The Construction business consists of three main items:

1. Get Work
2. Do Work
3. Keep Score

Let’s start with the middle one. You need to have experience producing great results. If you achieve mid-level results for your current boss, don’t bother going into business for yourself. To succeed, you need to be that guy that already succeeds in your current job.

That doesn’t mean you need to be a master craftsman or have the highest technical skills on the jobsite. You must be competent in your trade and your crew needs to exceed expectations in production, quality, safety and schedule. If you can’t manage a crew to successful outcomes, don’t go into your own business. Put another way, you must be a leader. That means you take charge and others follow.

Most guys contemplating a construction start-up feel confident in their ability to do work. If that’s true for you, then consider your ability to get work. Don’t be afraid to say the S word here. You need to do Sales. That doesn’t mean telemarketing skills or the fast talking of a used car salesperson. Construction Start-Up sales requires the ability to initiate contacts, be organized with follow-ups and accept rejection. It sure helps to have a winning personality (to be someone that people tend to like), though you don’t need a specific personality type. To be successful in getting work, you need to be a bit creative, organized and willing to deal with fellow bipeds.

The Keep Score part scares many would-be entrepreneurs. It shouldn’t. Though the tasks are different from sales, the organizational skills are the same. The administrative portion of a construction company can be set-up well with some expert consulting advice. In fact, by utilizing new technologies such as cloud computing and smart phones, you could easily be operating at a more advanced level than most big firms. So if you can get the work and do the work, you can learn to keep score well.

Remember, when considering the construction industry, smart and fast beats big and slow.