HOW TO BECOME A GENERAL CONTRACTOR. IN CALIFORNIA.

 

It all begins with…

Nachos. And kind of develops out from there. You have your nacho plate ready? Okay let’s start.

And a mindset.

If you’re going to become a general b contractor you’re going to need a particular mindset. You can’t think like a contractor. You have to think like a businessman. You have to have the larger picture in mind.

Not everyone is cutout to be a general contractor. Just like not everyone is cutout to be a rock star or a surgeon or a circus performer.

Honestly, though.

It takes a certain amount of grit and determination.

Many, many contractors fail at switching from working for someone to running their own business. And that’s okay. Often we have to make mistakes to learn.

But the big problem is that ‘contractors’ who have only ever worked for others have trouble seeing the big picture.

When you transition from an employee to a business-owner you have to shift your mindset. Your mindset must change from just putting in your hours to serving the client. Taking care of your clients and employees. Meeting deadlines.

Finding new jobs, estimating, bidding, marketing, etc…

You become more than a contractor.

You become a business-owner.

You step into the role of a leader.

Example: Joe Smith.

Let’s say Joe Smith has been working construction for ten years and he knows everything there is to know about the General B trade. He’s a journeyman-level contractor. If you dropped him off on an empty lot with nothing but a sack of potatoes and a nail-gun, he’d be able to build a house or building from the ground up.

Joe has skills.

But then Joe decides to step out on his own. He decides to get his contractors license and go for it. He decides to start his own business.

In life, you have to take great risk. Otherwise you’ll live to regret it. So this is good.

So Joe gets his license.

And he starts taking side jobs. Cool. Great. Awesome. It’s going great. He’s a one-man show. A sole proprietor. He loves what he’s doing. He’s working on the weekends so his wife is kind of angry at him, but she’s also proud because he’s bringing in an extra few thousand dollars a month.

Cool, right?

Then it happens. One of his clients — a rich woman who always has her pet dog with her and frequents Rodeo Drive — refers him to one of her rich friends.

Next thing Joe knows he’s bidding a half-million dollar job in Malibu and he’s in way over his head.

Joe can’t think only as a contractor anymore. Because there’s no way Joe is going to be able to do all the work himself. He’s going to have to hire others. He’s not going to have time to do the actual work because he’s going to be too busy managing the job and communicating to the client and trying to find his next big job and working with a web designer to create a beautiful website and getting quotes on workers comp insurances that he’ll need to hire new workers and he’ll be answering emails and so on and so forth.

Many contractors fail or go bankrupt because they continue to try to be contractors rather than CONTRACTOR MANAGERS.

Contractor Managers

As you can see, starting a business requires a different mindset.

Becoming a General B Contractor entails becoming a good business manager and overseeing all facets of running a business, including the construction, bookkeeping, marketing and advertising (including branding), estimating and bidding, and good leadership.

Small contractors end up spending most of their time navigating conflicts, leading their teams, and communicating to their clients.

The number one complaint clients have against contractors is lack of communication.

Contractors will get so busy with their work they won’t respond to the texts and voicemails of their clients. As a general contractors, one of your most important jobs will be responding with efficiency to your clients.

You have to keep in mind that your clients don’t think the way you do. When they see their home being torn apart for a remodel, they can’t see the end goal. They don’t know if you’re going to ditch or leave them hanging. If you don’t explain the process to them or provide them with updates, they’re going to freak out.

Communication is key.

How To Get Your License.

The process of getting your license isn’t actually that difficult. But you do have to have four-years-of-experience.

We’re a contractor school and we offer three options in terms of schooling. Four if you count our new school for carrier-pigeons who want to break into the construction industry. That’s a joke.

You can enroll in our online course. Hint: the diamond option is the best.

Or you can purchase one of our home study packages.

Or you can sign up for one of our schools. We own a few: located in Southern California.

Anyway, if you’re wondering about what type of business structure you should form, continue reading.

You have a few options.

Two overall options: corporate or non-corporate.

A corporate structure would be, like, an LLC or an S-CORP or a C-CORP.

A non-corporate structure would be a sole-prop or a partnership.

SOLE-PROPRIETOR

A sole-prop is the simplest form of a business structure.

In this structure, you’re the owner of the business and you’re completely responsible and if you die the business dies.

Also, there is really no difference between your business assets and your personal assets. Which means if something not good were to happen, your personal assets are on the line.

Ex: Someone sues you for more money than you have, you’re going to lose your personal assets.

Ex: You decide to use your client’s kitchen to fry up some fish for the crew and you accidentally burn the house down and your insurance doesn’t cover the burnt-down because you weren’t probably supposed to be frying wild-caught salmon. Well, again, your personal assets are on the line.

CORPORATIONS

With Corporations, you can separate your business assets from your personal assets and therefore protect yourself. And cook wild-caught salmon until your heart is content.

You get what’s called ‘the corporate veil of protection’ which shields your personal assets from business entanglements.

So that’s cool.

For contractors, we recommend they get S-Corps. Although, if you’d like, you can get a C-Corp or an LLC.

Anyhow, dudes and dudettes, we help contractors establish their corporations and file their articles of incorporation. For more info on that, visit our incorporation page.

As for marketing, branding and advertising, you will want to visit our respective services page for more info.

Thanks, thanks, and thanks again.

Note from the CONTRACTOR LICENSE SCHOOL: Sure, Mike’s review was pretty basic (there weren’t any exploding helicopters or fireworks), but still. You get the point. Right? Okay, fine. We’ll include a more ‘in-depth’ review at the bottom of the page.