4 Qualities All Construction Business Owners Must Possess
Construction is one of the largest sectors in the world. For those with previous experience in the industry, building a construction business could be a no-brainer.
It’s a powerful industry that can produce incredible profits, as well as providing a solid upward growth. This is great for a small business that wishes to expand in the future.
However, construction is also a notoriously difficult industry; challenging, plagued by low profit margins, and prone to suffer especially severely when recessions hit. Those that enter into the construction business often possess unique characteristics that could be considered essential for success.
If you have long wanted to create a small construction business with dreams of making it big in future, then it’s well worth reading the following list of essential qualities all construction business owners must possess.
#1 – An adventurous spirit is a must for how to build a successful construction business
If you are looking for a business opportunity that is going to be sedate and simple to manage, then construction is unlikely to be the right choice for you. Construction is ever-changing and evolving, which means one month is rarely the same as the one before it, and the year-on-year changes can be even more dramatic.
As well as the changes in the industry itself, it is also worth knowing that construction tends to exist on relatively small profit margins. As a result, you will likely spend much of your time examining costs and outgoings in order to ensure your margins are at an acceptable level.
This is undoubtedly stressful, which makes the industry a difficult prospect for those looking for a basic business that operates in a largely hands-off manner.
However, it is worth noting that construction is also an incredibly exciting and dynamic industry – due in no small part to its fluctuations and need for constant management. If you have an adventurous spirit and are happy to throw yourself into a business, then construction will reward your energy, focus, and time commitment.
#2 – The ability to delegate and cooperate is necessary to start a construction business
Construction business owners have to be able to use subcontractors to complete their projects, and they have to be willing to delegate. The reason we can use “have” with such certainty is simply due to the nature of construction: it’s complicated.
While it may technically be possible for a single business to be able to control every niche aspect of construction from managing planning disputes to ground improvement, in practical terms, this is next to impossible. Construction is made up of thousands of different specialties, and most construction business owners understand this, and implicitly acknowledge that they cannot seek to be a jack of all trades.
Instead, for anything outside of their own expertise, they are more than happy to contract to another company; they will bring in legal assistance for planning disputes or call Helitech or similar companies for help with ground improvement in order to supplement their own skills.
After all, “jack of all trades” is actually a condemnation: “jack of all trades, master of none” – and this point is something that successful construction business owners take very seriously. You can’t go it alone in the construction industry; it’s simply too big, and comprises of too many areas of very niche specialty, to try to fly solo.
The same is true in regards to delegation within your company; you have to be willing to allow staff, and particularly expert staff, to perform work without feeling the need to micromanage them.
All successful construction business owners understand that they cannot seek to solve every problem themselves. They will rely on others – potentially hundreds of “others” – to complete the projects they are involved with.
Building a successful construction business isn’t a one person job.
#3 – Future-thinking
The construction industry is suited to people who are willing to look to the future at all times; it is less suitable for those who would rather focus on a day-to-day business life.
The main reason behind this is simple: construction is a time-consuming industry. If you were to open a business as an SEO consultant, you could plan for a few months at a time, as it would take you a month or so to get through your work with each of the companies you were consulting for.
However, in constructions, projects can last for literally decades, which means that construction business owners have to be comfortable making decisions that may not produce results for many, many years.
The idea of looking into the future and making predictions in this way is something many people find rather disconcerting. If you wish to be a construction business owner, it’s something that will become part of your day-to-day life.
Have a long term game plan while building a successful construction business
You have to be comfortable with playing a long game rather than seeing instantaneous results. This may sound manageable enough, but there is a second element to consider as well. Your plans can be continuously changing while building a construction business.
Construction business owners have to be willing to make decisions for the future. They also have to be willing to scrap those decisions and plans should something change in the meantime.
You may be someone who is comfortable working on a project that will take five years to complete.
However, you also have to be comfortable with the possibility that you will progress three years into that project. This may even require you to make a radical change to the expected outcome.
Construction is not a secure industry; businesses fail, or the economy crashes, and long-held plans have to be scrapped and new ones formulated in their place.
This awkward combination of planning for the future, and being willing to scrap those plans, is rather unique to the construction industry. It is, however, a fact of life you will have to adjust to if you choose to open a business in this sector.
#4 – A willingness to be accountable
Construction projects can be subject to constant changes that are not foreseen at the start of the project. As one would expect, this tends to mean that many construction projects underperform or exceed their initial budget.
A survey found that 61% of US construction project owners had experienced an underperforming project in the last year, and only 31% of global construction project owners said their projects came within 10% of the initial budget.
In truth, the above statistics are simply a fact of the industry. Construction is subject to a variety of different influences that can mean projects underperform, or break their budgets.
This can happen even when the actions of the construction business owner were 100% correct.
Solve problems quickly
A good construction business owner’s actions and reaction to these delays or budget overspends is crucial. This can determine their overall success building a construction business.
As a construction business owner don’t wait to mention problems until they cannot be fixed. Their lack of accepting responsibility is a serious problem.
This problem can be so severe that companies will refuse to work with that owner again. This will have effectively harmed their reputation with a lack of accountability for issues experienced during a problem.
In contrast, a good construction business owner will know that delays are to be expected. You should feel confident enough to be honest about any issues you experience.
When building a construction business be sure to explain to your clients what has happened. This means providing updates, raising concerns, and owning up to your own contributions to the problems.
If a construction owner is willing to do these things, then they should have no issue securing work in future.
This is because they will garner a reputation for honesty and accountability that reflects well on their business. If you want to build a construction business, you will need to be accountable to secure work.
Learn the skills to build a successful construction business
If you study the most successful construction business owners, then you almost always find the five traits mentioned above.
If you are looking to get into the construction business, you should compare your abilities with the above requirements.
Certainly not everyone has these skills immediately. The above skills are learn-able. Construction is a tough industry, and business owners who enter this sector do require the qualities above – but there’s always room to do things your own way, too.
You may feel you do not yet possess a quality, but the most important thing is your awareness of this. Be willing to strategize workaround solutions to compensate or improve your skills.
You may already have the skills you need to start a construction business, or it may take a little work. Finding an opportunity for building a construction business should be plentiful.
If you are passionate about construction, then it may well be the right small business idea for you – and who knows, you could be on your way to building a very bright future for you and your family.
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