When you run a successful construction company, you may wonder when the perfect time to expand is. Whether you want to open up more locations in your city or expand to more countries, you’ll need to do thorough research and preparation before opening up more doors. These strategies are vital to expanding your construction business.
Know the Markets
No matter how vast your expansion plans are, you’ll need to know the market and target audience in the area. How will your customers change ten blocks away? How about ten cities away? What about ten countries? Research the market you expect to expand to. Understand the cost of living, how people spend their money, and the common demographics. You must adjust your business model and marketing plans to a new market. Sometimes, you won’t have to change much—but it’s best to be prepared.
Budget Wisely
Expansion takes a lot of money. In addition to your current location’s overhead, you’ll have to fund a new property, startup costs, and that location’s overhead, all while turning a profit in your original location. You’ll need to calculate expenses and subtract them from profits. You’ll likely have to take out at least one loan to fund everything. Don’t be afraid to speak with a financial advisor about your expansion plans to ensure you’re correctly crunching the numbers.
Take it Slow
One of the biggest mistakes successful companies make is expanding too fast. If you can grow exponentially, you can do so leisurely. If you expand too fast, costs can become overwhelming, and your focus will be too divided. Take it one location at a time, and wait until you’re profitable. Success doesn’t always mean racing ahead at full speed.
Create a Business Expansion Plan
If you are unsure where or how to scale up, you will need a solidified business plan. Consult with business partners, investors, and board members about expansion plans. You’ll likely need to recruit brokers, realtors, and financial advisors in new areas where you plan to expand. You’ll need to solidify your expansion goals regarding size, profits, and timelines.
Scale Your Marketing
Local marketing plans won’t likely apply once you expand. You’ll need to grow and scale your marketing plans to broader horizons. Start utilizing broader keywords or local keywords for new areas. Grow your social media audience and announce your expansion plans. Start targeting new audiences on social media and your website. Hire marketing firms to help you create nationwide marketing success.
Grow Your Network
Networking involves creating and growing professional relationships to learn industry trends and transmit your company in industry circles. When you expand your business, your networking efforts should develop as well. Attend more construction conferences. Partner with real estate companies beyond your city. Familiarize yourself with construction professionals, including competition, in the areas you plan to expand to. Join more local and nationwide business associations. You can gain referrals and access to broader markets through solid networking efforts. You may even secure new partnerships!
Obtain Additional Licensing
Not all construction or contractor licensing is reciprocal, especially outside the state or country. You will likely need to secure additional licensing, registration, or insurance to cover work in multiple states or countries. As most contracting companies or firms may know already, licensing requirements change slightly from state to state. You can also hire an attorney specializing in business law to help you make all the legal changes during the expansion process.
California
California has a seemingly never ending supply of construction projects, and it’s a lucrative state for expansion. However, in California, you are required to submit proof of four years of experience and pass a two-part exam before being licensed as a general contractor, and licensing is required for commercial construction.
Florida
Expanding to the Sunshine State is a great idea; there’s a large construction boom here with no sign of stopping. In Florida, licensing requires two exams—a business and finance exam as well as a state contractor exam. You must renew a license every two years.
Arizona
Before expanding your construction company to the southwest, you’ll need to learn how to become a contractor in Arizona through exam preparation and studying. There are several types of licensing for contractors here: residential, commercial, and dual. Contractors will also need a surety bond and to pass any specific trade exams in addition to the state contracting exam.
Conclusion
Expansion requires a lot of work and costs money and time. You should approach it steadily and slowly, research additional markets, and expand your networking and marketing efforts. Create solidified expansion plans. Budget the costs of an expansion, and don’t take on too much debt than your business can handle. Be prepared to secure additional licensing in states that aren’t reciprocal with your local license.