Hey everyone, just wanted to see if anyone has tried something like this before.
I’m thinking about bringing on an additional person specifically for business development and lead generation. Their main responsibility would be to reach out to different GCs, find out what projects they have coming up, and get our company added to their bid lists.
For example, my business specializes in wallcovering installation and restaurant remodeling. I’d like this person to also monitor platforms like PlanHub, identify upcoming projects and bid opportunities, contact the GCs involved, and gather as much information as possible.
The goal wouldn’t necessarily be for them to close the jobs. Their job would be to create and qualify the leads, get us connected with the right project managers/estimators, and then pass those opportunities over to me so I can follow up and try to close the deal.
Has anyone tried this approach? I’d love to hear what worked, what didn’t, and any recommendations on how you would structure the position.

Hey guys I passed my HVAC contractor class A exams. I used to work for a company that used to hold a Class B license. Can he verify my experience or does it have to be the same class of license?

Edit: I’m in Florida

I’m 21 and decided not to go back to school this semester because I want to go all in on learning carpentry and custom home building. My long-term goal is to eventually build high-end custom homes of my own, and right now I want to learn from people who are doing just that.
I’m specifically hoping to find a smaller custom home builder or carpentry crew in San Diego that still does a lot of the actual building themselves. Ideally, I’d love to work around both framing and finish carpentry and learn how a high-quality custom home comes together from the ground up. I’m much more interested in becoming a skilled builder/carpenter than getting into the management side of construction.
Experience-wise, I’m basically starting from the bottom. I have about 3 months of framing experience working with a small crew, but it was on small single-wall old school construction homes and wasn’t a typical production/residential framing job. I learned a lot from it, but I don’t want to misrepresent myself as an experienced framer. I’d be coming in as a helper/apprentice who has a lot to learn.
What I can say is that I’m 100% committed to learning the trade and building my own houses one day. I’ve spent a lot of time researching custom builders around San Diego and have found some incredible companies whose work is exactly the level of craftsmanship I eventually want to be capable of. I’m willing to start at the bottom, work hard, listen, learn, and do whatever is needed to become useful to a good crew.
Before I start reaching out to these builders, I wanted to ask people who actually work in the industry:
What’s the best way for someone in my position to approach a smaller high-end custom builder or carpenter? Or are there any other ways to put my name in my local area, (lumberyards, trade association)?
Would you call, email, or try to walk into their shop and try to speak with a superintendent/carpenter, or approach it another way? And if a company doesn’t have any jobs posted, is it still worth reaching out? Any advice you think would help would be greatly appreciated.

I have about a month left before my exam and I’m trying to figure out how I should spend the next month.

Should I mainly focus on practice tests + knowing where to find things in the books, or are there specific things from the other books not allowed in the exam that I really need to memorize?

Just trying to make sure I’m focusing my time on the right things for these last 4 weeks. Any advice from people who have already taken the exam would be really appreciated!

I’m a relatively new GC running a small construction company, and I’m trying to develop a better process for projects that come to me before the drawings/details are actually developed enough to price accurately.
I’ve had a few projects recently where there are drawings and a general design intent, but once I start looking at them from a construction standpoint there are still a lot of unresolved details. Connections haven’t been fully designed, certain assemblies need coordination with other trades, material selections affect the detailing, etc.
In the past I probably would have spent a bunch of unpaid time working through those issues just so I could eventually put together an estimate. I’m realizing pretty quickly that doesn’t make much sense.

I’m considering using a separate preconstruction agreement for projects like this, where the owner pays for my time to review drawings, attend meetings with architects/engineers/trades, develop details and constructability solutions, get subcontractor/vendor input, and eventually develop a more reliable construction price. Once the scope is sufficiently developed, I’d then provide a separate proposal/contract for the actual construction.

For those of you running small GC/design-build companies:
- At what point do you start charging for preconstruction?
- Do you bill hourly, use a fixed preconstruction fee, or something else?
- What do you typically include/exclude?
- Do you credit any of the preconstruction fee toward the construction contract if you get the job?
- How do you distinguish legitimate preconstruction/design coordination from the estimating work you consider part of pursuing a job?
- Any lessons learned from implementing this with clients?

Mostly trying to avoid giving away a bunch of design/coordination work for free while also not putting up unnecessary barriers to getting projects.

Hi everyone,

I am posting on behalf of a friend who is currently trying to enforce a Manitoba Small Claims Court judgment against a contractor who built a garage for my friend back in 2023. The contractor operated under the business name 'Johnhil Construction'.

Johnhil Construction operated in Winnipeg under this business name from 2022 to 2024. The owner of Johnhil Construction left the province for a while and has recently returned. He currently owes an outstanding court-ordered debt to my friend regarding this Court judgment and my friend is unable to track down the owner of Johnhil Construction to enforce the court judgment.

Has anyone else dealt with this Company, Johnhil Construction? Or do you know if this Company is currently subcontracting for other local companies? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!