How to Make Money as a General Contractor?

36,310 general contractors are operating in the United States in different industries like construction, manufacturing, etc.

The increasing number has created immense competition amongst the general contractors, and it’s becoming difficult for businesses to earn decent profits and ensure long-term sustainability.

But by following different methods and strategies, you can earn great profits that can help increase your business scale and accomplish new heights.

Let’s understand how to make money as a general contractor.

5 Methods to Make Money as a General Contractor

1. Improve your bidding process

Being a general contractor; you might have encountered different situations where you need to bid for jobs and get more contracting work.

You must improve your bidding process and remove the scenarios from being rejected by your prospects. Bidding too high can minimize the chances of selection, and reducing your bidding price can shrink your profits.

So, how to find the sweet spot and ensure that you run a profitable business and acquire the desired project?

First, you must filter or skip the projects that you are not interested in or that fall outside your expertise to ensure that you channel your energy, time, and effort in the right direction.

Qualifying the project can help you set a solid foundation and cater to the right contractor projects to scale your business.

Secondly, you must understand the industry, research competitors, and set the ideal pricing for your contractor job. 

Analyze your service job costs, legal fees, labor costs, and other business segments that cost money to bid at a profitable, competitive price.

It can help you bid at the right price, maintain a decent profit range, and bid at highly competitive pricing. 

You must also tell the clients why you stand out if your bidding price isn’t the lowest. Educate the client about your services that others can’t offer and focus on matching the specification list.

For example, if you are running a construction business, you can educate your clients about your USPs, which can help you add more value to the client and help you outshine other construction companies. 

2. Utilize your resources

Your resources are your biggest assets that can help you increase your business profits and scale your overall business operations. You must ensure that you utilize your crew, materials, equipment, technologies, and other vital resources at maximum potential.

Treat your workforce better to help them increase their productivity and help you optimize your business productivity. Integrate skill development training, collaborative programs, and other initiatives to create a happy work environment within your business organization.

Being a licensed contractor, you should also focus on avoiding over time, which can increase your operational expenses and minimize the output of your workforce. 

Ensure that all the tools, vehicles, and other vital physical resources are regularly maintained and repaired to help you increase their life span and ensure that your employees get the best output from your business resources.

Motive and assist your workforce and witness the rise in your business numbers that can help you scale and achieve your desired business goals.

3. Calculate the overall output of resources

You can choose to spend on high-quality tools and products that can help you stand out and ensure that you can scale your business operations.

Many contractors might find it counterintuitive to spend a high cost on specific service tools and resources and focus on inexpensive ones.

But you must consider the lifetime cost of the products and the resources you invest in. Cheaper equipment and other resources need quick replacements that can add to the overall cost and increase your operational expenses.

It can get time-consuming and require more effort to replace a cheaper product or resource now and then, which can hinder your business productivity and efficiency.

Consider the long-term cost and output of the tools and ensure that you evaluate multiple factors before investing in your business resources. Don’t focus on cost-cutting from the get-go and end up increasing the overall cost and hassles for your business workflow.

A quality professional tool or service equipment can deliver better results during the service job and ensure that your employees are happy with the work ecosystem provided to them to deliver quality results to your customers.

Before making the decision, estimate the overall cost and ensure that you get decent discounts on good products from the distributor or manufacturer.

You should also provide your clients with the best quality products to ensure that you deliver an excellent customer experience and increase the chances of repeat service requests.

You can calculate effective service pricing in the construction industry based on the overall output and the cost of your business operations. 

You can run a successful contracting business if you maintain a decent cash flow and ensure you charge the right price to increase your profit margin.

4. Quality business model

Another effective money-making aspect for your general contractor business is strengthening your business model. 

Running a construction company or different service businesses requires strong fundamentals that can help you sustain yourself in the long run and ensure that you stand out from others.

You must set your business goals, mission, vision, rules and regulations, and other important business fundamentals that help you operate by the rule book and ensure that you can scale your business operations to new heights.

Set the basis for client onboarding, material procurement, marketing implementation, financial management, hiring, and operation processing.

Following the set path and optimizing the business model with the changing business times and consumer behavior can help you reduce costs, save money, and ensure that your construction workers are happy working with your business.

Different construction firms and other general contractors neglect the importance of a professional business model and then run out of business because of the dominance of strong general contracting businesses.

Ensure that you can create a well-thought general contractor business plan to help you increase your business profits, deliver quality results to the clients, and stand out.

5. Effective marketing

Marketing is significant in ensuring you can make money as a general contractor by connecting your ideal prospect with finesse. You can use different marketing strategies ideal for general contractors to help you outshine other businesses and establish a stronghold in the industry.

Careful planning can help you make the most of the opportunities available for general contractors in the industry and streamline your success journey.

You can professionally communicate with your target audience from offline to online marketing channels to help you achieve your desired business goals.

Analyze the industry and your competitors’ strategies that can help head start with your marketing efforts and ensure that you don’t overspend your marketing dollars.

With the popularity of mobile phones, social media, and the internet, you can leverage these online marketing digital assets for your business to convert your leads into long-term customers and boost your business growth.

Use different professional tools and technologies to help streamline your marketing efforts, keep track of marketing data, and implement different marketing strategies with finesse.

You can also outsource your marketing efforts to professionals and shift your focus and resources towards your core business operations to boost your service business quality.

Once you promote your contractor business, onboard new clients, and deliver quality services to them, you can run a long-term profitable business.

But what are the average profits that a general contractor makes? And how can you reach these numbers?

Have a look.

How Much Does a General Contractor Make?

General contractors are amongst the highest earners compared to other contracting businesses. The average income of a general contractor is estimated at around $44,000.

With the rising experience in the industry, the income scale of the general contractor can increase, and you can grow your business operations by increasing your clientele and finding ways to generate passive income.

The established general contractors can earn up to 70,000 to $95,000+. These numbers can skyrocket if you can market your general contracting business with finesse and deliver a consistent quality customer experience to your clients.

The annual income of the general contractors is estimated by deducting different expenses like general liability insurance, salaries, and business operational expenses.

You can achieve these numbers and climb higher once you maintain consistency and focus on outshining your competitors in different business areas and aspects.

But once you scale your business and increase your clientele, it can be overwhelming for you to manage and deliver similar premium quality service to your clients. You must integrate a professional service business management software that can help bypass increased service requests and workforce management complexities.

But the field service management software industry is rising at a CAGR of 11.9% by 2026; you might find it hard to filter out the best for your general contracting business that can handle your unique business requirements.

Don’t worry. Our team has done the hard work and tailored a professional software that stands out from other leading field service software and can deliver the desired results to amplify your service business and boost your profits.

FieldCamp Can Help You Streamline Your Service Business

FieldCamp can help you maximize your profits as a general contractor because you can streamline your business operations and get centralized business control.

You can get quick access to real-time data that can help you enhance your business efficiency and boost overall revenue and profits.

The quality delivery service can increase the overall customer experience and ensure that you can attract more new customers with the help of positive word-of-mouth marketing.

Within a few clicks, you can dispatch your service team to the desired locations and set their day’s schedule based on the service requests. 

The general contractor software is ideal for different contracting businesses like HVAC, plumbing, construction, etc., enabling you to outclass other competitors and strengthen your industry impact.

As a leading scheduling software, it offers an intuitive interface that allows the team to adapt to the new field management and integrate and generate quick invoices for your clients.

Try out the free 7-day trial and maximize your general contractor business profits.