When Should Your Construction Business Outsource?

Construction businesses have long relied on outsourcing. This could include hiring electricians to handle electrical work or hiring a crane operator to help lift parts and materials into place. Outsourcing can often be a lot cheaper and a lot more practical than hiring full-time in-house staff. However, it is possible to take outsourcing too far. Here are a few tips on how to get the best out of outsourcing.

Know the limits of your expertise

Certain construction jobs may require specialist expertise that you may not possess. In these situations, it’s worth outsourcing professionals for these jobs. Unless you’re planning to take on lots of jobs in this niche area, there may be no need to hire an in-house specialist. An example could include laying a shingle roof – there may be no use in hiring an in-house shingle roofing specialist unless you plan on building twenty houses with shingle roofs.

There could also be admin jobs such as accounting and HR that are worth outsourcing. Managed IT services such as XBASE Technologies could also be worth outsourcing for protecting client data. By outsourcing these tasks, you can ensure that they’re done properly, while also allowing you to focus on the core tasks that you’re good at.

Know your budget

While outsourcing can be cheaper than hiring, costs can start to add up if you’re outsourcing lots of different companies for lots of individual jobs. While it may be convenient to outsource a social media marketer or a window installation expert, you may not have the funds if you’re already outsourcing twenty other contractors. This is something to particularly weigh up if you have the skills yourself to carry out the task – there’s no point spending extra to outsource someone for a task that you can do yourself.

Know your deadlines

Extra hands can make lighter work. If you’ve got a tight deadline to work towards, you may find that it’s beneficial to outsource additional contractors to help with certain jobs so that you can focus on delivering your core skills. You may have the talent to carry out tiling yourself – but if you’ve got a lot of tiling to do, you may find that it’s beneficial to outsource a professional tiler to do it for you while you focus on other elements of the build.

Find contractors you can trust

When working with any contractors, you need to be able to trust that they will do the job properly. You may be able to get recommendations from contractors that you already trust. Alternatively, you can spend time doing your online research to find the best company – a professional website, high search engine rankings and positive reviews could all be signs of a credible company.

Always find out whether a company is insured and properly licensed to carry out their work. If a client is contracting you and you subcontract a company that isn’t adequately licensed, you could find yourself getting sued by the client if mistakes are made. This guide at Eden offers a few more tips on finding contractors you can trust.