How to Be a Successful Licensed Plumber

As long as there’s pipes, there will be plumbers. If you’re thinking about a career in the contracting world, plumbing is a challenging, rewarding, and safe bet.

There are a lot of plumbers out there. In 2014, there were 425,000 plumbers working across the United States. How can you stand out against the competition? What can you do to make a name for yourself in the plumbing business?

For this article, we wanted to share some tips/things to think about when it comes to being good plumber.

  • Show pride and excitement for your work. Clients notice.
  • Communicate effectively and often with clients.
  • Be a salesman. Whether you work for yourself or plumbing business, sell yourself and skills! Lots of people need a good plumber at some point, and if they have your info handy, they can turn to you in their time of need. Actively market/sell your business or your own skills.
  • Don’t rely on others to find business for you.
  • Charge your customers fairly so you can make a profit, buy the best equipment, and grow your company.
  • Give your customers a flat rate with your services; if you leave your prices open-ended, they may think you’re too expensive.
  • Hire the best quality people and workers for your team. They will help you keep current clients and expand your clients.
  • Hire people with vast skillsets. Maybe if you can’t do something, someone else can! So now, your business can provide more services for people.
  • Look professional.
  • Drive vehicles with your name/contact info or company name/info on it. You’ll be a moving billboard.
  • Keep up with your skills and knowledge with frequent trainings. Take courses in finance, marketing, management and more to help you run your business.
  • Belong to trade associations and national organizations.
  • Be involved with the community.

Looking to get your Florida plumbing contractor’s license? Let us do the work for you! Click our plumber contractor’s license page for more info. We’ve helped thousands of people become licensed contractors. We are a Florida contractor licensing company. To start with us today, click here of call 239-777-1028.

Contractor Jobs 2018 Outlook

Good news for our contractor community. In December, construction unemployment rates were down across 46 states. This was actually the country’s lowest rate of unemployment ever.

 

Compared to December 2016, the construction industry employed 250,000 more workers.

 

Why is this increase occurring? More work equals more employment. Unfortunately, a lot of the increases are due to natural disasters that happened in 2017 including hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. Contractors are needed all over the country.

 

There were 6 states with highest unemployment rates included New Mexico, Rhode Island, Alaska, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. From lowest to highest, the top 5 states for construction unemployment rates were: Hawaii, Colorado, Massachusetts, Virginia, (Georgia, South Carolina and Texas tied for fifth).

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How is the career outlook looking for general contractors? On average, there’s supposed to be a 5 % job growth increase from now till 2024.

 

Construction spending is predicted to stay strong in 2018. According to ConstructConnect, the construction forecast for 2018 is a 4.8% increase. Commercial construction (offices, garages) is expected to grow 12.4% and continue to grow through 2021. Warehouses and factories is expected to decrease starting this year by 5.6%. Retail is expected to decline around 2.8% this year.

 

Overall construction spending for 2018 is expected to be a 2 to 7 % increase.

 

This is the time to get a job in contracting. The jobs are there because the work is there! Time to get into the field and make a name for yourself!  If you’re ready to become a licensed Florida contractor, or start up a contractor business, we can help your through the licensure process to make that happen. When applying for a contractor license or business license, there’s a lot of paperwork and requirements. It can be confusing and stressful; there’s a lot of deadlines to remember. As a Florida contractor licensing company, we know the process like the back of our hand, because we’ve helped thousands of people get their Florida contractor’s license. To get started with us

Communication is Essential For a Successful Contractor Business

Being a good contractor isn’t just about your skillset (with your hands) or your contractor’s license, it’s your ability to communicate effectively with clients. Without your customers, you have no job! It isn’t just the face-to-face communication that is important, it’s the phone calls, emails and other messages that customers judge your communication skills on.

If a customer calls your contractor business to inquire about your work and that initial call was a bad experience for them, he or she probably won’t pursue working with you further. Statistically, if a customer has a good phone experience with you, there’s an 80% they will be a repeat customer. If it’s a bad phone experience, 74% of people will look for another contractor.

You want to be available to your customers as much as possible; however, this can be tough if you have a small team. Everyone is busy doing their jobs and manning the phones 24/7 may not be possible. If this is case, you may want to think about hiring a receptionist or a remote receptionist to help provide quality service to your customers, whether they’re old or new. Also, you won’t have to stop being productive in your work for every phone call.

Customers are likely to stick with you if a real person answers the phone instead of an answering machine. Whether an in-house receptionist or remote receptionist, you are able to tell this receptionist exactly what questions to ask and information to get, so the customer feels heard, and they feel like they’re going through step 1 in the process of connecting with you.

Your customers will find you approachable, trustworthy and reliable because you always will have a person picking up the phone ready to help them.  You also won’t lose time and money on the job being on the phone. You can focus your attention on your projects instead of phone calls that may not even be worth your time. A receptionist is good at weeding out promising leads from bogus calls.

You never have to worry about missing a potential customer due to you being busy or taking a break or being on the road. If you’re tight on money, a remote receptionist is more affordable than an in-house receptionist.

If you still need to get your contractor’s license, let us help you!  We make getting your Florida contractor’s license, fast and easy. We are a Florida contractor licensing company. We will do the work for you! We will work with you every step of the way until you are licensed. To get started on the Florida contractor license process, click here or call us at 239-777-1028.

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.

 

Our services offer you convenience. We will take a lot of work and stress of your plate. If this sounds good to you, let us help you run your business like a well-oiled machine. Contact our contractor licensing team by clicking here or calling 239-777-1028 for a personalized quote! We have helped thousands of contractors get their licenses and businesses. We make the process easy and stress free.

 

How to Start Your Own Business As A Contractor

You’ve gotten the experience. You’ve passed the test.  You have fulfilled all the requirements. You applied for a contractor’s license… and you got it! Congrats! But, now what? If you’re a true go-getter and want to start your own business, that is a great idea. But remember, there will be a lot to know, do and get established. You want to make sure your business idea and plan are well-thought out before taking on clients. Starting your own business can be tricky and we wanted to share some tips that can help you get started. Keep these things in mind so you make educated decisions with every move you make.

  • Make yourself aware of legal and tax implications for a business of your type. Learn the difference between a Limited Liability Company, Corporation, Partnership, etc… and decide what you want to be. All your legal and tax decisions will reflect on what type of business you are.
  • Be aware of Florida’s rules and guidelines when it comes to running a contracting business in the state. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is a great resource for you. You need to learn how to register your business and what permits and insurances are needed.
  • Think about resources and overhead you’ll need to run your business. You need tools and software to complete projects, do tax and insurance documents, to pay people, to charge people, to do your accounting, to register. Start making a list of all the things you will need to get the business going and what it is all going to cost you.

Do you research. Do the work. It will pay off. But, we can help you! We may not be able to give you legal advice, but we can tell you everything you need to start a business. In fact, we can help you out quite a bit. We can help you form your business in 2 to 3 days and keep the price low for you. We do the paperwork for you.

 

We are a Florida contracting licensing company and have help many people get their Florida business license. Click here to learn more or call us at 239-777-1028 to get started.