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Construction 101: The Challenges Along The Way

by Nigel Hilton

Setting up a business that’s in the construction niche is actually easy going. We bet you didn’t expect us to start this article by saying that, did you!? But it’s the truth. There is so a big opening in the construction niche to set up a business, but it’s better suited to those that have experience with a trade. Whether it be working as part of a trade company on the admin side, or actually learning the trade yourself, you have to know what you’re doing. So although it is something that’s so easy to get into, it’s also something you have to have an extensive amount of experience in. But if this ticks all of your boxes, and you have plenty of years worth of construction knowledge behind you in your niche, then this is the perfect article for you. Most of you will already be self employed, so setting up as a business is the next step to take. If it sounds like the step you want to take, we’re going to stop you right there, and show you some of the challenges that you might face along the way. The more prepared you are going into it, the better the end result is going to be.

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Hiring Or Buying

So the first thing that you’re most likely really going to struggle with, is the cost of actually achieving the finished goal. So it isn’t as simple as having a few people work for you, there’s the cost of actually buying or hiring everything that you need. So there are some things that you’re just not going to buy yourself, simply because it’s far more cost efficient to hire it from job to job. Crane hoisting is one example of something you’ll definitely find yourself hiring in most jobs. But for the general tools needed everywhere you go, it’s up to you and the people who work for you to get their own tools. It might even be worth having people bring their own tools to work as one of the conditions of hiring them. It’ll save you so much money, and then make their own tools their own responsibility.

The Fight To Win A Job

So when you do finally get this little venture up and running, you’re most likely going from a role where everything is organised for you, to being the person who is then going to try and win the jobs. So it will all be done from negotiations, and starting off small. It might be that you’re doing odd jobs on residential homes, building up a portfolio of work, and then starting on small construction sites. You will be contracted in, a fee will be agreed, and then it’ll be up to you to make the project run on time, and within budget.

Managing A Job
To do what we just finished up saying, you’re going to have to get good at project management. So much so, that it might even be worth completing an online course, or going to college to do a nighttime course. The more prepared you’re going to feel with the management side of things, the easier it’ll be to stick to deadlines.