General Contracting: How To Hire A Professional To Join Your Construction Team

April 30, 2021May 29, 2021

4 mins

When you first started your journey in general contracting, you likely completed most jobs on your own. When you work solo, you can set your own hours, communicate with clients one-on-one, and skip dealing with the headache that comes with the accounting and payroll paperwork for hiring someone new. However, as your business grows and your contacts expand, your business is taking on bigger jobs than you can handle. You may be asking yourself: what do I do now?

Even if you already have a partner, there are many good reasons to add more construction professionals to your team. First, you can tackle projects that are bigger and more high-profile when you have more people to work the job. Also, while you’ll have to do some paperwork initially, it’ll mean less work and more payoff for you in the long run.

Hiring someone new can feel like an uphill climb, but the good news for you is that you don’t have to be an HR expert to add someone to your construction team. Let’s discuss a few tips to help you hire a professional that will become a trusted employee of your ever-expanding contracting business.

Table of Contents

Look At Your Profit Margin

It’s time to sit down and crunch the numbers. Experts recommend you calculate the total cost of having a full-time employee for one year before you hire someone new. If you’re drowning in more projects than you can handle, and your profit margins are high enough to sustain a full-time employee, go for it! An additional pair of hands will be a big help to you and you’ll be able to begin to grow your business and your profits.

Find The Right Person For The Job

There are many factors to consider when beginning your search for the perfect qualified applicant. Here are a few, in no particular order:

Are they qualified? You want someone who can be an asset to your business and pull their own weight. A quality worker is going to be in search of quality pay, so consider setting your rates accordingly to attract the right person.
Are they certified? While enthusiasm is wonderful, you want to be sure you’re hiring someone who knows what they’re doing and values safety above all else. You can train to get your Class B contractors license and much more on qualified educational sites like RocketCert.
Are they trustworthy? Your new employee will be working alongside you in people’s homes and workplaces, and you want your clients to feel as safe and secure around the new worker as they do with you.
Do they have a niche skill? It can be valuable to add a worker to your team that has skills you don’t have yet. For example, are they particularly skilled with electrical work or specialize in sustainable home construction?
Are they a good fit? At the end of the day, this is a person you will be working with every day. Consider whether they are a good fit for your company, and hire someone with an even temper that you can get along with!

Put The Word Out

Once you’ve set a threshold for pay scale, education requirements, and other qualifications, you can make a thorough job description and begin to put the word out there. Keep in mind, you will have more quality candidates reach out if you choose a quality job site to post on.

Don’t pigeonhole yourself by only advertising in one way; try out a mixture of general and contracting-specific job boards to receive a broad range of qualified applicants. You can also consider advertising on your business’s website or social media, or making connections with other general contractors in online groups or at trade shows.

It can be a daunting task to assemble a construction team after working alone. But experts are calling construction one of the most dynamic industrial sectors to watch in the next 15 years, and there are plenty of workers who want a piece of the action.

If you have the right tools to assess your finances, spread the word, and interview qualified applicants, you’ll be turning your solo act into a duet in no time.

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