What is your dream contractor?

[Laden Brooks III]

It's no mystery that every investor has dealt with a bad contractor. Much like property managers and real estate agents, many investors feel that there is a shortage of people in those professions that are actually good. I was raised around the trades and absolutely love the construction aspect of REI. I want to grow a successful construction company that investors love to work with. So with that being said, if you could mold your own general contractor what's the most important qualities to you?

[George W.]

The key to owning a successful contracting business is to operate it like a business. A smart owner of a construction company spends little time hanging sheet rock and more time in the office, returns phone calls, gets estimates done in a timely manner and most importantly follows up on leads and existing customers. Another fundamental is to understand your contract and keep detailed records, invoices, estimates etc. 

Also a key to running your construction company is to have a firm understanding of business expenses and know what to actually charge to stay in business. Plus you need to have a solid understanding of whatever services your company offers. You can't just be good with your hands and you can't just be good at business. You have to be balanced and prepared to wear many hats. 

Most contractors go out of business because they don't charge enough to ever turn a profit. They're to busy undercutting other quotes and are busy putting out fires from other jobs that are stalled where they underbid. The secret is if you provide good value, quaility and customer service; you'll make way more and work less then the guy who's always the cheapest price. 

Also a bad contractor doesn't know how to delegate. It's important to look at a large job and know that you can't physically do all the work yourself & also handle the business side of things. Knowing when to sub-contract or when to hire a good worker is very important. 

All of that being said the struggle is that flippers, agents and real estate investors in general want things done as cheap as possible. Naturally a legitimate high quality contractor doesn't want much to do with a investor. Mainly because they shop around for prices and will choose to spend a lot less on a fly by night contractor only to have them bail on them.