How do you start a small construction business in Illinois?

Answer 1

First and foremost, you need to complete a business plan. This will cover any questions you might have need to answer during your start up process; i.e. What is my current market? Who am I going to be competing with? What are my price points and profit margins? What is my budget? And what are my five year goals?

These are only a few of the questions that will be answered during this process, but it is a vital step in starting ANY business. A second benefit you will get from doing this is that if you need to go to the SBA or Small Business Administration:

http://www.sba.gov (see the related link).

for any financial assistance to start up, they will always require that you have a business plan first. This way you will be ahead of the game.

After you have done this, and applied for the proper state licensing that you will need to perform under legal terms of operation, then you will need contracts, forms and templates to use in your estimating and scheduling process. The best site I have found for this is

http://www.constructionofficeonline.com

They offer some free or low cost templates which are great for either small start up construction companies, or for individual field or office use in larger construction companies.

Remember, this business will not pay out right away, so you should have some savings to live on for at least a 3 to 6 month period that will pay the bills until you start to see a profit!

Also see the related link below to start the process in your state. Good Luck with your new adventure!