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Hone your pitch: Bidding tips for contractors

Hone your pitch: Bidding tips for contractors

You just had a great meeting with a client about a home improvement job, and now you’ve been asked to provide an estimate for the project. You know they’re pricing the work with other contractors, so it’s important to put your bid in writing for the homeowner to review.

 

When it comes to writing a bid, it’s important to be clear and communicate effectively so that your proposal is taken seriously. Consider it your business pitch.

 

Here a few tips for creating a winning proposal:

 

Presentation counts. In most cases, the format of the bid is up to you, but presentation is important. Use a professional letterhead on white-colored, business-grade paper.

 

On the first page, be sure to include your name (or your company’s name), the client’s name, the address of the project site, and the bid date. Write a short executive summary that provides an overview of the project, as well as your professional qualifications (including any licenses you hold) and/or relevant work experience. read more

New home starts, sales data signals good news for Florida contractors

New home starts, sales data signals good news for Florida contractors

New housing starts and home sales are considered to be indicators of economic strength. So the latest data should signal good news for Florida contractors and workers in the construction trades.

 

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released statistics that show an uptick in new residential construction activity during the month of June 2017.

 

Nationwide, the number of privately owned, new home construction starts was 1.21 million — up 2.1 percent over the June 2016 level. The number of privately owned housing completions for the month was 1.20 million – up 8.1 percent year-to-year.

 

The news followed a June report by Reuters that noted U.S. homebuilding had fallen for the third-straight month in May. However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the construction industry gained 16,000 new jobs in June and 6,000 new jobs in July, with the residential sector fueling growth.

 

Locally, FloridaRealtors reported positive movement in the sale of single-family homes, townhouses/condos and manufactured homes in June, noting that new homes listed in the Sunshine State are selling quickly. read more

Contractor Products to Add To Your Wishlist Part 2

Contractor Products to Add To Your Wishlist Part 2

A contractor needs to be in with the new. Whether it’s the latest trend or technique, he or she has to be well versed in the present and future of contracting. If there is a better and more efficient way to do something, you’ve got to know it! Otherwise, you and your business will fall behind and other contractors will be picked over you for certain jobs. Although certain practices, products and regulations will never go out of style, there are plenty of ways to enhance the field of contracting. With more education and technology in the world, the more advance our work, our techniques, our safety, our products, and our environments can be.

As a Florida contractor licensing company, we take pride in sharing new information with our clients and the contractor community. For this article, we wanted to share a few new products on the market that can benefit a variety of different specialties within the field on contracting. We have shared new products with you before, but there are so many released every year! We want you to know about as many as possible. read more

Contractor Products to Put on Your Wish List

Contractor Products to Put on Your Wish List

As a contractor, you have to stay on top of things in your field. Whether there’s a new regulation or way to do something, you should know it and implement it. The world is moving at a fast pace these days; people want the newest and best of everything. So whether you’re working on a home, an office building, or even a bridge, you want to be equipped with the latest and best information, products, and methods. One way to stay on top of things in the contracting world is to be aware (and invest in) the best products in the field. Quality tools and equipment will make your job easier in more ways than one.

As a Florida contractor licensing company, we wanted to share with you a few of the latest products out in the field for you to purchase on your own or for your place of employment.

Winbag – If you’re a residential or commercial contractor, you probably do your share of installing a lot of windows. This is no easy task. Measurements needs to be price. Windows are heavy. Well, winbag can help. It is an inflatable shim that fills gaps from 3/32 inches to 2 inches. It can make windows level, and it even works on doors and cabinets. It is a fiber-reinforced material made with rubber. With this device, you no longer have to use wooden shims or plastic wedges. It can lift up to 300 pounds.  You can purchase this device on Amazon. read more

Help for Running a Contractor Business

Help for Running a Contractor Business

Running a business is hard. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve put in into the industry, running a business is a lot of work. There’s a lot to do, remember, take care of, etc. etc.  It can be hard to run the day-to-day parts of the business when you need to get a lot of other work done, including working on projects and managing other contractors – that’s where we come in. We are a Florida contractor licensing company who helps people get their Florida contractor’s licenses, as well as help them start a business and continue to run their business.

For this article, we wanted to share with you how we can help you run a business.

We can help you:

  • Keep track of deadlines for your license and business
  • Keep you from paying reinstatement and late fees
  • Give you a comprehensive list of requirements (that your state and county) requires for your business and licenses, even if you have several.
  • Remind you when to file your annual report.
  • Remind you when your continuing education (CEUs) need to be completed.
  • Help you with corporate amendments, foreign qualification, corporate name change, s-corp election, DBA, and registered agent services.

 

Once we have made of list and done all these things, we can offer you a maintenance service to take care of things for you out the year. Some things we can help you with while other things you need to do on your own, but we will make you aware of that. We will take care of everything on time so you won’t be paying late fees. When you work with us, you’ll never have to worry about missing anything. read more