How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

If you ever thought about making lot’s of money working from home or an office, this site is a must read from cover to cover. No matter what you do for a living, this site will change your life, as the author explain how he went from an under educated janitor, to owning his own successful business. It will open your eyes when it comes to making more money, maybe even millions, no matter your background. As you share and tell your friends and colleagues to buy there copy of this site, you will begin to see and understand how the rich became richer from the contacts within there own circles. Telling them that there is plenty of money to go around in these tested systems, they will grow with you, for you, and help you, in this tough economy. Greed is not good for any of us, remember to survive you only need four things, food, air, water and most of all love. These things are all somewhat free; everything else is what you want out of life.

America has a lot of work to do. She needs all Americans to get involved day in and day out as we educate ourselves and help our officials, move this country forward every four years. In time we will change the world.

Some of our infrastructure, schools, government and private buildings need all types of highly paid repairs, to professional cleaning services, just to name a few items or types of work needed for many years to come.

With that said, it’s time for you to make dirty millions the clean way. Throughout this site I’ll give you valuable tricks of the trade, information it took me a lifetime to learn, and that you’ll need to know if you want to be successful working for someone or starting your own easy to start business. I’m sharing my story of success with you to help you fulfill your dream of being a business owner. I know you’ll be surprised at how much money there is to make in the self-owned building, contracting, repairs and cleaning business. So use this site as your guide to start your own small, medium, or large business. I only wish I’d known this

Information I’m going to share with you when I was at the beginning stages of my business. I’d have climbed the ladder much faster. Today is just the beginning of a new life for you. Now, get ready to make yourself some dirty millions the clean way!

Introduction | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Introduction

When reading this site in detail, you will find that it is designed and set up for everyone who’s not afraid of a little challenge. It will really help the under educated business orientated individuals, with at least a third grade education level up to a college degree, grow with ease. This site will also show you that you have a creative brain that is designed and works just like the brain of every millionaire who has ever lived. Ask any doctor or scientist whether this is true, and they will answer you back with the question, “Who taught the very first teacher, businessman, doctor, contractor, professor, and so on?” Some regular person like you had to figure it out. That being said, most of the contractors and building cleaners I am trying to reach have a high school diploma, yet they did not have any good business education. I was just like this when I first started out in the cleaning business. Going from a building cleaner to building cleaning contractor with very little education, it was extremely hard.

Getting Started | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Getting Started

I have found that people who are successful owners of cleaning businesses seem to have a secret little society. Most of the rich and successful business people in the cleaning business have been reluctant to sit down with me or others and disclose details about the basis for their success. I believe they know that they have a good cleaning fortune established and are reluctant to share the secrets of their financial success. So, I had to learn the cleaning business the hard way. Personally, I just can’t keep quiet when so many people need help. No one helped me, so I know how hard it can be getting started without any help. I am writing this site because I believe there is enough money in the cleaning business to go around for all of us, so I don’t need to hide anything I have learned. There are some simple but effective ways of starting your contractor or cleaning business. In this chapter I will talk about handling finances, start up money, how to begin finding jobs, and advertising.

Learning as Much as You Can to Increase Your Income | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Learning as Much as You Can to Increase Your Income

You are already on your way to increasing your income; it started the moment you began reading, researching and taking action with this how -to book, but we still have a long way to go. Knowledge is the key to all of the building cleaning and contract repair service success stories. In this book, I am sharing just a small amount of information that took me half a lifetime to learn.

I’m hoping that this first book of information will open up your mind the same way good food makes you open your mouth. You take in more and more food until you are full. When you are full, you stop eating, but later, you become hungry once again and look for more food to eat, in this case more knowledge to learn. Too much information at this time would be a little overwhelming, like eating too much food makes you uncomfortable. It was certainly like that for me in the beginning when I was trying to learn it all, everything, all at the same time. I stayed hungry for new business information, but it would have been less overwhelming if I had slowed down once in awhile to think about what I was learning.

Legalities | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Legalities

The first thing I recommend you do is check the legal requirements for starting a business in your state and community. You must find out what steps need to be taken to legally start a contractor or a cleaning business. Find out what the taxes are like, what forms you need to fill out, and what the business politics are like in your area.

Business Bank Accounts | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Business Bank Accounts

You are an entrepreneur, and opening a business bank account is one of the first things that you should do when starting a business, certainly before you receive your first contract or pay your first business bill. In order to cash or deposit a business check, you must have a business checking account with all of the legal and tax identifications or numbers, your business name, and all your company information attached to it. You will receive business checks you can use to pay taxes, employees, and bills.

Investors | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Investors

There are many domain-specific ways to define investor, but for our small building service business, a good definition is that an investor is any party (individual or company) who makes an investment, usually by contributing money, and receives a return on this investment. The term “investor” implies that a party purchases and holds assets with the hope of achieving capital gains, not just as a profession, but also for short- and long-term income. Getting an investor who will be interested in your day-to-day start-up building service business could be difficult unless the investor is someone you know on a personal basis. Unless you can show that you make regular, large profits or own some large assets, it will be difficult to find an investor or investment company to help you expand, buy another successful cleaning business, or borrow capital. Few investors will be interested, unless they think that they will be able to get there money back and earn lots of money quickly by investing in your company. On the other hand, remember that there are just as many investors out there looking for good companies and people to invest in as there are people looking for money to borrow. While you need them, they also need you, so don’t give up.

Cleaning Equipment | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Cleaning Equipment

Starting out on your own, you really need only a push broom, two regular brooms, a couple of large mops, small dust mops, buckets, water pails, sponges, spray window cleaner, scouring cleanser, (Ajax) gloves, some cleaning rags, a toilet cleaning brush, a floor dustpan, a wet dry vacuum, a hand-held vacuum, furniture polish, and some all -purpose cleaners, depending on your first job it may be less items then this. Regular dishwashing liquid like Dawn is good enough to cut through light grease and dirt on most surfaces. You will also need a few trash bags, can liners, floor wax, and feather dusters. Remember that in a lot of cities and small towns, you have dollar stores and discount chain stores where, at little cost, you can get a lot of cleaning supplies and small equipment to help you get started.

Tips on Cleaning | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Tips on Cleaning

Cleaning High Traffic Areas

The most obvious interest areas are high traffic areas such as entrances and exits, glass lobby doors, and areas used by the public. High traffic areas must be cleaned very thoroughly. Make sure that all vestibules and lobby areas receive the best of care daily, because the first thing an owner, property manager, or visitor will see is the entrance windows, glass doors, lobby, and rest rooms in these areas. In fact, these are the first areas that anyone going into a building will encounter. Property managers know this. These areas create the visitor’s first impression of the whole building and the businesses in the building. The appearance and cleanliness of these areas should be a main focus for those cleaning the building, so they leave a good first impression on anyone who enters. This impression should continue throughout the entire building. You always want to leave the building looking clean and smelling fresh after each cleaning.

Recruiting Clients | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Recruiting Clients

Cold Calling to Recruit Clients

One sure thing about cold calling potential clients is that there will be some obstacles to overcome. This is a natural thing, so try not to be discouraged by it. Be persistent without being obnoxious as you make your cold calls. Try to get one piece of helpful information from the person who usually answers the phones at the places you call. You may get about sixty seconds to talk when it comes to cold sales calls, so be prepared to deliver information about your business and get as much information as you can in this short period of time. As you make repeated calls to a company, you will get to know the person who is always answering the phones, and then you will get a little more time. It will be easier to get information from this person if you remember personal information about him or her. The most useful information you could get from a cold call is the name and direct phone number of the person who makes decisions about the kind of service contracts you want to bid on. You might want to ask for a construction or project manager if the site is still under construction or an officer in charge of contracts for a government building or complex to be discussed in more detail later. Before calling, always try to get a referral, the name of a person who is working with the decision maker, from someone who may know these top people on a personal or business level. A little piece of information is a better starting place than nothing. You must write down everything you learn about the person you need to be in contact with. This lead information and the right person may get you another job, even if you don’t get the one you are calling about. Most managers work together and know other property managers on a business and personal level. This means any lead could send you your next opportunity, if a need for your service comes up and your contact mentions your name to someone else. To make sure your cold calls lead to more contacts, you need to prepare carefully before you begin making your calls.

Standard Daily Procedures | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Standard Daily Procedures

Standard Daily Procedures (or SDP) are key elements in a comprehensive business program. They are the fundamental expectations you have of each employee on each job. You should have some of these procedures together when you start your building cleaning business, and use them when you bid. SDPs should be outlined in a step-by-step manner, explaining how various tasks or duties should be performed. Having an SDP setting out what you expect, from whom, and when, will help you set up bids and be sure you are covering all your costs. A bid should include labor, time, money and supplies needed for the job. Your SDP will help you calculate your costs for supplies, labor, and time needed to complete a job. The key is to keep things simple, up- to-date, and accurate. A new employee should be able to read the SDP and do an acceptable job with little guidance. A supervisor should also be able to make a decision about a bid and any cost with ease if you are not around to give your bid input.

Travel | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Travel

Try to stay local with your cleaning business in the beginning. A three-state (“tri-state”) area is a good idea for starting out. I say a three-state maximum because you do not want to put too much of a strain on your new company. I would also suggest that you stay out of town as little as possible in the beginning, so you do not acquire too many travel costs such as gas, food, and hotel/lodging. When employees stay out of town, you will be required to pay for their lodging, some of their travel time, and a food and gas allowance. This would be all right for a one-time cleaning project that is paying you $12,500, for a 50,000 square foot building at twenty-four cents per square foot, for example. You could take a small crew of people, equipment, and supplies in the work van, complete the job in four or five days, and receive your payment for this cleaning service soon after you get back to your home office. You would also know that after seeing what a good, quick job you did, that company will use your cleaning service again. Since big companies have jobs in many locations, the next job could be in your home area. If you decide to drive to this job on a daily basis, it can be stressful and costly, leaving you with very tired employees, reducing safety on the job and on the road. It also will make everyone’s day a lot longer.

Customer Service | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Customer Service

Clients do not want to worry about whether their job is being handled correctly; the only thing clients want to do is pay you each month and renew your contract for doing a good job, so they don’t have to worry or start over with a new contractor. As a cleaning contractor, you should be relieving the building owner or property manager, not only of cleaning their building, but also of thinking about cleaning it day in and day out. This lets them focus on running their business. Again, the customer should never have to call you to tell you how to do in detail your contracted cleaning job. They should never have to say, “the trash in the bathroom was never emptied,” “toilet tissue was not stocked,” “floors were not mopped,” “cleaning equipment was not put in the storage area after last night’s cleaning,” “front-door glass was not cleaned,” or any such thing. These are things that the customer never wants, nor should have, to call you about; you and your staff are supposed to be the cleaning professional who takes care of all these things without any day to day reminders.

Bidding and Cleaning Records | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Bidding and Cleaning Records

Every quarter, check with your accountant and go over all of the money making or losing details of each daily, weekly, and monthly task you did during the past three months. You want to see if you are making money and are within the budget you used to develop your bid for each job. Staying on budget will keep you in good standing with your building property manager, staff, accountant, and, most of all, your banker. You also want to use this information to keep from spending too much money on each specific task.

Make a chart listing all jobs that should be done in each building and how often each should be done, based on your contract. Hang the chart in your storage closet. It should be filled in every time a large task is completed during that, day/week/month/quarter. If you have a record of completed tasks on this sheet, it will really help you down the road. For example, your records will help settle questions on a walk-through inspection by the owner or building manager or if anyone has a question about any part of your cleaning service. Keeping track of these details will also help you know how much you are spending on each task, which will help you spend as little money as possible, while still doing an excellent job doing what you contracted to do.

Pricing and Making Bid Estimates For Contracts | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Pricing and Making Bid Estimates For Contracts

We are finally at the part I know you have been waiting for. When pricing a job, it’s best to physically stop by and see the job site or building that you are offering cleaning service to later perform. However, I will show you how to bid on jobs without seeing them or leaving your office until it is time to go out and do the building cleaning or a little construction work. In the Construction Data Company (CDC) newspaper, you will find that, before the project even starts, the owner or architect has usually posted estimates for the projects that you are interested in bidding on. The pre-amounts they plan to spend on each of these projects are listed there to help things get started even before you do your own research or review blue prints and specifications. This is a big help for you. For example, as I take a quick glance at just one of these semiweekly construction newspapers full of information, I see about five hundred different projects that are coming up for bid very soon, are already accepting bids, or will be accepting bids in the near future. A sample entry might read, Project: “Penn Valley Office Building, Location: 1200 North Lincoln Road, Vacaville, California, Estimated Value: $20,000,000 to $25,000,000, Bid Type: Owner/Architect Subcontract to General Contractor, Update: All General Building Subcontractors Bids Due July 2009 to select, Architect: Johnsons Associates & Architects Inc., Structure Engineer: Allen Engineering LTD, Size: 90,000 Square Feet, Details: 1 story technical office building. Owner: Christopher & Brooks Inc., Contact: Bob Davis, Owner Reprehensive for General information, [with his phone and fax number].” You will also find past bid results in the CDC publications with up dates of who the successful bidders are. This information will let you know in detail of who the low bidders are and, for example, who also is the general contractor for the control of the construction phase of this above new building project. Also, their names, phone numbers, fax numbers, and addresses can be a big help to you. Send your bids and flyers in to this successful bidding general contractor who is the low in charge bidder, if you want to be a subcontract for your services such as a building cleaning, painting, electrical, dry wall, roofing, flooring, plumbing, carpet insulation, windows, doors, carpentry, and lumber, or any other type of specialty contractor. You should always send in all of your bids as soon as you can, before or after the first bidding dates (July 2009, in the example above). The general contractor will be paid most of the money because he has been contracted to do the job and he will hire or subcontract parts of the job to other, often smaller, specialty businesses contractors. For example, if the general contractor wins the bid to build the building for $ 20,000,000 to $ 25,000,000, his company will build the new building from the start plans to finish. As an owner/architect of the building project, the general contractor will be hired by the architect, who will approve the general contractor’s work as by plans, and make sure that the project is finished on time and on budget. The architect will put all the money in escrow accounts for the general contractor as well as to pay himself and to spend as he see fit each month, dispersing and controlling the owners millions until the project is finished. Again, most of the money will go to the general contractor, who will hire subcontractors like us to do the building cleaning, carpentry, plumbing, and so on, if we are the low bidders for him or if we present the most attractive trade bid proposal. No matter what your trade, you should mail or fax your bids to the one successful construction companies or general contractors, developers, construction managers, builder, who may use any of these different titles but they are all still general contractor just the same, who will soon be putting up this new building. Remember that there are thousands of these types of bids that are ready for you to work with or look over each month in CDC publications.

You can also become the big general contractor, owner, or developer if you decide to buy some property, contact an architect and let him put a set of plans together for you, so you can put up a building you are interested in owning. Get the plans approved by the city planning commission, and then take them to all different types of financial institutions in your area to find the funding you need to put up your new building. Often you will hear about people getting rich in real estate. In this book, you will learn just how some of these real estate millionaires got so rich and are getting even richer by researching how to put up, own buildings and providing good service, will make you rich as well. If you do your homework, stay creative, work hard, and most of all take action, you can do the same thing. Please note that you will always have to do a little more research to do this, but that’s why I’m trying to give you some new ideas about how things work, to make more of the dirty millions you desire, the clean building contractor’s way. I will talk about many of these ideas in more detail in my next book.

Placing Bids on Public or Government Cleaning Projects | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Placing Bids on Public or Government Cleaning Projects

This is a very important tip that can save you a lot of time and make you a lot of money: government and most public agencies are obligated to let the public (including contractors or bidders) know how they are spending the tax dollars they receive. This means they will give you the name of the current building cleaning contractor and the price being paid for the job you are interested in, if you request this information. Yearly or monthly bid price information, as well as current and sometimes past contract information, is all at your disposal before you place your own government bid. All you have to do is call, fax or send a short letter asking about the building, giving name, address, ask for any bid information they have on file. Sometimes you will get your answer the same day over the phone. If not, in a few days you will get a return phone call, fax, or letter in the mail with the current cleaning company’s name, address, phone number and, most importantly, the current bid price on the job you are interested in. I am telling you this to make you interested in some of the public/government work that is out there, because most construction and daily building cleaning contractors just do not know much about this source of work. This information will gain you entrance into many government doors and this will help you make some more of your dirty millions the clean way fast!

Construction Contracts | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Construction Contracts 

For every large city all around America, there is a Construction Data Company (CDC) publication or newspaper full of construction building information that is updated each week. Many cover three or more states in your area for one price. Even the suburbs are covered, with a lot of updated, all-new, construction-related information. For example, there is the CDC New York Construction News, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the CDC Chicago Construction News, and the CDC Los Angeles Construction News and so on. These are useful resources, available for a small yearly charge, which will help you bid on all types of construction and building cleaning contracts for new construction buildings. You can go online and order six-month to one-year subscriptions to a CDC construction news publication to help you start your construction or building cleaning adventure. You might even like to use the online CDC data information system to obtain construction news at www.cdcnews.com. At this site, you can submit some of your bids online and construction information on line, after you sign up. Final construction cleaning, rough cleaning, and labor cleaning opportunities can all be found in the CDC publications. Each newspaper twice weekly, will list several hundred new building projects and will update the previous week’s issue. It will provide the square footage of the building, the general contractor or a construction company contact name to which you can send your cleaning bid or get other information. The construction company name could be listed under builder, developer, general contractor, construction manager, or owner, as we discussed this earlier. Read over all of the information in these newspapers, and then go online if you need free help from the CDC help service center or more details.

Government Contracts | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Government Contracts

Government contracts are a great avenue for a small new business to follow to become a big business because there are billions of dollars being spent annually on government jobs all across the country. If you are interested, you can even get government contracts outside the country. Government contracts are a very good thing for a small business to work on because almost all government bid information is open to the public. It is essential to know how to get this bid information, and how to use it so it works for you and your business. Getting some of your building service contracts from the U.S. government can change your business and personal life fast. I’m going to tell you how to make contact with all the government contracting officers, get to know what they do, and what they need from you. This will provide the groundwork you need to make bids on government building service projects.

Watching the Industry | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Watching the Industry

Stay on top of things, experiment monthly, go to seminars, and find out where new developments are being erected, and check out the latest in supplies and equipment pricing, study and learn from the internet. Check with your competitors, ask them questions, and feel free to answer any question they may ask you. I say again, there is enough work for all of us to make plenty of money, so talk to others, get help from them, and help others each day. Remember, information is easier to obtain these days and this will help you reduce your business fears. Using twenty-four-hour business and news channels, radio talk shows, libraries, the internet, and this book, along with our business newspapers and books like the Commerce Business Daily, Construction Blue Book, The Government Phone Book USA, CDC news, and Headquarters USA, to name a few, you can really keep up to date fairly easily.

Cleaning and Employment Opportunities | How to Start/Run a Successful Commercial RealEstate/Construction Business

Cleaning and Employment Opportunities

Every now and then you may need to run an ad in your daily or local newspaper to find new employees. Have applicants fax or e-mail their resumes in for your review. Next, make sure you complete a phone screening before bringing anyone in for an interview. When talking to an applicant on the phone, you might find out that the person is not a perfect fit for the opening you have. However, you should save all resumes and applications for one or two years. You may need to hire quickly, or a building manager might call you with a large job you had bid on some months ago and forgotten about. This would mean that your company needs some additional staff, fast. You may also have to replace an employee who leaves without telling you two weeks beforehand. This is just part of what happens in the cleaning service business we are in. You will also have employee turnover as you gain new contracts and lose old ones. Sometimes, with small contracts, you can bring in a “mom- and-pop” team to do the job. I find that they make good cleaning teams for small, long-term contracts. However, you have to be careful about hiring too many members of the same family, or the friends of your regular employees. Again, try not to put friends or family on the same job site. Too often they bring personal issues to work and, this may make your business look unprofessional, so try to hire new good hard working employee.