s how prepared you are going to be to take it. At CSLS, we have a reputation for helping our students to make sure they are ready to not only take the exam, but also pass on the first try. Here are a few things we advise them to do to make the process easier:
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There probably aren’t a lot of things you can get nearly every contractor to agree on, but experience has taught us that most construction professionals simply hate one part of the job – doing paperwork.
There is no escaping it: Once you become a manager or business owner, there are lots of forms and office activities to stay on top of, from taxes and billing to things like insurance, payroll, and new project bids or proposals. If you let them, these details can quickly get out of control, and either take up a lot more of your time than they should, or stop your company from growing because it isn’t as organized as it should be.
If you are dreading the stack of paperwork in your office, or feel like you’d rather spend the day on a job site than sitting behind a desk, you’re in luck. Here are our top five tips contractors can use to reduce their paperwork burden:
1. Batch your projects to finish them together. In other words, don’t pay bills or complete other office work one at a time. Instead, put aside an hour or two each week where you can complete everything. You’ll go faster if you don’t have to start and stop, or keep finding things like pens and paper.
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The California construction industry is fast-moving, and the one thing you can count on is constant change and evolution. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a handful of things you can count on, however. Here are four current industry trends that every licensed contractor has to be ready for in the coming years:
1. Green building. Concern about the environment isn’t just limited to press coverage – businesses and homeowners at every level are looking for ways to get comfort and efficiency without damaging the planet. Licensed California contractors who can take advantage of the newest technologies and show off their green building expertise are nearly certain to shine over the next few decades.
2. An emphasis on speed. When today’s customers and clients say they want to get started immediately, what they really mean is that they wanted the project finished yesterday. That’s forcing builders to get smarter about the way they work and achieve quality, durable results that last over time. The days of slow-moving contractors who took weeks or months just to get started have come and gone – the future belongs to those builders and construction professionals who can move quickly.
