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Hiring for your Contracting and Construction Business: Tips and Tricks

Mar 15, 2019

We get the opportunity to talk to contracting and construction owners EVERY DAY at Reliant Funding. From those conversations, we have gathered some tips and tricks to hire the best laborers for your team.

Making sure you hire a contracting team or construction laborers who align with your company’s policies, codes of conduct and overall quality expectations can make or break your business. According to a poll done by Angie’s List, poor workmanship was the #1 reason customers fired their home improvement contractor. Here are some tips and tricks to make sure you have an A-Team staff.

Job Posting Accuracy

JA lot of construction and contracting companies whether it be residential contracting or commercial contracting have trouble finding the right team. If you look at what these construction and contracting companies write in their job requisition vs what they want out of a candidate there are quite a few disconnects.

Always be sure to review your job posting to check for a company description. The new contracting laborer should be aware of what your company does, what projects your company generally works on and the expectations of the position.

It is important to mention if this position is a new addition to your typical repertoire of services. For example; if you are known for your irrigation services but the jobs in your pipeline need a landscape artist- be sure to make it clear that your company is growing and venturing into this new area. A candidate might immediately check to see if their expertise in landscape artistry matches your business to identify if they would be a good fit.

If budget for these job posting sites is not something you have, don’t let that stop you from getting the right people, feel free to reach out to Reliant Funding to access working capital to work a subscription or two into your budget.

Use Your Networks

Not only should you be posting your job to general job sites, but also be sure to cross-post your requisitions on labor sites that are specific to your labor job posting. Be sure to check back on those sites and follow up with them in lieu of just posting and forgetting about it. Be sure to use those applicants to fill your pool of candidates and keep records of everything.

Another very important resource for contractor and construction hiring are other contracting and construction companies. These people may be direct or indirect competitors but if you have a job that needs a drywall specialist and they don’t have a job that is utilizing a specialist that they have, it is likely they can refer you to that person. If you are actively searching for labor, they can also spread the word of your search and could ensure you hire the right people in less time. You can also use your network of contracting laborers to refer other laborers they know for the position you are hiring for.

Stay Competitive

This might sound like an obvious tip for any business but a big problem in the construction industry and others is labor shortage. To stay competitive as a construction employer you have got to analyze; what other companies are paying to their laborers, what training programs they are providing to offer growth and development to employees and what other benefits they are offering.

You should also be sure to have a clear understanding to accurately communicate your contracting businesses’ unique values and propositions. You do not have to be limited to what you can offer your employees just because you are a small business either! Reliant Funding offers small construction business financing options so you can have a great team and reduce turnover (whether it is employee turnover or job turnover because of your team-both heavy costs over time).

Water the Grass

Have you ever heard the euphemism the grass is greener where you water it? Your normal list of laborers may become MIA if they feel like the job you are offering isn’t going to give more of a benefit then the drive time, number of hours or opportunity for personal growth.

Not every person wants to learn a new skill, but to the contracting laborers who do, training opportunities is a big benefit to the amount of jobs they can say yes to and could increase their loyalty to work for you. Think of it as a quid pro quo agreement with your laborers.

Making sure to have enough hours and guarantee the work for your construction team is a huge factor in whether you are going to get the team. You also should not just expect that cross-training to ensure they have the hours is enough as the more jobs your laborers are in-charge of that they may not be comfortable with means the quality reduces across the board. Ensuring you have enough working capital to take on more contracting jobs can ensure you have the hours that appeal to quality laborers.

Pay More

Uh Oh. Yes, we said it- pay more. If your laborers are doing well or are expected to handle a lot, make sure to pay them enough. If you know that you are going to make all your money back and then some on 3-5 different jobs, but your laborers must wait until payment is received and everyone is just hoping it is going to arrive one time- you may experience stress.

To ensure that you have a team that is willing to deliver the quality your contracting company promises, you can get a piece of the $50million just released for small business funding at Reliant Funding. If you keep your existing team happy, they are likely to refer your jobs to their network as well as increase their quality of work. 

Keep Communication Open

Communication is the key to every relationship and not just personal relationships but also professional ones as well. You might have a plan in your head for a laborer, but you have to ensure that you are communicating that to them. The expectations of your contracting or construction business need to be communicated and your staff should know how you would like them to communicate to each other and the client in your stead.

Make sure everyone knows they are valued for the good work they are doing. Another good way to find out who is available for cross-training is to listen to their ideas are for their career path to see if they want to learn new skills.

Don’t Stop Hiring

Keep that pool of laborer applicants available at your disposal and the people you meet from networking in your Rolodex. You never know when you are going to get a surge in construction projects at the same time an employee is injured. Injuries are an unfortunate by-product of construction and contracting work and you should be prepared.

Again, having access to working capital is so important because of these situations. Not only are you often responsible for medical bills and workman’s compensation or health benefits but you also must hire someone or multiple new laborers.

If this does ever happen and you have a business that has been open for at least 6 months and has made over $50,000 in revenue in that time, then apply with us to get you an approval in as little as 48 hours for your contracting business.

Balancing how your construction or contracting business affords to handle several projects, every day business operations and enough wages for all your employees is a huge undertaking. From our experience with construction and contracting owners it is a common occurrence for budgets to be stretched to their limits and unexpected expenses to occur. Short-term financing can help construction and contracting businesses by providing working capital to ensure your business keeps going and growing.

SINCE 2008, WE'VE CHAMPIONED SMALL BUSINESS:

$3,098,641,569 dollars funded