5 tips to grow your construction business

Construction is a $10 trillion industry with many serious efficiency problems. It’s indicative that the difference between the building sector and the average economy in terms of productivity is $1.6 billion a year.

Under these circumstances, it is apparent that starting and subsequently growing your construction business can be a great challenge. It requires a lot of planning and solid knowledge of the market.

On top of that, you will need a good amount of resources that will allow you to accelerate your expansion and increase your operations. That being said, you need a large amount of skillful construction workers as well as the possible equipment that will help you to save both time and money during the construction process.

By now, you might feel that things are already getting extremely tricky. Nevertheless, there is no reason to worry! We did some research and we present to you below 5 powerful tips that will help grow your construction company in an effective manner and without going over budget:

1. Put together a strong team

Finding the right people for the right positions is fundamental for every type of business. Construction is, of course, no exception. For that reason, you need to bring close to you people that you trust and that have long experience in the industry. These can be people that you have worked together in the past or professionals whom you found after the recommendation of your network. In any case, search for those who are really competent and have a good understanding of digital technologies. The last element is extremely important if we take into consideration that digitization is already taking over the industry and that many tasks will be based on robotics in the near future.

2. Support your people actively

As soon as you are done with building your team, the toughest part of your mission begins. You have to learn how to lead them with respect. In that way, you will be able to motivate them and communicate to them your vision for the future of your construction business. To achieve that, make sure that you listen to them and that you don’t alienate yourself from the everyday problems on site. For instance, it would be a great idea to hold regular meetings with your team where you discuss the progress of the projects and the potential problems that might have emerged during the completion of a task. Furthermore, you should try to reward those who perform at their best with small but thoughtful gifts. In the same sense, you should detect and guide those who need an extra push in order to catch up with the schedule.

3. Invest in digital tools

Mark Farmer, the great UK construction consultant, published a few months ago his report about the future of construction entitled ‘Modernise or Die’. In this report, he explained how digital solutions can save construction from the harmful budget overruns (80% of projects), the incredibly low efficiency rates (30%) and the lack of productivity. This approach should be your guide when you are putting together the building strategy of your construction company. Invest in reliable project management tools that will allow you to closely monitor your building projects and to communicate with your team members in real-time. This will save you tons of money and time and will be a decisive factor in your endeavor to grow your business.

4. Don’t throw your data away

The construction industry is wasting or not collecting at all 95% of the data that generates. This is one of the main reasons why you need to invest in a trustworthy construction software, as we suggested above. For those who know how to analyze it, data is power. It is valuable project intelligence which will eventually allow you to establish a more effective construction process and to avoid costly mistakes. Predictive analytics, for example, can help you create a standardized building method. More analytically, even from the designing phase of your project you can be sure regarding the cost, the timeframe and the materials that you need to use based on the location that you operate. Additionally, by keeping a detailed record of everything that takes place on site you can protect your company from painful disputes that stall the progress of your project and eliminate your profits.

5. Build a strong network

The construction industry is swiftly moving from the enterprise to the ecosystem model. Simply put, the big construction giants who accumulate all the opportunities and profits will soon be over. In their place, a collaborative ecosystem will emerge. This new system will be consisted of numerous smaller players who collaborate between them in harmony and share both knowledge and profits. That’s why you need two main elements. Data and a good network. Make sure that you focus on both equally. Create strong bonds with other noteworthy business of your niche and always try to be helpful. Like that, you can in long-term establish your business as an active player on and off site and be the first to know when new investment opportunities will come your way. Lastly, by maintaining a solid network you will be able to find easier capable workers and learning from the mistakes that others have made in similar situations.

Wrapping it up!

To sum up, it is evident that growing your construction business requires a lot of effort and extremely careful investments. However, it’s not impossible if you have the right strategy in place. All you need to do is to embrace digitization and focus on building a proactive network with the help of which you will eventually be able to take the next step for your company.

About the author: Anastasios Koutsogiannis is Content Marketing Manager at GenieBelt.