As temperatures rise across California and air-conditioning puts a greater strain on the state’s power grid, the likelihood of power outages increases – especially in the hotter months. 

Contractors need to be prepared for possible blackouts or brownouts on their job sites. Just because the power’s out doesn’t mean clients become less demanding or that timelines increase.

Here’s how you can be prepared for power outages on your construction site.

How Much Power Do You Need On A Construction Site?
The first step in making a strong power plan for your construction site is knowing how much power you need. Make a list of your most common equipment that you use on your jobs and the power each of them requires.  Don’t forget tools you wouldn’t normally associate with construction – like phones, computers, fans and so on.

Identify the amount of energy all of these pieces of equipment require and you’ll be able to figure out exactly how much power you need to run your site.

Use Batteries Where Possible
Whenever possible, try to use equipment that can run on batteries as a backup. This way, if the outlets aren’t working, you have a stable source of energy for your equipment that doesn’t require electricity. 

The good thing about batteries is you can stockpile them – you’re only limited by the amount of batteries you have and how charged they are. They also don’t require ventilation like fuel-powered equipment does, giving you more flexibility for use.

Make sure you’re charging as many batteries as you could possibly need before days where blackouts might occur – it’s much better to be safe than sorry.

Generators Are Necessary
Even if you have gear with batteries, you need somewhere to charge the used ones. A backup generator (or two) is absolutely necessary on construction jobs where you might lose power. 

Nowadays, any decent-sized generator will be able to charge electronic devices quickly and effectively, so you can always have fresh batteries on hand. 

Just make sure you know how to use your generator, that it can be placed in an outdoor area with plenty of ventilation for the exhaust, and that you have enough fuel to last as long as the outage.

Plan Ahead
Realistically, you don’t have to drag your generator to every job site – usually you can find out in advance when and where blackouts are likely to occur.

Sustained heat puts a lot of stress on the power grid across California. You can find information about where and when to expect blackouts on your local energy provider’s website ahead of time. On those days, make sure you’re prepared.

Being blackout-prepared is just one tiny skill that a contractor needs to know. Enroll in CSLS today to learn everything you need to be a successful licensed contractor in California!

Site shutdowns can happen for any number of reasons – loss of funding, safety issues, natural disasters, political issues, and so on. A site shutdown that is beyond your control is an inevitability for contractors – it’s a matter of “when” , not “if”.

When you’re not on site, any number of things can happen. The most common issues contractors run into are fires, water and weather damage, as well as theft and vandalism.

So how can you protect your job site while you wait for permission to start work again? Here’s a few different things to take care of before you shut the whole thing down.

Make A “Stop Work” Plan
As contractors, we should always be planning for the worst case scenario to happen. Construction is an extremely volatile industry prone to random stoppages – so having a plan to deal with anything is critical.

To deal with any situation where you have to stop work immediately, having a plan for stopping work – a “Stop Work” Plan – goes a long way. 

This plan contains all of the protocols and procedures for shutting down a worksite safely and effectively, so that you’re protected from the risks that come along with having to stop work. 

This plan will include precautions to take with regards to weather, water, fire, theft, vandalism, trespassing, destruction, and general public safety with regards to the jobsite. Here’s a few ways to deal with these in your Stop Work plan.

Fire
To fireproof your site, always make sure you remove anything flammable or combustible from the job site. This includes electronics like space heaters. 

Ensure your fire sprinkler systems are working, if you intend to maintain them during non-operation. If they’re not active, drain the lines and secure the main water supply valves to prevent use.

Water
Make sure your job is waterproof by shutting off any domestic water supply to the site. Search the site thoroughly for any leaks or running water and make sure they are taken care of before leaving the site.

Don’t leave anything that’s unsealed or temporarily sealed to weather, along with any walls or exposed roofs. Set up some sort of leak detection technology to ensure that water doesn’t ruin all your hard work while you’re gone.

Weather
Ensure everything that could be affected by weather is properly protected and secured. 

Cover lumber, drywall or anything that could rot by simply being exposed to moisture. Protect any electric outlets from exposure to the elements. Disassemble and remove anything that could break, snap or otherwise be destroyed by winds or moisture. 

Theft/Vandalism
Continuous security is necessary to keep your assets protected. 

At the very least, build a fence around the perimeter of the site, and ensure it is constantly maintained. All gates should be locked with padlocks to deter entry. Secure all work trailers or storage with heavy locks.

Continuous security of your construction site also means foot patrols, motion detectors and video security systems. You need to keep eyes on your site at all times, both in-person and remotely.

The easiest way to stop theft or vandalism is to remove anything valuable from your site – give thieves no reason to enter the site in the first place. Easily-removed tech like computers or tablets should be taken to a storage facility until work begins again. 

These are the easiest ways to protect against the most common threats facing a closed jobsite. Learn more best practices for construction sites (and become your own boss) by enrolling at CSLS today!

Budgeting for a construction project nowadays seems like an impossible task. There are constant changes in supply, material costs seem to keep rising, and projects themselves seem to be getting more and more complex.

However, it is possible to stick to your budget throughout the process – it just requires a consistent focus on the details. 

Here are a few crucial components to staying under budget on your construction projects.

Re-Analyze Your Bid Before Starting Work
If you’re hired on a construction project, that means the client believes in your ability to get the job done – and part of that job means being honest with yourself about the budget after you win the job.

It’s crucial that you go through your budget after to make sure your proposed costs haven’t changed since your client reviewed the bid and report back any changes. 

Sometimes years can go by between a client accepting your bid and you actually starting the work – so going back to reassess your budget when you’ve finally got the green light is critical to delivering.

Clients often expect budgets to change once the actual work begins and real world issues like material cost changes begin to arise. It’s your job to make sure they have an accurate picture of what it’s going to cost before you start. It saves you both pain later on.

Always Budget Conservatively
The old saying “under-promise and over-deliver” could not be more true when it comes to budgeting. When you’re reviewing your initial bid and updating your budget to reflect any changes, always supply the client with the most conservative budget you can.

By doing this, you set their expectations of what it will cost at the very most. Then, when you deliver the project under this conservative construction budget, you look like a hero to your client and your client is happy they saved money. Win-win.

Communicate Quickly and Constantly
As the project moves along, there will inevitably be changes in budget. A material may cost more than you initially planned or a piece of the plan may be more difficult to execute. It is critical that you communicate any of these changes to your client as soon as possible.

Nobody wants to be surprised by the price of something. Communicating these changes in budget with your customer, ensures that you avoid the client feeling ambushed at any point down the line. 

Document Everything
Always stay on top of any changes in budget, make sure that you have communicated these changes in writing, and always get them to sign off on these changes. This way both you and client have a paper trail either of you can point back to in the case of a dispute.

By documenting every change in budget and confirming it with the client, you’re protecting yourself from any issue the client may have with cost. It also protects you from any legal action as you have essentially created a series of contracts with them with each agreement.

Budgeting is an essential skill of an expert contractor. Learn everything you need to know about budgeting – and much more – by enrolling at CSLS today!

It seems like the construction industry is flooded with people who are interested in building a career. This is a great thing since the industry has had such a labor shortage for the past decade. If you’re thinking about getting into construction, you couldn’t have picked a better time. Here are a few ways you can tell you are ready to take the next step.

You Want to Run Your Own Business
The ability to turn your career goals into a personal business is something that draws a lot of people to the construction industry. It’s not just that you can start a business because you can do that in most fields. Rather, you can build a stable career path on the basis that you are contributing something important to society. You’re helping to build the community you will live in for the rest of your life. The best part is that you can choose how you want to structure the business. Whether you want to start and expand a corporation or keep your services to yourself alone, you have the flexibility to decide.

You’re Learning Construction Skills
Learning experts say that if you figure out how to make learning a delight, it won’t feel like work. If you’re really engaged in construction, you will find that you spend your extra time on it. You can tell that you’re getting hooked on the idea when you notice that you pay attention to construction trends, and you find yourself looking for more information whenever you can. That kind of drive can do excellent things for you in a new career, particularly one that requires years of skill-building and a license. When you feel the future call, it’s wise to answer it.

You’ve Chosen a Field
When you were a small child, you probably had an idea of the kind of job you wanted to have when you grew up. Although children don’t always have the best reasoning for determining future careers, the decision-making process can be almost as simple. When you imagine yourself in the future, what kind of job do you see yourself doing? The more refined your decision, the closer you could be to getting your start. If you already have a field in mind, or even a specific job you’d like to work toward, you’re further than you may think.

You’re Ready for a Change
Change happens for everyone, at some point. The way that you react to the idea of change can tell you whether you’re ready to deal with it. Think about telling your friends and family about a career change. Do you feel frightened about their responses, or excited to challenge their thinking? When you imagine starting a new career path, do you feel terrified about failure, or do you anticipate success? Once you are ready to change, it may look like a big step, but you’ll still have the sense that you can do it well.

You’re Preparing for a New Career
Of course, being mentally or emotionally ready to take a big leap doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily in the physical or financial position to do so. Changing careers can take some time to research and prepare, particularly if you’re doing it in your 30s or later. Even if you’re a year or two out from being able to start your first construction job, you can still take steps toward the goal. These preparations might come in the form of learning skills you can apply to your new job, saving money to ease the separation, or researching the best way to run a contracting business. This investment will pay off by giving you a stronger footing for your new start.

Wanting to be a construction expert is the first step. Getting your contractor license takes time, but it is well worth the effort. For more information about how you can get expert exam preparation, visit CSLS today!

When your contracting business bids on a project, you might be competing with several or even dozens of other contracting businesses. If you want to win the contract, you need to have the right plan from the beginning. With these tips, you will have a better idea of how you can make your proposals stand out.

Fix Past Mistakes
As a business owner, one of the best things that you can do is learn from your mistakes. In the early years of your contracting business, you are more likely to experience failure. Where you go from there depends on what you do with that information. When you lose out on a bid, it’s a wise idea to learn why you didn’t win. Try to avoid letting your ego make excuses for you, and think about the problem constructively. Compare your failures to your successes, and see if you can distinguish obvious differences between the two. Get input when possible. These ideas will help you to correct problems and prevent them from happening in the future.

Write Appealing Content
Although each bid is going to follow a specific format, you still need to write as if you care about landing the project. Property owners might have to sort through dozens or even hundreds of bids on a project. The last thing that you want is for your bid to get lost in the shuffle, just one more generic document in a stack of 100 others. Instead, think about what you can do to grab the attention of the reader, in a way that makes your bid come to life. Make sure that your approach emphasizes the positive aspects of choosing your bid. If you decide to use humor as a way of keeping attention, be very careful, as humor is difficult to translate into writing.

Set Clear Expectations
When people are sorting through a bunch of bids on a project, they want to be able to separate them quickly and cleanly. One way that you can set yourself apart is to outline your expectations and your goals in a quantifiable way. It’s tempting to craft a bid that allows you a lot of wiggle room in terms of completing the project. The property owners and general contractors may see through that quickly, and opt for a bid with more concrete details. Be specific as much as you can, giving yourself a cushion on budgets and timelines when possible.

Avoid Making Unreasonable Promises
Practically everybody has an experience with a professional who promised far more than they were able to deliver. Since you don’t want your contracting business to be known as one that over-promises or under-delivers, it’s best to only offer work that you know you can deliver. It’s always possible that you can have problems throughout the project that make it difficult for you to complete them according to specifications. But that issue is far different from using your bid as a way to undercut the competition in a way that isn’t sustainable. After all, it’s not a business if you can’t make enough money from the projects to keep going.

Show Your Uniqueness
When you start to craft your bid, do some research into your likely competition. Most property owners will have to decide among a set of bids, and it may not be too difficult to get a sense for the other businesses out there. What are they good at? What gives you an edge? It’s a good idea to know your competition in general, but this also gives you an added opportunity for the bid itself. If you have more information about your competition, then you can use the bid to explain how your company is unique from the rest. You can set yourself apart in a way that helps the deciding party feel comfortable choosing you over someone else.

Making successful bids is one of the best ways to secure more projects as a business owner. To take the next step on your construction career path, contact CSLS today!

After a few years of keeping interest rates low, the Federal Reserve is increasing them again. In an attempt to keep inflation from spiraling out of control, the Fed uses interest rates to control the costs of goods and services. It tends to carry a heavy weight in the construction industry, and you may already see the effects. Here are a few things you can expect as a result.

Interest Rates and Inflation
If it’s hard to see the connection between interest rates and inflation, you’re not alone. There are several degrees of separation between them. When interest rates are low, it’s easier for people and institutions to borrow money. When money is easy to get, the costs of goods and services tend to go up. The Fed raises rates on the loans the banks make to each other as a way to control inflation. Although you might notice immediate changes to things like mortgage interest rates as a result, other changes could take months or even a year to show up.

Buying Power
For the construction industry, interest rates affect the kind of buying power that investors, businesses, and property owners have. Although many people pay cash for construction, it’s common to rely on short-term or long-term loans to pay for it. The amount that a person or business can get in a loan depends on how much they can pay back. Interest rates determine the size of the payment, with higher interest rates demanding a higher payment. As such, interest rates can determine how much people can spend on a construction project.

Lending
Interest rates also affect the way that lenders approve borrowers. When interest rates are low, borrowers may have more options to finance a construction project. As interest rates get higher, borrowers have to be more selective about the lending options they choose. They might be priced out of a few of them, especially if they aren’t highly qualified for financing. On the other side of the coin, lenders become pickier about who they will approve. They may expect a higher degree of qualifications to handle a higher payment or a longer term for the loan.

Project Planning
Changes in interest rates can also cause investors to rethink their project plans. It depends on their limitations and their goals for the project. For example, an investor who is trying to get ahead of rising interest rates might be more likely to schedule a project sooner, instead of waiting and possibly paying more. By comparison, a property owner who is already stretched thin may have to wait on a project because they can’t afford it at the moment. Rising interest rates often have a cooling effect on demand for projects as a result.

How Rising Rates Can Affect Your Contracting Business
Eventually, you may start to see these changes trickle down to your contracting business. Investors and property owners who are hoping to lock in a better rate now could be looking for contractors who are ready to start right away. So, contracting businesses that are prepared might get more business at first. Over time, the number of new construction starts may decrease due to the higher cost. This means that contracting businesses may have to compete for more for a smaller number of available projects.

Rising interest rates tend to have a big effect on the construction industry. If you know what to expect, you can prepare. For more tips on running a successful business, visit CSLS today!

It’s safe to say that the construction labor market is tight. If you can’t afford to keep your employees, you won’t be able to. And it’s increasingly difficult to attract them in the first place. Here are a few things you can do to ensure that applicants give your contracting business more than a passing glance.

Higher Wages
Ultimately, the best way to show employees that you see them as an asset to your company is to pay them accordingly. You can add a lot of other features that could make your job more attractive than the alternatives, but the pay has to be there in the first place. There are a few ways that you can achieve this, such as a higher starting pay rate, sign-on bonuses, or bonuses related to productivity. Think about it this way: If your employees don’t have to worry about how they’re going to pay the bills while working for you, they’ll be more likely to feel comfortable settling in for the long term.

Greater Flexibility
Everyone likes to feel as if they have some control over their careers. Flexibility may be one of the things that drew you to running a contracting business in the first place. Your employees are looking for flexibility, too. Although your company has to meet certain standards in order to function, you might be surprised by the amount of flexibility you can offer. A slight change in schedule, or the option to use paid time off uniquely, might be an enticing benefit that isn’t offered elsewhere.

Career Mobility
Sometimes, it may feel like you’re investing too much into your employees to see them take the skills and leave. And yet, upward mobility is something that most employees expect from a career. You would probably be less likely to stay in a job that didn’t have anywhere to go you beyond the first job you landed, especially if it’s entry-level. Instead, ask your employees what they want to gain from the job, and take steps to help them get it. It’s possible that they might use that advantage to get better jobs elsewhere. But if you don’t offer them much of anything in the first place, they’ll almost certainly find better options by leaving.

Job Training
Experts often say that it’s better to hire the right person to do the work you need them to do, instead of hiring based on the job you need to be done. When you are too focused on the ability to complete the work according to specification, outside of certain licensing requirements, you might miss out on a lot of great candidates. There are more people out there who are interested in learning, and they might have all the qualities of a great employee. If you can find them, it may be less hassle to train them in the job than it is to end up with someone who has the right skills and the completely wrong temperament.

Frequent Raises
Right now, inflation is a little difficult to manage for most people. If you feel like you’re constantly having to adjust your budget to accommodate higher prices, you’re not alone. But the fast rate of inflation can make it harder for you to make benefits like a higher starting salary meaningful to your employees, once they get settled into the job. After all, that salary might not feel as high if rent goes up another 10 percent in the next year. Revisit the interval in which you offer performance reviews and raises. Sometimes, offering to give someone an update in six months might be enough.

Getting employees to stick with your company takes care. If you start off on the right foot, you’ll reap the benefits. To get started on your contractor career path, contact CSLS today!

As a business owner, you are always looking for leads that can turn into paying projects for your company. If you have the right strategy, you’ll be less likely to have a slow season or long periods between projects. But cultivating a good lead strategy takes work. Here are a few things you should plan to do.

Increase Lead Generation
Since you can never guarantee that you will always have as much work as you have right now, increasing your lead generation is always a good idea. Contracting businesses get leads from a variety of sources, including:

• Online advertising on websites, search engines and social media
• In-network connections, such as colleagues or subcontractors
• Print advertisements
• Word-of-mouth recommendations from former clients

Many business owners in this industry rely on recommendations, but this isn’t a replacement for an effective marketing strategy. If you haven’t paid much attention to your website or social media profiles, now is a good time to get started. All of these can become good sources for potential leads.

Track Sources of Leads
Making a website and paying for some ad space can help you create future leads. But they won’t all work in the same way. If you don’t track the efficacy of each one, you may waste your money on a marketing approach that isn’t producing. You can hire a marketing company to do this for you, but there are also free tools on Google and other sites to track engagement, site visitation, and more. For other types of leads, including personal recommendations, it’s not a bad idea to ask where your potential clients heard about your services. If nothing, you’ll get a sense for who is making the best pitch for your business.

Improve Your Follow-Up
Once you get the lead, you need to make sure that you have an effective plan to follow through with it. Too many contractors lose out on business because they never responded to somebody asking for information. In a lot of cases, you don’t know which leads are most likely to turn into a reliable client for you. As such, you should assume that every lead could become a paying project. Set goals to respond to leads within a certain amount of time, preferably one or two business days. If necessary, consider hiring an administrative employee or outsourcing your communications, to ensure that the initial contact happens on schedule.

Don’t Force the Conversion
Potential clients come to you at different stages of the sales funnel. You might have some people who approach you when they aren’t sure about which services they need, or if they need services at all. Others may contact you when they are absolutely certain of their goals and ready to get started. In either case, the way that you respond can have a heavy effect on your success rate. If you can sense that the customer is tentative, avoid the urge to pressure them into making a choice. It’s better to provide the information that they need, answer the questions that they have, and leave them to make the decision.

Keep the Door Open
Good business owners understand that a lead that doesn’t turn into a project isn’t necessarily a failure. Sometimes, clients realize that you aren’t the right fit for one project, but you could work well for another. It’s tempting to get frustrated or burn the bridge, especially if you feel like you invested a lot of time toward a conversion that didn’t happen. Instead, do your best to keep the communication lines open. Someone who had a good experience exploring possible services with your company is more willing to consider hiring you in the future, especially if they end up being unhappy with the business they chose originally.

Generating leads is one of the most important things you will do as a business owner. Getting the right kind of education is another. To learn more about our course offerings, contact CSLS today!

Rain is a fact of life in California. Sometimes, the rain is torrential and damaging. But you still have to complete work on your projects. Here are five ways that you can keep the rain from ruining your productivity on the construction site.

Watch the Weather
If you want to know what you can expect on a given day or week, you’re going to need to watch the weather. Although meteorologists aren’t perfect at predicting the future, they usually have good estimates that you can use to plan. It’s easy to download apps to your smartphone that can give you updated estimates on the chances of rain and the level of precipitation on an hourly basis. If you know there’s a big storm coming in, or the likelihood of flooding, you can plan ahead. That way, you’re not caught by surprise and forced to leave in the middle of a task.

Know Flood Safety Practices
If you live in an area with heavy rains on occasion, it’s easy to assume that you can get around them. The problem is that lots of people put their lives in danger by making assumptions based on past experience. Every person who has to get rescued because they thought their vehicle could push through the flood is taking a big risk. Water doesn’t have to be deep to knock you over, or render your vehicle immovable. Instead, stick to these and other common water safety practices:

• Stay away from flooded areas
• Avoid walking in flood waters without protection
• Keep your vehicle on land

It only takes once for a simple mistake to turn into a tragedy.

Communicate Expectations
Once you have an understanding of the weather for the week, be sure to communicate this information and your expectations to the other members of your team. When you’re a business owner with a lot of responsibilities, it’s easy to forget that other people may not have the information that you have. If you know about rain in the forecast or the possibility of flooding, you should talk to your team about ways that you can manage it. Be clear that you want everyone to remain safe, and follow best practices to avoid danger. It’s better to have everyone take a different route to the construction site than to force a shortcut and not get there at all.

Establish Drainage
In certain parts of California, rain can accumulate very quickly. The best way to get rid of it is to ensure regular drainage. When you’re working on a construction site, evaluate the grading. Confirm that the land drops away from buildings, not toward. Make sure that you have a way to get water out if it starts to pool. And if all else fails, avoid working in areas that might be difficult to escape with prolonged rains or flooding.

Be Wary of Electrocution
The risk of electrocution is higher when you are dealing with rain or flooding. It’s not just that high winds or landslides can make power lines unstable. Water is an excellent conductor for electricity, and all it takes is a small amount of water in an electrified building to cause a problem. Whenever you see flooding, you need to assume that the area could have live electrical lines. Do not enter until you can confirm that the area is safe. You shouldn’t be walking through flood waters for a variety of reasons, but keeping yourself from getting electrocuted is one of the biggest.

As a construction professional, you’re going to have lots of opportunities to deal with the weather. The way that you handle them can affect the success of your business. For more information about running a successful contracting business, contact CSLS today!

At times, you will notice that your contracting business is running late on a project. Of course, that’s common in many parts of construction. But you don’t want it to become a habit, since it annoys clients and puts future work at risk. Here are five tips to help you get back to your original timeline.

Be Realistic About Estimates
No one enjoys being perennially behind schedule. Unfortunately, it’s a big problem in construction. When you can’t control all the factors, it is difficult to provide an estimate to clients that accurately reflects the various dependencies. The best thing that you can do in this situation is to get an accurate record of how long it takes you to do a particular task, and then add time to the estimate to provide a cushion for unexpected delays. It’s always better to delight the client with a sooner completion than to have to explain or justify a delay.

Trim Back Wasted Time
When you evaluate the various parts of your workday, you should try to maximize the amount of productivity you can get from each hour. Finding ways to eliminate wasted time can help you get more done. If you’re not sure where to start, just cutting down on waiting could make a significant difference. For example, if you spend a lot of time waiting for a delivery of materials, see if there are ways that you can change it. Choosing a different day or time for delivery, or assigning the task of waiting to an administrative employee, could allow you to continue working uninterrupted.

Plan Out Your Week
If you are the kind of person who moves through the day without a general plan, it’s not surprising that you may end up taking longer than you expected. When you can, plan out the various tasks involved in a single project. For projects that last weeks, you may need to break them up into increments that last one or two weeks. Include your time estimates for each project, to ensure that your goals for the day are realistic and achievable. Keep in mind that the plan should be useful, but it shouldn’t take over your life. If you spend hours per day just evaluating your to-do list, you probably need to try a different approach.

Consider Staggering Work Schedules
When you run a small contracting business, you may have more than one person who needs to use the same piece of equipment. You could lose a lot of productive time if one person has to sit around and wait for the other person to finish. One way to avoid this is to stagger your team’s work schedules. You don’t necessarily have to put someone on a graveyard shift. Having one person start at 7 a.m. while another person begins work at 9 a.m. could give you a decent amount of overlap, with specific hours in which each employee has dedicated access to the equipment.

Revise Your Plans
Once you make a really detailed work schedule, the last thing that you want to do is change it. But if it isn’t working for you, you’re going to have more problems by resisting the inclination to revise. Instead, if you spot a problem, act as soon as possible to correct it. If you realize you have accidentally double-booked some equipment, or assigned an employee to too many tasks, you need to fix it. After the project, it’s a good idea to look at the problems that you had with the schedule and take notes about how you improved them. That way, you don’t keep making the same mistakes.

As a contracting business owner, getting behind is a common problem. Finding a way to fix it may not be as hard as you think. For more information about becoming a licensed contractor, visit CSLS today!