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!

Running a contracting business can sometimes feel like you’re lost in a crowd of people just like you. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you try to think outside the box, you may come up with innovative approaches and solutions that can better meet the needs of your clients. With these tips, you’ll know how to get started.

What Is My Competition Doing Better?
When you create a business, you should spend time evaluating your competition. After all, if you don’t understand them, you’ll have a harder time figuring out how to set yourself apart. Do some research into your potential competitors, and resist the urge to find fault in everything that they do. At times, they’re going to be better at something than you are. Your job is to be honest about those instances, which could be as simple as a better social media presence or as complicated as a larger team. If you can see how they excel, you’ll have a few ideas for how you can improve.

How Is My Business Unique to the Rest?
In some areas, clients may have dozens of contractors that they can choose from on a particular task. Of course, this depends on the field, the demand, and the current state of the labor shortage. As a business owner, your goal is to be unique and memorable, always in a good way. You don’t want clients to get you confused with other contractors, because that can cost you business. Make a list of the ways that you aren’t like other contractors in the area. If you’re not sure how to answer this question, it’s all right to take time to think. Set some goals that you can work toward achieving.

Which Problems Can I Solve Better Than Others?
Thinking about the strengths of your business requires you to put your focus on the problems your prospective clients face. To do this, you’ll need to research your target demographic and learn more about them. People often come to contractors because they have a problem that they need to solve. They may not necessarily know the shape or extent of the problem, and that can be a problem in and of itself. As a contractor, you have a variety of possible solutions that you can employ on behalf of your client. You just have to make sure that your solutions can resolve those problems, as well as or better than your competition.

How Am I Staying Current With the Latest Trends in Building Practices?
When you first start working in construction as a career, you might be heavily invested in the latest trends. Over time, it’s easy to get stuck in a pattern because it seems to work well for you. But businesses that don’t know how to stay in the present tend to get left behind. Your ability to remain relevant to a modern audience may dictate whether your business has a future at all. Ask yourself what you’re doing to ensure that you always know where the construction industry is going. It might be as simple as attending conferences or hiring employees with a growth mindset.

How Can I Continue to Meet the Current Needs of Clients?
If you run a business long enough, you’ll have the opportunity to see the world changing around you. The pandemic provided a close study of this situation in real-time. Specifically, various factors of the pandemic significantly changed the way that people conceive of housing and workspaces. Their needs for commercial buildings and residential housing had to adjust in order to keep up. And now, you can see both sides of the discussion staking their claims. In a debate between the people who want to go back to the way things were and the people who want to meet clients as they are now, it’s fairly easy to see that the future will win ultimately.

Starting a contracting business is something that a lot of people want to do so that they can think outside the box. You just have to make sure that you keep doing it. To get started, visit CSLS today!

The contractor licensing exam is a big step you need to take in order to become a licensed contractor. To pass it, you have to prepare in advance. The more work you put in, the more it will pay off. But just reading books might not be enough. Here are five ways to maximize your learning as you study.

Create a Study Routine
When you’re trying to do something new, you need to train your brain to get used to it. The first few times that you sit down to study, you may find yourself distracted easily because you simply aren’t accustomed to it. Create a study routine that helps to relieve any outside stress and make it easier to focus. You might have a routine that takes as long as an hour, involving coordinating with other members of your household or getting a few chores done first. It might also be comparatively short, as simple as getting yourself a cold beverage and going to your study room. Whatever you decide to do, make it consistent. When you do the same thing every time you sit down to study, you’ll naturally start thinking about it.

Don’t Cram
Although you might’ve been able to get away with cramming in high school, it isn’t a particularly useful practice for adulthood. Much of the knowledge and skills that you need to have in order to pass the contractor licensing exam are things you should know for the job you want to do. Cramming isn’t practical because it doesn’t tend to lead to long-term absorption of information. Instead, break up your study sessions into smaller, manageable chunks. If you start to notice that you are reading to memorize facts and figures instead of building an in-depth understanding, take a break.

Review What You Learn
Learning experts say that you may have to come across the same fact several times before you can really remember it. Review and repetition is key to mastering a subject, more than just having a passing familiarity with it. Devote some time to each session for reviewing what you learned in the last one. You’ll start to notice that your recall is better, which is more important for doing well on the exam. As you approach your exam date, you should spend more time on review than you spend on learning new material. That way, your last few days emphasize long-term retention.

Learn How to Test
It’s easy to assume that having a firm grasp of the subject is enough to pass the exam, but testing is a skill that you have to pick up. Not everyone does well in a testing environment, particularly when there are time limits and proctors. One of the best ways to minimize stress or a poor test result is to get some practice time on the test itself. Most of your studying might happen with few time limits or pressures to get things done. As you get closer to the exam, it’s important to add time to practice working with the type of exam. If you can, take practice exams to help you figure out trouble spots and make improvements.

Get Professional Guidance
When you first decided to become a contractor, you had to spend quite a bit of time working under the guidance of an expert. For the exam, it’s a great idea to take the same path. Teens who get professional assistance in preparing for big exams tend to get higher scores. Similarly, if you take a course that helps you prepare for the exam, you get the benefit of expert guidance designed to help you get a passing score. At CSLS, we offer a variety of courses that cover the subjects you’ll need to know in order to pass the exam.

The more you learn prior to the contractor licensing exam, the better you’ll do. These tips can help. For more information about our expert courses, visit CSLS today!

When you work for a company, you might have options to save for retirement that come with the job. As a business owner, you have different choices to make. Here are a few things you should know about saving for retirement as a contractor.

Types of Retirement Savings Accounts
There are a few types of retirement savings accounts that you should understand. They have several differences, so you should be able to distinguish them before you make a choice. These include:

• 401(k)
• IRA
• Roth IRA

A 401(k) is an employer-sponsored retirement plan. It is possible to open a 401(k), even if you are a sole proprietor. Business owners might gravitate toward an IRA, which tends to cost less to set up and maintain. An IRA is an independent retirement account that people can contribute to, and most people can deduct the contribution from their federal taxes. You pay taxes as you take withdrawals. A Roth IRA offers a similar investment vehicle, but the taxation is different. People can’t claim Roth IRA contributions on their taxes, but they generally don’t have to pay taxes on the withdrawals.

Contribution Limits
For each type of retirement account, there are specific contribution limits that mostly depend on age. A 401(k) usually offers the highest limits. For 2022, people under age 50 can contribute up to $20,500 of their salary. After age 50, they can contribute an additional $6,500. For a traditional IRA, you can only contribute $6,000 per year, or $7,000 per year if you’re over 50. A Roth IRA has similar limits, but there are a few more restrictions. Specifically, the ability to contribute to a Roth IRA phases out at higher incomes.

How to Diversify
Diversification of your retirement plan is an important way to minimize your level of risk. People who put all of their retirement savings into one account may have a higher level of risk, especially if they aren’t investing in something that spreads out the risk like a mutual fund. It’s better to have more than one account or investments in multiple arenas, just in case one of them ends up losing a lot of money. It’s wise to consult a financial advisor, particularly if you don’t have much experience with investing. They can help you evaluate your retirement goals and diversify your portfolio in a way that helps you achieve them.

Importance of Compound Interest
The reason many financial experts recommend that you start saving as soon as you can is the benefit of compound interest. Most savings vehicles allow you to compound the interest that you earn, which increases your principal over time. For example, take an investment of $10,000 that increases in value by 5% each year. After the first year, you’re calculating the increase based on $10,500, not $10,000. As you continue to make contributions, the value of your investment grows both ways. Over a period of decades, you can turn a relatively small investment into something that you can live off of during retirement.

Increasing Contributions Over Time
For most people, the amount of money that you’re willing and able to save goes up over time. Inflation changes the value of necessary items like housing, medicine or food. You don’t want to be caught saving too little because your original plans were based on a cost of living that doesn’t make sense anymore. Instead, get in the habit of saving, and make periodic increases when possible. You might not be able to contribute the maximum right now, but you can always work toward it. This is particularly important for contractors who can’t start saving early in their careers. Adding more at the end might not give you as much compound interest, but it will still help.

Saving for retirement may be more complicated as a contractor, but there are ways that you can start working on it now. For more information on what you’ll need to be a successful business owner, contact CSLS today!

When the weather starts to heat up, people who work outside need to watch out. Heat-related illness can be serious or even deadly, particularly when you spend most of your time out in the hot sun. Here are five signs to watch for in yourself and the members of your team.

Dizziness/Disorientation
Heat illness can be extremely dangerous on the construction site, particularly when it leads to dizziness or disorientation. Not only are people at risk of getting sick as a result of the heat, but they may also be working with equipment that makes them a danger to themselves and others. People who are feeling dizzy or disoriented may not realize that they are making unsafe choices. For example, they may stumble into areas where others are operating equipment. Feeling lightheaded is a good indicator that you need to stop what you are doing and get to a safe place for a break.

Hot/Dry Skin
When people first start to suffer the effects of heat illness, their bodies will produce sweat as a way to help cool them down. As such, people who are dealing with some kind of heat illness might be sweaty or damp. As the body loses the ability to cool down, they often stop sweating. It can be hard to tell sometimes, as someone may have damp, sweaty clothing but dry skin. Be wary of the amount of sweat that you produce, particularly on very hot days. Drink plenty of fluids to replenish your body’s supply. A lack of sweating might be a sign that the heat illness is getting worse.

Muscle Pain
When people sweat a lot, they lose more than just water. The sweating process depletes the body of minerals and salts. Athletes often consume specifically engineered sports drinks that are designed to help them replenish everything that they lose during a workout. People working on the construction site may need to do the same. If they don’t and choose instead to drink more water or coffee, they may start to notice muscle cramps or pain. These cramps begin as a result of the muscles losing those salts and minerals, which causes them to seize.

Headaches/Nausea
Once people start to feel dizzy, they may suffer from headaches or nausea. These symptoms can be caused by a variety of factors and might be too easily dismissed as an upset stomach or insufficient sleep. However, these conditions can make it harder for people to pay attention to what they’re doing, which increases the risk on the site. As such, if you notice either of these, you should encourage the person to take a break, find a cool place to sit down and medicate for the discomfort as needed. If it doesn’t go away or gets worse, they consider seeking medical attention.

Unusual Pulse
As your internal temperature starts to increase, your heart may attempt to compensate by increasing its function. As a result, people who are starting to feel the effects of heat exhaustion or heat stroke will often have a pulse that is faster than normal. A fast pulse isn’t something that people will necessarily notice, particularly if they are doing a lot of heavy labor. That’s why it is important to pay attention to the people working around you, and check-in with them periodically to see how they’re doing. Someone with a fast pulse that feels weak probably needs medical attention to keep it from getting worse.

Avoiding heat-related illness is difficult for construction workers in the summer, but it’s not impossible. Following these tips might help you to save a life. To get started on your construction career path, contact CSLS today!

Running a business requires you to know or learn a lot of things that you might not expect. Business owners wear a lot of hats, and being able to keep them organized is key. Here are five organizational skills you should work on, to help make your business more efficient.

Time Management
No one enjoys working with people who can’t seem to finish a task in the time they said they would, or who always arrive late to a meeting. Time management is one of the most important skills that you can pick up as a business owner because your use of time is so important. Time management is a struggle for a lot of people, especially those who are overbooked or overworked. It’s common to find it difficult to be consistent with:

• Setting an accurate amount of time in which to complete a task
• Transitioning to another task quickly
• Ending the workday and closing the workspace
• Getting to meetings or the job site on time
• Identify the problems that you have and make a plan to address these issues. It may take months to see real improvement.

Calendar Management
If you are the kind of person who struggles to balance a lot of things at the same time, a good calendar is going to be paramount. But in order for your calendar to save you from missing consultations or overcommitting yourself, you need to know how to use it. Book out time for work and meetings with stakeholders. Don’t set your hours based on the time you’d hope to spend. Instead, look back on experiences you’ve had in the past and devote the amount of time that they usually take. Use an app that allows you to collaborate with other members of your team so that they know when you are available.

Workflow Efficiency
Being organized isn’t just a state of mind. Your workspace can make even the most organized person slower and less efficient. If you have to walk from one side of the workspace to the other several times just to complete one task, you’re going to end up wasting more time than you need to. Instead, try to design the workspace for each task to prioritize efficiency. For example, you might choose to keep tools for one specific task near that part of the site. You may opt to do the same for some of your inventory or supplies. Cutting down on the time that people have to invest just to get started on a task can lower the time commitment of each project.

Record-Keeping
Any business owner worries about the possibility that they may have to find a document that they have misplaced. Record-keeping is one of the most important organizational skills, and it may literally save your business at times. Develop a method for keeping records that allows you to get to things like invoices or contracts in a very short period of time. If you keep most of your records in a digital format, make sure that everyone on your team knows how to use it. It won’t help if your system is arbitrary and confusing to someone else who works for you.

Delegation
Once you have more work than you can reasonably manage, you’re going to need to learn how to delegate. Delegation isn’t just a matter of handing a task to someone who happens to be nearby. You have to invest the time to determine which tasks each person can reasonably manage, without requiring constant support from you. Even if it seems like delegation is more trouble than it’s worth, it is an important thing to work on as you build your construction team. The more your employees get used to your delegation, the easier they will be able to do the work.

Staying organized as a contractor is an important part of building a successful business. So is getting your contractor license. To learn more about getting ready for the contractor licensing exam, visit CSLS today!

In the early years of your business, you might want to reward your employees without much funding in which to do it. Employees like to feel valued, and although raises are often the best way to show it, there are other things you can do. Here are a few tips to help you recognize your employees for their great work, without breaking the bank.

Gift Cards
Rewards don’t have to be big in order to have an impact on your business. It could be as simple as a gift card with a note of thanks, or a good lunch on the company’s dime. When you consider options like this, make sure that the gift is something that your employees would like to receive. As much as you may want to make it a surprise, it’s better to get input and feedback before you make a decision. That way, a gift card will be more than just a token of appreciation. It can help your employees to see that you respect their opinions and preferences.

Time Off
These days, compensation comes in a variety of ways. Ideally, you can offer your employees a pool of paid time off that they can use each year to attend to family matters, take a vacation, or work on projects at home. If you have the option, additional time off is a simple way to promote a work-life balance without having to spend more money. You might not always be able to offer time off as an incentive, particularly when you are busy with projects. Just make sure to manage your project timelines effectively, especially around holidays. That way, your employees can plan to take time off with the certainty that it will come to pass.

Bonuses
While bonuses aren’t always inexpensive, they can be an effective way to reward your employees when you have the funds to do so. For many contracting businesses, it’s common to operate with variable income depending on the season. You might have more work than you can manage during the summer, with a few light months in the winter. Bonuses allow you to add to your overall employee compensation, without having to shoulder additional expenses when you have fewer projects to do. It’s also a great way to show appreciation for your employees at the conclusion of a busy season.

Collaboration
Although pay is the main reason that you have employees, it’s not the only one. In order to feel fulfilled, many employees want to know that they are a part of a group that values collaboration. You might as well encourage it, particularly for workers who could benefit from it. If you have a new employee who has been proving their skills to you since they arrived, see what you can do to give them a bigger seat at the table. For example, you might invite them to participate in planning meetings. You could also grant them more decision-making power over the tasks that they need to do. It may translate into greater ownership over the work they do, and a better long-term result.

Training Opportunities
Just like you, your employees have career goals that they would like to achieve. In many cases, they will need additional training in order to get it. Although some employers worry about training causing employees to leave, it can be an important retention tool. People are less likely to stay with a job if they feel like they’re not going anywhere, even if they make good money. Training opportunities aren’t usually free or low-cost, but they can be a great investment for your employees and your business. By providing the ability for your employees to improve their skills, you can help them get better at their jobs, without having to compromise their leisure time.

Letting your employees know that you appreciate them is one of the best things you can do for your contracting business. Becoming a licensed contractor is another. For more information on the skills, you will need to pass the contractor licensing exam, contact CSLS today!

Natural gas has been an important energy source used in construction for decades. Nowadays, you might notice that many new builds aren’t allowing gas hookups. It’s an issue with many important players and a lot of debate between them. Here are a few things you should know about natural gas and its future in construction.

Sustainability
Although there have been many efforts to make natural gas clean-burning and produce fewer emissions, it is not a renewable resource. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, which means that it comes from a rapidly-depleting source of petroleum. While prices for natural gas tend to be significantly lower than the current local rate for electricity, costs may change over time as the supply continues to drop. Many proponents of the switch from natural gas to electricity say that it’s better to get in the habit of using renewable energy because eventually, natural gas will cease to be a resource.

Health Effects
Natural gas usage in a building requires ventilation, as a way of preventing a deadly accumulation of carbon monoxide. Unfortunately, most buildings aren’t designed to provide that level of ventilation. It’s common to have a furnace with a sealed combustion chamber, one that safely directs all the exhaust to a vent pipe leading directly outside. But in the kitchen, concentrations of harmful toxins like nitrogen dioxide or carbon monoxide might be much higher in homes that run on natural gas. Ventilation isn’t complete and if people don’t use it effectively, the concentrations continue to build. These toxins can cause headaches, nausea, asthma-related symptoms, and even death in high concentrations.

Efficiency
The efficiency of natural gas compared to electricity is a matter of hot debate. On the one hand, someone who uses natural gas to heat a home or to run appliances for cooking will need less energy for the process than they would for electricity. Someone who uses electricity will ultimately use more energy for every task. However, for pure efficiency comparisons on similar appliances, electricity is generally better. An electric furnace might have efficiency at or around 100, compared to 80 to 90 for one that runs on natural gas. On a larger scale, the debate between natural gas and electricity depends on the efficiency of the mechanism used to produce electricity. Natural gas may not be as efficient at the end of the process, but it could be much more efficient at the beginning.

Government Bans on New Installation
Municipal and state governments have mixed opinions on the best way to move forward on this issue. Many cities in California have passed bans on natural gas for new construction, although property owners may decide to retrofit those systems after the fact. New York City has also passed a ban, starting with smaller buildings in 2024 and expanding the ban to taller buildings in 2027.

On the opposite side of the debate, about 20 states have signed into law guidelines preventing cities from passing bans on natural gas in new construction. Although these states tend to lean more conservative and the cities passing bans are generally more liberal, it’s not simply a partisan issue. The preference for cooking with natural gas is strong, and many organizations are unwilling to back bans that pass extra costs along to the consumer. This weighs against the concerns about sustainability and long-term health effects.

Is natural gas on its way out of the construction industry? Probably, although it may be decades before the switch is complete. For more guidance on the best way to start your contracting business, contact CSLS today.

One of the best things about going into construction is that you can hire employees with a wide range of knowledge and experiences for the job. But when you increase the field of potential candidates, you have to know what to look for. Here are a few ways you can find employees with the right attitude, to help your contracting business grow and thrive.

Identify the Attitudes You Need
The first thing that you will need to do is make a list of the kinds of attitudes that you would like your employees to have. Sometimes it seems like every employee should have a certain set of skills and beliefs that make them ideally suited to the job. But given that jobs are so different within the same company, it’s important to distinguish the perspectives that work best with each job. For example, in a job where employees are expected to work together to achieve a task, you might look for people who do well in a collaborative setting. By comparison, employees who do most of their work alone might need to be ambitious or comfortable self-starting projects.

Learn How to Appeal to the Right Employees
Once you have a list of the skills and attitudes that you are looking for, you need to find out how to appeal to the employees who have them. Most of the time, employees are looking for similar things, regardless of the attitudes that they need to have for the job. These might include:

• Competitive pay
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Training opportunities
• Future growth

Take a look at what other companies are offering employees in similar jobs, and make sure that your business can meet those terms. Otherwise, you might consider talking about the benefits that the people with the right attitudes will get at your business. For example, someone who wants more decision-making power might be more likely to apply for jobs that specifically mention it.

Find Employees in the Right Places
If you’re not sure where to look for employees, start out by casting a wide net. Talk to people in your network and let them know that you are looking for employees to fill particular positions. If you attend construction conferences, look for people just getting into the industry and hand out your business card. Post job listings on the popular job search aggregate sites. Use your social media as a tool to make it easy for people to share job listings with others. Over time, you will develop a better understanding of which sources are most likely to provide you with the best candidates.

Make Your Job Descriptions Clear
These days, people might expect to complete dozens of job applications before they settle on one in particular. If you want to set yourself apart from other businesses, you can do so by making your job descriptions clear and informative. Take a look at job descriptions in your field and see if you can figure out what the job includes and what it pays, simply from the description. Sometimes employers put too much generic detail into the description, which makes it more difficult for employees to figure out which jobs are best for them. Keep your description relatively short, but full of valuable information.

Praise Employees for Maintaining Good Attitudes Over Time
Hiring employees with the right attitudes is one thing. Keeping them is another matter. It’s not enough to look for people to hire who have certain qualities. If you’re not willing to reward them for using those attitudes to better your business, you’re going to end up back at square one. When you see examples of your employees demonstrating a self-starting, collaborative or customer-oriented attitude, let them know that you appreciate it. That validation will give them the incentive they need to keep doing it.

Finding great employees is tricky, and all contracting business owners have to learn it. To get started on your contracting career, visit CSLS today!