Whose Today’s Guest?
Daniel Banda is a Contractor with a BSc in Quantity Surveying. Other than construction, he also provides project management related services which he has done for more than 10 years.
Benefit of Outsourcing
For most businesses that are starting out, it is most likely that they will not have enough capital to finance the purchasing of all the equipment needed and so turning to outsource becomes a natural progression for most startups. This allows a business to begin creating revenue with the aim of eventually purchasing one’s own personal equipment.
Building Capacity to Benefit from Outsourcing
For one to build capacity on a business model based on outsourcing, there is a need to understand that the equipment that you hire is charged per hour, this literally entails that time is money, and each and every time that the machine or equipment is used it must be put to good use.
You will have to determine how you will use that equipment well in a short period of time to avoid getting in a huge bill. This means you can decide to work over the lunch hour or decide that you will work throughout the night to ensure that the task is done in good time. You do not have to limit yourself to the standard 8-hour working schedule, you will have to avoid delays at all costs.
Ensure that the equipment you hire is functioning well to avoid breakdowns that may ad to delays. You will also need to have the right people to operate these machines, this will help avoid the risk of the equipment being damaged and being slow.
Determining Profitability
As a construction firm, you will need to engage a quantity severer. A quantity severer is a cost engineer, he/she is a professional with expert knowledge in terms of cost. The quantity severer will estimate the cost of every activity on-site before the actual work starts. The Severer will provide you with a document called the bill of quantities. it will be an estimate of how much the project will cost.
We can safely state that it can be considered as a budget for the construction works. One can use the costs on the estimate from the bill of quantities to counter check with what exactly is being spent on the ground hence determining whether or not one is making a profit or a loss on that account.
It is possible to learn how to survey the site, but as we know from the saying cheap is expensive. it is more advisable to begin by engaging a professional to get you around the ropes and learn the traits before you seek to start conducting surveys on your own.
The benefit of Owning your Own Equipment
It is more beneficial for one to own their own equipment as opposed to outsourcing but there is a downside to it though, aspects of maintenance costs and potential theft of the equipment. On the flip side though having your own equipment will help you avoid hiring costs and in fact allow you to generate extra income on the side by hiring out your equipment.
Financing the Equipment
It is not cheap to get equipment for construction but like any other business one will need to save and slow reinvest in the business in order for your business to grow.
Key Insights:
- Do the right thing the first time so that you avoid short cuts.
- Build relations, deliver on your work, and learn all the traits of your field.
- When hiring equipment always remember that time is very essential.
- Identify your potential partners as you build relationships and create a reputation and a good one at that.
“If you want to build a business, don’t focus on how much money you can get, focus on building relationships, improving your skills and your delivery”
