As any enterprise matures, different priorities take hold. Our courses are structured to bring together people who share those priorities. Construction Business Basics courses are tailored to four general stages of development in your business. You are free to decide which level is right for you, but you will find that common experience with others in attendance enhances what you learn.
- Becoming a Business:Whether you’re starting out or you just want to know how to organize your business this is your starting point. Emphasis here is on what a functional organization looks like. We study demands from outside interests (e.g. government, your banker, insurance etc), recognizing priorities, where risks lie and how to be prepared. Attendees will leave in a better position to roll up their sleeves and get organized.
- Getting Professional: Even an established construction business can become so focused on the job site that the “office work” fails to keep up. Simultaneous projects can demand more attention than one person can provide. Hiring staff brings whole new dimensions of management and regulatory challenges. The owner can’t be everywhere and active on everything so systems need to be established to get things done. This course helps you weigh priorities, delegate work effectively and establish an organization that functions consistently. If you have employees, or multiple projects ongoing then your organization needs to support you rather than tie you down. This course can help you achieve that.
- Adjusting For Growth: In a project-based business like construction, growth comes in large blocks, bringing sudden demands for resources, financing, and management attention. There’s no such thing as test-marketing. If you decide to take new work, extend your scope of services or enter new markets, you need to be ready for what comes. At this point, your role is getting more complex as well. Now you probably have project managers, or foremen and it’s your job to manage them. This is a time when policies and decision making have to be consistent across your team. If your business is growing fast or if your plans include new products or markets, this course can help you get staged and ready for the management challenges and the opportunities ahead.
- Building Value: It’s common to hear that most of the value in a contracting business lies in the owner themselves. That is one of the reasons even successful contracting firms don’t often sell as a going concern. That notion might be flattering but if you’re an owner who hopes to retire someday it’s not very gratifying. You have probably been told already that your plans for an “exit strategy” have to begin years before you intend to actually leave the business. But is that as far as the advice went? Whether you hope to sell the company, hand it off to the next generation or hire someone to run it for you there are practical steps you should take now to help achieve that objective. It just so happens that almost all of those steps are consistent with developing a sound, professional organization. In other words, not too different than what you should be doing for your business anyway. If you are looking ahead to a future day of retirement and you recognize that is going to work out better if your business can run smoothly without you, this course can help you set your plans in motion.
Note: For inquiry specific to Ontario’s Tarion New Home Builder education requirements go to http://mmiproservices.com/tarion-accredited-financial-planning-and-management/