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8 Ways to Grow Your Contracting Business

Would you like to boost your contracting business to the next level? It seems like there are a million points to manage when you own a business. But having a plan and being organized will help. Start with these 8 ways to grow your contracting business. 

1. Highlight Your Unique Skills

Just because you’re a general contractor and you can do pretty much any project doesn’t mean you have to. Highlighting your unique skills and building a niche can be a great way to scale up. Do you have tons of experience in building pool decks, refinishing cabinets, or remodeling bathrooms? Then capitalize on that!

You can fall into the trap of becoming a “jack of all trades” but a “master of none.” Focus your skills. Your clients will appreciate the quality and you’ll grow your contracting business in no time. 

2. Fine Tune Your Processes

Our next step to grow your contracting business is to fine tune. Efficiency translates to money saved and customers earned. Develop the best practices in your organization for giving estimates, communicating with your team, following up on leads, and managing the punch lists, to name a few.

The nice thing? There is plenty of technology available to help. Read this for some of the best industry apps for contractors for ideas. 

3. Manage Your Reputation

Moving on, you already know that doing outstanding work and taking care of your customers will help build your reputation and earn you more business. But don’t stop there. Take further steps to build and protect your brand reputation. Here are a few ideas:

  • Claim your Yelp and Google pages. This lets you update those pages with info about your business, add images, and respond to reviews.
  • Ask your customers to leave you reviews. You can send an email after the project, soliciting their review and directing them to your website, Facebook page, Yelp page, etc. 
  • Have a polished website.
  • Be active on social media.

These are some of the places people can see how you operate, how well you respond, and what you value. Take the extra time to make a good impression, and it’ll pay off to grow your contracting business. 

4. Develop Soft Skills

Speaking of customer reviews, you’re bound to have a negative one from time to time. This is where your soft skills (sometimes called “people skills”) come in. Knowing how to calmly and politely respond to customers when things go wrong can turn the situation around.

Plus, you’ll need strong soft skills at lots of other times, too. For instance, good customer service skills will make you sound more professional when you’re following up on leads. And, of course, learning how to skillfully manage customer expectations is vital.

These soft skills are an absolute necessity to grow your contracting business, so invest some time in practice and improvement. 

5. Join an Industry Association

Next on our list, industry associations are fantastic for networking and growing your skills. For instance, some associations have blogs that offer tips. Others give in-depth reviews about contracting products. Here are a few organizations to consider joining:

  • Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
  • American Institute of Constructors
  • Associated General Contractors
  • National Association of Women in Construction
  • Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association

Sometimes, simply being associated with organizations like these can give you the edge over the competition, and that can be a great way to grow your contracting business. 

6. Outsource to Subcontractors When Needed

Also, to grow your contracting business, you need to recognize when it would benefit you to subcontract part of the work. Sometimes you’ll need to bring in others to get the job finished on time. Other times you may need to hire someone who specializes in an area that you don’t.

Recognize when to call in a subcontractor and do it. 

7. Be Selective About Projects

Remember when you first started your business, and you’d take on any project at any time? It might be time to stop doing that. You don’t have to take every job that comes your way — especially when you are in demand. If the profit margin is too slim or your time is better served elsewhere, feel free to pass on the project. You may be surprised to grow your contracting business. 

8. Offer Financing

And finally, the simple fact is that many people, probably even a majority of your customers, need financing to afford their home improvement project. So, a contractor that can offer customers financing has a leg up on the competition.

Offering financing doesn’t have to be complicated! With HFS Financial as your partner, we handle all the work getting your clients the best contractor financing available. Plus, we’ll equip you with even more ideas for the best business strategy around. “You Dream It, We Finance It.” That’s how things work around here. Are you ready to let HFS Financial work for you? Start today.

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