Tag Archives: Construction Industry

Vision and determination are facets important to achieve success in the construction domain

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If you think that having all the heavy equipment in the world can help you achieve success in the construction domain, then you perhaps need to rethink because there is something more important than a machine that is required to sustain in the construction domain and to defeat your competitors from taking away your business. You need to have a vision in your career and the determination to pursue it. If you fail to have either of them, then you and your business might come into big trouble someday or the other.

We often consider that having a sound financial backing is the most important thing after having the right set of heavy equipment but that is not the case. A person who does not know where he wants to take his business is walking in the dark and he may soon begin to face hurdles in his life and may also experience severe financial crunches which may even lead to the closure of the business. There are numerous examples where entrepreneurs who lacked focus were not able to sustain and were forced to shut their shops. Therefore, being focus should be our first priority. We often get help from institutions if we lack sound financial backing but no one can help a person who lacks vision in his career. A person with no goal can lead his business to dangerous paths and will eventually result in the demise of the business. Construction sector in particular is one of the most difficult sectors for people who lack vision.

Stay focused and always have a strategy in mind:-

Remaining focused to your job does not imply that you do not stop thinking about work but it means that you know where your business is heading. You keep a close watch on the ground realities and make sure that things go as per the plan chalked out by you. In case, if there is any deviation then that needs to be brought under control by chalking out a separate strategy that works more on the ground to keep things in your control. A business without a proper strategy is like sailing in a wrecked ship which has all the possibilities of getting drowned.

Know your project well before drawing a plan:-

You may have more than one project in hand and the requirements of both the projects may be different. You need to make sure that you know which project of yours require what. For this you need to do a thorough study of your projects and then draw a road map that takes to the completion of it.

Be determined of your success:-

Life in the construction domain is not a bed of roses and you do not get things that easily. You will come upon lot of hindrances from various corners that you may not even expect. In this situation, it is just your determination that will help you taste success. If you are determined in achieving something then there is no stopping you.

Be careful while dealing with contractors that you have not worked with

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Trust is an important factor in any form of business. You got to trust the person before you start working with him and if you are not able to generate the trust and comfort then it makes no point in working along with them. At some point or the other you will get stressed up and you will have to do away with the other guy. When you are entering into a partnership with a person you do not know much about, you got to be very cautious. Ideally, it is recommended that you do not get into any partnership with an unknown person but in case if you have to then you are needed to remain ultra-careful and monitor his business activities. You should not trust the person by not knowing him in complete or else it might lead you to serious issues.

There is a popular saying in the construction world. “Do not trust an unknown person. He carries with him the potential to back-bite you”. This is very much a possibility in an industry where there is cut throat competition all over the place and people are ready to negotiate with their ethics without giving a second thought. Since the construction business has been considered such a rewarding business many people are turning into it to make it their career. They will often consider toppling anybody that they see as a potential competitor and therefore if you think of getting into partnership with one such person you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Contractors in specific can cause you more harm than others. They are the ones who do most of the work in a project for you and are paid as per the contract. Now if you get engaged with a contractor that you do not know much about and he does not intend to do his work properly and is associated with you to make some easy money by doing shabby work, it can lead you to serious problems. It is therefore important to know the credentials of a contractor before you give him the contract.

You need to know if he has worked previously in any such project and try to get his conduct from that company. Such information can be availed with ease. Construction companies do mind giving out conduct report about a specific contractor as they understand that the contractor is not bound to work with just one construction company. They can work with multiple companies at the same time. So if the contractor is worth getting some work, you will be informed about it or else they will give you a negative report.

If you have been working with a contractor for a long time and you know his quality of work is splendid that generates a certain degree of trust in you and you can focus on other stuffs by submitting the entire assignment to him but this can’t be done in case of an unknown contractor with whom you have been working for the first or perhaps the second time.

How to effectively market your construction business

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For a business to grow, it is important that people know about it and only when they know about the brand they will buy the product or use the services of the brand. In a nutshell any company who wants to grow its business needs to first create a brand for itself so that people are aware of its product and services and then sell it to them. Reaching to the end user and keeping them in loop of your existence is also knows as marketing and every company has to form a strategy to market their brand. Now some company takes an aggressive approach and some go soft while marketing their product. It is believed that companies that market their products aggressively are the one who have hunger in their belly. They want to grow quickly and the ones who are slow on marketing their products are perhaps happy with how things are moving. They might take an aggressive approach later as they may feel the opportunity is not right for that time and will wait till they see things moving their way.

A business where day in and day out there are new competitors joining in and each of them are struggling hard to make their name in the market it makes the overall environment to be more challenging. The construction industry in one such industry where you will come across many companies who have just started their business and are marketing their company quite aggressively. People with experience in this form of a business know how the industry works and what they got to do to make their business a success.

Be in the news:-

For people to know about you and your company, you got to be in the news for the right reason. You have to come up with excellent ideas and should also be able to present that to whosoever is interested to know about it. People in the construction business circle should know about you. For this, you need a website where you can put up your business plans and talk more often on how you can accomplish your targets. Your website should reflect the personality you possess. People going through your website should know that you dream big and also have the courage to fulfill it. This is one way to market your company. You may show your aggressiveness here which will go to a lot of people. You can also release circulars every week where you’ll talk about the industry as a whole and how your business is reacting to the current situation.

Be active on social media:-

We have a craze of social media these days. For every small things that we do, we try to put that out on social media. We do this to get some attention and as far as the construction business is concerned, it makes sense to be ultra active on social media. It is perhaps one of the many platforms that will take your identity to a lot of people by paying a nominal fee.

The ups and downs of the construction industry

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If you are in some form of business you will always come across suggestions from veterans of the industry that you should save more during the ups and be conservative during the downs. It simply implies that when you are having a good time in your business you should try to preserve capital for the bad times and this rule is applicable for all the industry and every kind of business. This makes more sense in a volatile sector like construction. In the construction industry, you can’t ever guess when the downtime will begin.

As long as you have projects in hand and you are getting paid for it, it is all good for you but when things turn ugly, it does a huge impact on the overall industry and particularly to businesses. At times the industry as a whole is at its peak but due to some unforeseen situations, you do not get paid for your work. Now you can come across this situation no matter how well the industry is performing. It is absolutely not relevant to the performance of the industry. This can turn into a crunch situation where you need money desperately to carry out business activities on a different location.

Preserve capital by not overspending:-

We in our daily lives tend to spend to stuffs that we do not need much. In other words, we can still carry ourselves quite elegantly without the presence of a particular commodity. But since we have enough money to buy the stuff, we go for it. Something similar to this also happens in the construction business. If we have made good profits from the last few projects, we start to contemplate to expand our business for which we think of buying heavy equipment, hire more labor, increase the marketing team etc. This in turn will increase the operating cost exponentially which in no way is healthy for a growing business. On the other hand, one must try to preserve the capital that he has earned and invest it when he feels necessary. You can buy your business related products when you have enough need for it or else it will be just waste of money.

Take calculative risk:-

Business is all about taking risk at the right juncture. Industry experts say that the more risk you take the more is the chances for you to get better returns. Well, it should be put in this way. The more calculated risk you take, the better is the chance to earn good returns. Just because we all want to earn money in no time, does not mean that we should begin taking risk without giving a second thought to it. This can lead us to a bigger mess and is certainly not advisable. Before you take a big leap, understand what you are doing and what could be the repercussions. Understand both the pros and cons of your decision and please before you act and not after your act. It makes no sense to cry over spilled milk.

 

Team work is an important component in the construction business

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When you are running a huge business that has many genres and departments you can make it a success only when you have people who work as a team. Running a big business is not a joke and it takes lot of wit and cautiousness when it comes to taking important decisions. You do not know if the decision that you have taken will be beneficial for you or will it harm the prospect of the business but you still have to take a call. This is when you depend on your team and believes that if you take a call to go ahead on a project you have your entire team to back you up and will face all hardships together. There are several instances where it has been proven that a single man can’t make all the difference. He may become a good leader if he believes in bringing the change but he definitely needs his team to follow him and show excellent team work.

Construction industry like all other industries firmly believes in team work. You have plenty of departments if you are attached to a big project and the success of the project lies on how cordially the entire team can perform. The team has to display great team work and they all have to follow what their leader says and got to complete the task on time. This also shows how important of the role of a team leader is while handling a big project. Right from the heavy equipment operators to its mechanics and the construction workers, they all have to work in tandem with each other. When we talk about team work it does not mean that there is no place for any dispute within the team.

Disputes do arise but it is the responsibility of the group leader or his seniors to address the issue then and there and try to get it sorted. It is quite natural for the employees to expect quick remedy of their problems rather than having to deal with the issue for months. This is why the management in a construction company needs to ensure that they address the issue without any delays. The morale of the workers should not be brought down by any means and if their well-being is taken care then that will play a mighty role in increasing support from the team members.

Rewards and recognitions should be quite usual. It should not take time for the superiors or people from the management to acknowledge the efforts and hard work of the employees. Employees from all departments should be awarded for their good work and a tradition should be made where employees from various departments come under one roof to collect their awards. In this way they will also know people from other departments. This will explore their options of learning new things by engaging with people from different teams. These little things play a big role in ensuring that there is a cordial environment and people continue to work as a team.

Construction sector is not an industry for everyone to sustain

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There is a notion amongst a good number of people that if you are a part of the construction industry or if you own a construction company then you do not have to worry for the rest of your life as you are associated with a business that will always take care of all your financial needs. However, the fact is absolutely contrary to the notion and people who are linked with this kind of job indeed have a hard time to sustain and they got to thrive hard for any small project that they can manage to get.

As far as the big construction houses are concerned, they may not be worried about getting small projects but they have their own problems which may be more difficult to surpass. Since they have big projects they are involved with big clients that they can’t afford to lose and they have to complete their work come what may within the given deadline. In case, they fail to do so, it simply tarnishes their reputation as a reliable construction company. A big construction company can afford to lose anything other than their goodwill.

Should be sharp and ready to deliver at all levels:-

In order to make it big in the construction domain, you need to be very sharp and quick in taking decisions that might not give you more time. If you take time thinking, you may just lose the deal as there are many who are waiting to take projects. Therefore whenever you see an opportunity on your way try to grab it with both hands after considering if you will be able to complete it in the destines timeframe without compromising the quality of the work.

Keeping too many projects can be risky:-

Chew what you can swallow. Taking too many projects can be very dangerous to the prospect of your company and has high potential to stain the reputation of your company. You should take a moment to think if you would be able to handle more than one job at a time and if you have those competent workers who can manage to take care of multiple projects at a time. Alternatively, you should have a detailed knowledge of the existing projects which will help you to take better decisions and therefore not jeopardizing the prospect of your company.

Having a sound financial backing is important:-

While you are in the process of completing a project, you should also keep in mind that you will be requiring lot of money to take the job towards completion. If you do not have money then you may find yourself in deep trouble. Therefore while you are on with your work, also keep a note on your finances. Do not empty your treasure box as it may take time for the client to pay you back.

People who can make proper strategies and can follow it religiously are the ones who are able to sustain in this industry.

Giving value products to the end user should be your motto

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In order to sustain in a competitive environment, the motto of your business should be to give the ultimate to the end user. There should be absolutely no compromise to the larger interest of the customer because if they are happy with your final product you are going to get more businesses from them. The construction industry works on the same line and they consider their clients’ wants to be the most important thing in their business. They firmly believe that it gives a shape to their business and they understand the right way to be in this business. Clients have different demands and they sort of expect more from the construction companies. Therefore it becomes difficult to meet all their expectations. However, they give their best shot to at least reach near to their expectation and this is perhaps enough to make the client content.

Using quality raw materials gives formidable shape to the end product. Many understand it and there are some who for some reason does not implement it. It is obvious that the prices of the raw materials that are excellent in terms of quality are higher than the ones which are a bit inferior. This means that the company has to shell out more money to buy the supreme quality raw materials and this in turn increases the ultimate price of the product. Now the problem would be on the clients end. They may not be ready to buy the end product at an increased price though they understand that it has been built using the best quality of raw materials. This is probably the reason why there are handful of construction companies who shy away to use the best and believe to deploy things that suits their budget.

Market your products well to insure your costs:-

If you fear a lot then you can’t be a part of the construction industry. Here people are bound to take risks and they take risks by believing that their efforts will not go in vain. Also they try and negotiate the cost with the investor so that they get the money from them in time and can also pay the contractor and other entities involved in the transaction on time. The next step they take to ensure things go their way is they market their products by making it look attractive. Right from the period the foundation is laid they come up with attractive offers for buyers to book their apartments in the first few days. Since the offer is available only for few days, people do not want to let it go off. Your marketing strategy worked and you made some money using which you can carry on your construction work.

It creates goodwill:-

If you are a construction company that is known to build quality apartments, you have formed goodwill of your company. People know you by your work and you achieved this position because you believed in giving the best to the mass.

Team work matters most in the construction business

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Dreaming big is a good thing but when you want to make your dreams come true you have to follow some very basic principles that will help you reach the place you want to go. The most important principle that you can’t afford to miss is to learn to work in a team. You may be the owner of your business but you should give equal importance to all the members of your company. You should know the importance of your team and how they function and you can know this only when you become a part of them. Working in a team and working as a team are both important factors that one should learn well if you want to take his business to the next level and especially when you are part of a much volatile industry like construction. Construction industry will give you no scope to survive or grow if you do not want to work as a team. Individual players have absolutely no role in this segment of business. They might stay for some time but will not be able to carry it along for long and will see problems erupting which he will find it difficult to manage it alone.

Though this sector is an alluring one and promises to give good returns if you are ready to work hard but just working hard will not take you to the top. You have to also take into account factors like working in a team.

You know where the business is going:-

When you are working alone and try to manage everything on your own, there are high chances that you may miss out on many things. It is never simple to manage a business alone and you need people to whom you will distribute your work so that they can take care of their part and you can take a report from them and understand where the business is heading. This is how it is supposed to work. You doing the work alone will take you nowhere as you will not have the slightest idea what exactly is going on. You will have no one to prepare reports for you and in case you have a department who does this thing, it is crucial that you maintain good rapport with them. In other words, have good team bonding with them which will also help them to work comfortably.

Team work makes things simple:-

In a big construction company, they have many different levels of departments and if there is sync between each department then things become simpler. The progress of work can be understood more clearly. This will also help you to move forward in your business and clear your paths for any possible expansion in the near future. You can have a bird view on the performance of your business if there is proper team work. The level of co-ordination amongst all the teams will define how successful you can become with your business.

Quality of raw materials to be monitored in the construction industry

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Any company in order to survive and simultaneously grow in a competitive environment has to show a lot of metal. They need to be consistent in one thing and that is maintaining the quality of the end product. As long as they are able to maintain the quality of their products they exist in the competitive market and once they start compromising on the sole factor that is responsible for their growth they will soon see a fall in their sales. At the same time people who have been using their products for a long time will want to see something new. May be an add-on feature at the same cost but if they see a decline in the quality of the product they will for sure give a second thought to go for the same brand ever in their life. This huge can be the impact of the quality of a product.

In the construction industry too quality plays a crucial role in its overall growth. Construction industry like any other industry is as competitive as it can be and therefore it becomes all the more important for a construction company to give significance to the quality part. Now in order for the final product to be an ace product it is significant that the raw materials used to manufacture the end product is also of ace quality. You can’t expect the end product to be exceptional by using deteriorated quality of raw materials. This is where the quality of raw materials plays such an important role in the overall making of a wonderful product. So the company has to pay special attention to the fact that the raw materials used for construction are of first rate quality and they will be for sure applauded for their wonderful work.

Hire expert people:-

You should be hiring people who have expert knowledge in recognizing the quality of the raw material. Raw materials which are superior in quality are quite expensive. So the call is yours which one you would want to go with. However, it will be crucial to have people who know about the quality of raw materials and can give their expert opinion of the subject. There are chances that you might get cheated by the raw material vendor who supplies the stuff to you. The subject experts can analyze the quality of the stuff and can guide you if the quotation laid by the vendor is reasonable or not.

Buy government approved raw materials:-

Hiring experts can prove to be quite expensive and if you are unable to afford them then the next best available option for you is to buy government approved raw materials. Government gives grades to the raw materials and on the basis of it the price of the item is fixed. So you need to know which item can cost how much. This small part of research needs to be done by you to buy raw materials of superior quality.

Maintain your focus throughout your journey in the construction business

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We must have seen many individuals making it big in their business but at the same time have also heard stories about few who dreamt of owning an empire but could not do much. There are also numerous stories where people have flunked in their business after having spent considerable number of years in it. It definitely feels sad hearing to nostalgic events but it is more important to gather lessons that life has taught them. We can also learn about those mistakes which they have committed and that we should not be doing when we are pursuing our dream to set up a business empire. One of the most crucial things that every business owner needs to have is being focused with what they are doing. They need to understand that they will come across too many distractions and they have to overcome those distractions by remaining focused to their job. If they are connected to an industry that is volatile and can take any turn, they got to be careful for every step that they take.

One such industry that is quite unpredictable and needs a lot of focus to remain afloat is the construction domain. If you are a new startup company and are struggling hard to remain intact in the market there is a higher chance that you may lose your focus and get diverted to things that are important to you but not at the moment. Construction industry has its phase and like every other industry which has good as well as bad phase, it too has its share with the good and bad phases. So you got to understand how to duck the bad phase and score during the good times. How to do this can be better learnt by remaining focused to your work. When you are attentive, you sort of mark down the mistakes that you did and avoid doing them again. This is what many skip to do.

In the construction world, you will come with new challenges every other day and these new challenges are nothing but mere distractions. You got to learn to manage them and come out with a solution without losing your focus. If you lose it then you get diverted in dealing those challenges and get so messed up that you eventually think of doing away with the business. Though it is a fact that you have to deal with all the business challenge alone but that does not mean that you will get strayed away from your core objective. That is the crux that you need to learn.

Negativity is another big challenge that can let you down quite easily. While you are new to the business, you will come across many people who will advice you negatively. People may say that the initiative that you have taken will not work and will come up with number of reasons why it will not. You will hardly come across anyone who will support you for your efforts. It is this moment where you being focused come to play. You should be confident about the initiatives but also not give others a deaf ear. Go ahead with things that you are confident and there are many examples of people who have proves other wrong by believing in themselves.

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