Things You Need to Know to Become a Successful General Contractor

As the high-tech economy changes careers worldwide, one of the few professions that haven’t been affected much is general contracting. And not only are general contractors in stable careers, but they also earn decent salaries and have great job security.

So if you’ve been a small-scale handyman and were wondering if becoming a general contractor is the right move, you definitely should consider it. The best part about becoming a contractor is that it’s not an overly complicated process.

Here’s what you should know about becoming a successful general contractor.

What You Will Need

To begin with, let’s first cover the general requirements of getting into general contracting:

1. Education and Experience

Like with any career, becoming successful as a general contractor is a matter of experience. Make sure you have some experience in construction or a similar field before you can start applying for your general contractor licence. Some of the areas you want to concentrate on include bidding on projects, navigating the permit process, and budgeting/tracking expenses.

When it comes to gaining the required education, you will want to focus on getting the highest quality of education you can. If in Virginia, make sure to purchase top-rated Virginia Contractors License courses from top providers like RocketCert. This guarantees you are getting an education that the state’s licensing board accepts.

The courses and additional study materials that course providers offer will make it easier to pass your exams. Additionally, they always come in handy as you advance in your career.

2. Required Skills

The other important factor you want to pay attention to when contemplating a general contractor career is the required skills. Some of the most crucial skills in your career include but aren’t limited to:

• Leadership

As a general contractor, you are tasked with managing projects from start to finish. Such a vital supervisory role requires you to have outstanding leadership skills. You should be able to assemble teams, ensure everyone on the team is performing their roles, coordinate with homeowners & designers, make executive decisions, and develop business plans.

• Communication

The one thing you must keep in mind at all times is that your job revolves around building what someone else wants. This requires you to communicate as effectively as possible with clients, subcontractors, and designers.

You, ideally, should ensure everyone is on the same page, and that all requirements and expectations are crystal clear. You will want to hold regular project meetings to ensure the construction is progressing according to your client’s expectations.

• Creativity

Not to say that you need to think like an artist, but you want to be creative enough so you can solve problems easily and swiftly. Besides, such creativity is what you need to bring your clients’ visions to life, no matter how impractical they seem at first. It doesn’t end there.

Being creative also means you can develop a workaround for flaws in designs or problems when working with, or renting equipment.

• Time Management

Even though some delays are unavoidable, construction jobs are highly reliant on sticking to tight deadlines and meeting investor and client expectations. That’s why you need good time management skills to help you set schedules correctly and pace your work accordingly so you can meet deadlines.

Typical Projects You Can Handle

After meeting the education and experience requirements including taking exams, where applicable, you will get your licence, which means you can now take on any construction project legally. While this may vary from one state to the other, you will usually be permitted to work on almost any project in the contracting field. In most cases, nevertheless, it will be more practical for you to focus on one or two of the following construction categories:

• Commercial – These are usually building spaces that are designed and zoned specially so they can be used to make a profit. Good examples of these are warehouses, offices, and retail buildings.
• Residential – Residential buildings are typically single-family, multi-family, and other types of units designed for personal inhabitation. If you choose this category, you will want to be well-versed with safety precautions to ensure maximum home safety.
• Industrial – The construction projects in this category concentrate on creating buildings for businesses such as power plants, oil refineries, goods manufacturing factories, and others.
• Infrastructure – This category is ideal for contractors who are interested in building structures such as bridges, sidewalks, roads, and others that are meant for public use.

Start Your Journey to Success With RocketCert

General contracting is an amazing career for many people, but it can be the worst thing you’ve ever been involved in if you don’t start your journey right. The most important part of your general contractor career will be education, and that’s where RocketCert comes in.

Thanks to their expertly created courses and plenty of additional material to increase your knowledge in this field, success is a guarantee. But don’t take our word for it. Visit rocketcert.com today to get a first-hand perspective of what we mean.