General Contractor Business Plan and SWOT Analysis

General Contractor Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory

The General Contractor Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a General Contractor business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.

Your Business Planning Package will be available for download after your purchase.

Product Specifications (please see images below):

  • Bank/Investor Ready!
  • Complete Industry Research
  • 3 Year Excel Financial Model
  • Business Plan (26 to 30 pages)
  • Loan Amortization and ROI Tools
  • Three SWOT Analysis Templates
  • Easy to Use Instructions
  • All Documents Delivered in Word, Excel, and PDF Format
  • Meets SBA Requirements

General contractors are always in demand among homeowners and property owners in order to make appropriate repairs and improvements to their properties. One of the nice things about owning and operating a general contracting business is that they can be scaled or expanded as the economic climate changes. Many of the workers that are associated with the general contracting business are either part-time employees or independent contractors – as such, they can be hired and hours can be increased as needed. This is one of the reasons that most general contractors are able to remain profitable and cash flow positive in any economic climate. As it relates to the startup costs for these businesses, typically a new contracting business cost anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 to launch operations. The startup costs that are associated with this business may be significantly higher in the event that the general contractor decides that they are going to undertake property rehabilitations as part of their overall business model. In this case, many general contractors will have a real estate backed line of credit on hand so that they may acquire properties with the intent to rehabilitate them for sale to the general public. However, most general contracting businesses focus specifically on providing services directly to the general public. One of the other nice aspects of the general contracting business is at the barriers to entry are considered to be moderately high. In most states and municipalities there is requirement that the general contractor has a certain amount of experience and can act as a master contractor for large-scale projects. Additionally, there are able to generate significant sums of money by hiring subcontractors whose work can be marked up. For many businesses, this can be a substantial profit center.

Given that most general contracting businesses need to acquire tools and vehicles in order to conduct operations, most banks and lenders are willing to provide the necessary capital to start operations provided that the owner is willing to make a 10% to 20% investment into the business. As with any capital raising activity a general contractor business plan going to be required. This business plan should have a three-year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page that showcases figures that are standard within the contracting industry. Beyond the financial model, a in-depth analysis regarding the local market including median home values, median household income, median family income, population size, population density, and the number of owned properties within the market should be examined. Special attention should be paid to the number of homeowners and commercial property owners within the given market so that an understanding of how much work needs to be done any given time can be estimated. It is also important to note that in any market are always a number of independent and moderate sized competing general contracting businesses. As such, it is important to note within the business plan how this a specific business will compete with other contractors within the market. One of the ways that some general contractors maintain a competitive advantage by maintaining a certain specialty that is done in-house such as plumbing or roofing.

Once the business plan is complete it is time to develop the general contractor marketing plan. This document focuses on how the business will reach its potential customers of homeowners, property owners, and property management firms. Foremost, at the onset of operations – many owners of general contracting businesses will reach out to property management firms, both commercial and residential, in order to develop ongoing service contracts for the properties that they manage. This can be one of the quickest ways that a general contracting business can become profitable as these property management firms are required by contract to ensure their properties are maintained properly. Additionally, almost all general contractors will maintain an online presence via a standalone website as well as a presence on popular social media platforms like FaceBook, Google+, and Twitter. As it relates to having a standalone website, a web development firm that has a specialization in search engine optimization should be hired in order to develop this platform. As many people now use the Internet to quickly find local businesses it is very important that a general contracting business appears frequently in search engines results when searches for home improvements or home repairs are completed. As it relates to social media, many people now go online to ask for recommendations for specialized businesses like contractors. As such, maintaining a large presence on social media platforms allows people to quickly find the business once a request for recommendations has been made. Many businesses have never taken to using this form marketing in order to ensure a very high return on investment as it relates to their marketing budgets.

Beyond the marketing plan and business plan, many entrepreneurs develop a general contractor SWOT analysis. This analysis focuses on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are normally faced by these that the companies. As it relates the strengths, a general contractor can easily expand or contract as the housing market changes over time. The barriers to entry are considered moderate and the startup costs are considered to be low. For weaknesses, in any given market there is always a substantial amount of competition going to be faced given that contracting is one of the largest industries within the United States. More than $500 billion a year spent on contracting services and as such the number of individual contractors when any market is significant. For opportunities, one of the best ways that a business like this can expand is by hiring specialty subcontractors that work directly on behalf of the business so that larger and more complex development and repairs can be completed. For threats, there’s really nothing that is going to majorly impact the way that a general contractor operates. As interest rates rise, the demand for new housing starts will concurrently decline – however, people are always going to need to have specialized home repairs and many people cannot do this on their own. As such, operating a general contracting business will always be a lucrative business opportunity for people to have an understanding of contracting and construction.