Insurance

Insurance

Insurance is another important asset of your construction company.  Secure the proper business insurance, including WorkSafeBC coverage, to better protect you and your company against claims for personal injury and property damage.  Insurance will provide you with protection of those claims, which may arise out of your company's operations. 

Incorporate Your Construction Business

Bridget Field of Small Business BC recommends, “Due to the nature of the industry, being medium to high risk, we advise construction companies to consider incorporating in order to provide limited liability protection of their personal assets, in addition to having business insurance.” If you want to learn how to properly incorporate yourself, Small Business BC has a listing of seminars and sells anincorporationkit, designed to assist business owners who want to incorporate their business without using a lawyer. 

Business Permits & Licenses

Visit your local municipality or visit www.bcbizpal.ca to find out what types of business permits and licenses you will need to secure for your new company and the type of work you intend to perform.  Secure all required insurance, permits and licenses before you start your first job.

What advice would Scott give aspiring entrepreneurs? “Work within your means and try not to grow too fast.  I recently downsized my staff from thirteen to four so I can have a more hands-on approach.  I find clients are happier because I’m at the job site for quality assurance,” says Scott.

Careful planning and attention to detail will ensure that your construction company stays afloat during the first few years of operation. With the qualified task force, proper business considerations, legal requirements and a desire to succeed, your construction business will reap benefits.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR STARTING YOUR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Starting your own construction company can be a profitable venture under the right circumstances. So if you have experience in construction and want to start your own company, be sure to research the necessary business considerations, requirements and laws before launching your business.

Pricing and Estimating Process

Develop a pricing and estimating process for the work you intend to perform.  Most clients want a fixed lump sum price for the work they want done, so make sure you fully understand all your direct labor, materials and equipment costs, your overhead costs, and your profit expectations for the work you quote. 

Just ask Scott Mayhew, owner of Scott Mayhew Contracting Ltd. in Penticton, who attended several Small Business BC seminars and went through the Community Futures Okanagan Similkameen self-employment program to start his business six years ago.  From experience he says, “Clients want accurate fixed quotes and this can be done through construction estimating software. However, accurately quoting for residential renovations can be tricky because who knows what we will encounter when we’re doing the renovations”. 

Completion Schedule

Scott continues to say, “The key is to be open and up front with your clients from the beginning and throughout the project so they know about the potential unknown variables that may arise during the renovation of their homes.”  So make sure you have enough time for your projected completion schedule to properly perform the scope of work.  Always put some contingency time in the schedule; minor delays, weather, equipment problems, etc., that may occur.

Contract

Develop a comprehensive contract form to use for your work with clients.  Make sure all your contracts have at least a well defined scope of work, good terms of payment, an achievable schedule and a good extras/claims clause.  Do not do any work on verbal orders; get everything in writing, always, no exceptions.  “Be sure to document all change orders throughout the course of the project. There are so many aspects in a job that it’s essential to be detailed and clear within the contract to protect us and our clients,” says Scott.

HOW TO RESEARCH NEW REGULATIONS WHEN EXPANDING YOUR BUSINESS

As you grow your business and expand into new territory, you'll need to be aware of and comply with any new or additional regulations. Here are a list of resources to check to make sure you're not missing anything:

Search BizPal BC

If you expand into new lines of business, search for your new industry or business at BC BizPal to see what regulations might apply.

Contact City Hall

If you set up a new location in a different municipality, be sure to check with the local city hall regarding any applicable licenses, bylaws, and permits required. If you have a mobile business, enquire about a mobile business license that covers multiple municipalities. If you are expanding into new lines of business, check with your local city hall to see if you need any additional permits or licences.

Research Labour Requirements

If you are incorporating or hiring employees, you should contact WorkSafeBC, Canada Revenue Agency, and the Employment Standards Branch to find out what your obligations are as an employer, and to register your business.

Do Further Research

Contact industry associations to see if there are any industry-specific regulations, either existing or pending, that may be applicable to your growing business.

How to Start Working with the Government

How to Start Working with the Government

Now that you know that you can work with the government, where should you start? 

 

Buyandsell.gc.ca is the government’s new user friendly procurement website which pulls together opportunities from Contracts Canada and PWGSC.  The site’s content is based on a five-step process with detailed guides and video to help you understand the steps for doing business with the government.  The site is the main location to find information about doing business with the Government of Canada.

 

Once you have registered to become a government supplier via the Buy and Sell website, it is essential that you proactively promote your business as a supplier.  Let them know what goods and services you have and why you should be their supplier.  Learn about how to promote your business and find government contacts using Buy and Sell’s Promote Yourself page.

 

Register now via Buy and Sell’s Supplier Registration Information system.

Need Some Help?

The Office of Small and Medium Enterprise’s (OSME) is dedicated to helping small businesses successfully compete for government business by working to reduce barriers and simplify requirements.  

 

For help understanding the government’s procurement process including identifying opportunities and how to bid for government business opportunities contact your local OSME office:

 

Email:  osme-bpme-pac@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca

Tel:       1-866-602-0403 (toll free)

 

Ask the Expert - How to do Business with the Federal Government

Small Business BC is offering free one-to-one consultations with a Supply Officer from Public Works and Government Services Canada as part of the Ask the Expert series.  Free consultations will take place at the Small Business BC offices in Waterfront Station, Vancouver or via Skype on August 23rd, 2011.

 

These 30 minute sessions allow you to ask the specific questions about the purchasing process, where to find opportunities and how to respond to proposals.

BECOME A SUPPLIER TO THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

Have you considered providing products or services to the Government of Canada?  Chances are you if you have thought about it, you have dismissed it thinking that your business is not relevant to the government, however most of the time this assumption is wrong.

Types of Goods and Services

Due to the wide and varied nature of work which government employees perform – from RCMP officers to armed forces, from street cleaners to administration staff – the Government of Canada purchases a wide variety of goods and services every year.

 

With the help of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), the government’s common service provider and main purchaser, the federal government spends approximately $15 billion a year on goods and services ranging from airplanes to paperclips, as well as a wide variety of services.  

Who Wins Government Contracts?

Another common misconception is that only big businesses win government contracts, however in 2009/10 over $776 million new contracts were awarded by PWGSC to BC and Yukon small and medium enterprises (SME’s) alone.

How to Start Working with the Government

Now that you know that you can work with the government, where should you start? 

Every business

Every business has different goals for what they want their website to accomplish and should have key metrics to make sure they succeed in meeting those goals.  Some business owners only require a website to act as an online brochure, while others are concerned with how much revenue the website is actually generating.  

The simplest way to start measuring your website's impact is to use Google Analytics.  This free tool is advanced enough for the most expert of users, but easy enough for the non-tech small business owner to understand.

Installing Google Analytics

To start using Google Analytics you'll need to paste a small piece of code into a template on your website, so that it is included on each page of the website. 

 

Installing Google Analytics is quite simple:
 

1. Visit  http://google.com/analytics 
    
2. If you have a Google account – use it to sign in or make a new account by following the instructions
    
3. Once you have signed in you can click the sign up button and you will now be prompted for some information about your website – including the domain name and the time zone that you are in
    
4. On the next screen you may be prompted to accept Google's terms and conditions
    
5. Finally you will be presented with a piece of Javascript code that needs to be inserted onto the header of each page of your website to allow Google to track visitors

Most modern websites should be template driven, which means that you can simply paste the analytics code once and it will be included on each page.  Normally the analytics will go into the header template anywhere above the tag, which could be called header.php for example.  

 

If you are unsure or if this sounds too technical, it may be a job for your web developer or tech savvy friend to help you with, but once complete Google will begin collecting information as people visit the web site.

 

It is worth noting that if you are using the popular WordPress Content Management System, you can simply install the Google Analytics for WordPress Plugin, which will take care of tagging up each page for you.

Understanding the Data

Don't worry if you do not see any data in Google Analytics straight away, it can take up to 24 hours for it to appear.   It is worth waiting for a week to capture a decent amount of data and then start to explore the different screens within Google Analytics.  

 

Some of the key information you want to look for is:
 

• How many real people have visited (Unique Visitors)
   
• How many people found your site after making a search (Search Visits Report)
   
• What other websites are sending you traffic (Referrers report)
   
• What words did people search for to find my website?  (Keyword report)

You can start to compare these key metrics on a month to month basis to monitor how you site is performing and how any changes that you make impact the metrics. For example, if you begin a social media campaign or optimize the content on your website for search engines, it's important to have a baseline to measure against so you know if your changes are successful.

What Will I Gain from Using Google Analytics?

For some business owners, spending a small amount time looking at Google Analytics can have a dramatic effect.  By understanding where your customers are coming from and what they are doing can influence where you see and position your website going forward.  It can even affect your sales strategy by highlighting low hanging fruit that with minimal cost and effort can reward in higher profits.

 

If you have a simple five page website and have never considered who is looking at it, why not take the time to install analytics and find out who your potential customers are?  If, when you first install the analytics, you find that not many people are finding your site, it may give you the motivation you need to expand your website and give your company a greater voice.