How To Successfully Outsource In Construction

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Construction is an industry that often depends on outsourcing help. A lot of new construction companies can often get outsourcing wrong by outsourcing the wrong types of people. Below are a few tips for outsourcing correctly. 

Work out which tasks you need to outsource

If you take on small projects and have a range of handyman skills, you may find that you’re able to take on most tasks yourself. Alternatively, you may already have employees with a range of skills to rely on. 

If you’re taking on bigger projects or you and your employees only have limited skills, you’ll almost always have to rely on outsourcing. Outsourcing could help provide extra hands or specialist skills that you and your team don’t possess.

Make a list of all the tasks that need handling during the project. Then work out who you need to outsource. With a small project such as a kitchen conversion, you may only need to outsource a couple professionals such as an electrician or someone to supply and remove a skip. For large construction projects, there may be all kinds of roles to consider from crane operators to window installers. Understand exactly what talent you will need and how much this will cost – this is important for charging the right price.

Know when to go general and when to go niche

When it comes to picking the right talent, think about the nature of the project and the quality that is expected. For many low-end projects, you may be able to hire more general contractors. For example, if you’re building a cheap home with some basic floor tiling, you may be able to outsource a general tiler. If the client is more high-end and  wants a more elaborate tiling pattern or specialist material, you may have to pay a little more for a niche tiling company that can handle this complexity and ensure top quality results. 

Similarly, for basic excavation tasks, you may be able to outsource a general excavation company. For more elaborate tasks like drilling a well, you’ll likely want to outsource a company that specialises in water bore drilling. 

Read client reviews

When sourcing contractors who you’ve never used before, always check online reviews to see how reputable they are. If a contractor that you hire does a bad job, it will reflect badly on your company. Contractors with poorer reviews may charge less, but it’s not worth the damage it could cause to your reputation if something goes wrong. This can be achieved online, for instance, if you're looking for a reliable heating treating service company, you can search ‘best metal heat treating near me‘ online to find the top-rated companies in your area for the job.

Always keep your budget in mind

While quality of work is important, you need to stay within budget. Make sure that your estimates are accurate when quoting a price to a  client so that you are able to source all the contractors you need within this budget. Most contractors pay by the hour. You need to minimize delays and make sure that workers aren’t left idle as you’ll still have to pay your  contractors for this time – try to encourage workers to multi-task and plan ahead to avoid delays of things like materials and equipment. 

Think beyond manual labour jobs

It is not just manual labour jobs that are worth outsourcing in construction, but also many admin jobs like accounting. You may also want to outsource marketing services such as SEO services for your construction company so that you’re able to source new clients without having to do too much promotional work yourself.

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