Contractor Starter Hub
Free courses for new contractors: start the business, price the work, win customers, turn leads into jobs, keep the admin in order and run your first jobs.
Construction Business Plan: From Tradesperson to Business Owner on One Page
Write a construction business plan on one page: what you'll do and won't, your customer, area and capacity, your hourly target, and how you'll get paid.
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How to Start a Construction Business: A Step-by-Step Setup Roadmap
How to start a construction business: what to decide and check first, from business structure and registration to tax IDs, licenses, insurance and pricing.
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Contractor License Requirements: Licenses, Permits, Insurance and Bonds, Explained
Contractor license requirements explained: registration, trade licenses, permits, insurance and bonds, who issues each, and the exact questions to ask.
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Separating Business and Personal Finances: A Money Setup for New Contractors
Separate business and personal finances from day one: the bank account, a receipt routine, owner money in and out, a weekly money hour, and accountant prep.
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How Much Does It Cost to Start a Construction Company? Build Your Launch Budget and Checklist
How much does it cost to start a construction company? Build your startup budget: one-time and monthly costs, a cash cushion, real quotes, a launch checklist.
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Fixed vs. Variable Costs in Contracting: How to Price Accordingly
Fixed vs. variable costs in contracting: list your job costs and overhead, find your overhead per billable hour, and price prep, travel and small jobs right.
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Construction Markup vs Margin: Formulas, Conversion Chart, and Real Job Examples
Markup vs margin for contractors: the formulas, a conversion chart and a worked deck job, so you price jobs that cover overhead and protect your margin.
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How to Price Your First Contracting Job: A Step-by-Step Example
How to price a contracting job: break it into tasks, estimate hours, measure materials, add markup, and write down assumptions, with a full worked example.
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How to Stop Funding Your Clients' Renovations With Your Own Cash
Profitable but always short on cash? Where the remodeling cash gap comes from, six ways to close it, and a 15-minute weekly cash check.
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Construction Job Costing: How to Know Which Jobs Actually Made You Money
Construction job costing for contractors: track labor, materials, subs and direct costs per job, compare estimated vs. actual, and see which jobs made money.
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Choose Your Services and Ideal Customer: Write an Offer People Understand
Score your customer groups, pick two or three lead services and turn them into a one-sentence offer, a homepage headline and your Google profile services.
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Local SEO for Contractors: How to Get Found When Prospects Search
Local SEO for contractors: optimize your Google Business Profile, earn steady reviews, build local pages and clean citations to get found in Maps and search.
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How New Contractors Build Trust Before They Have Many Reviews
Win jobs as a new contractor before you have reviews: proof points you already have, photo permissions, credentials, and review requests that follow the rules.
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How to Get Referrals as a New Contractor: Your Network, Local Partners and Outreach
Get your first contractor jobs through referrals: a ten-person contact list, local businesses that send work, word-for-word outreach messages and follow-up.
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Marketing for Contractors: Your First 30-Day Plan
Marketing for contractors starting out: work out how many inquiries you need, pick two or three channels, follow a 30-day plan and track every lead's source.
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How to Respond to a New Customer Inquiry: Scripts, Questions and Next Steps
Answer every new inquiry the same way: response times to aim for, a phone script, the questions to ask, text and email templates, and how to book the visit.
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Site Visit Checklist for Contractors: Qualify the Job and Measure Once
A site visit checklist for contractors: what to confirm before you go, what to measure and photograph, questions to ask on site, red flags and trade add-ons.
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How to Build a Construction Estimate That Wins Jobs and Protects Your Profit + Free Template
What a construction estimate needs: scope, line items, exclusions, assumptions, schedule, payment terms and sign-off, with a sample and a free template.
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Why Your Estimates Get Ghosted (and the Follow-Up Sequence That Wins Them Back)
Why homeowners go quiet after an estimate, and a day-by-day follow-up sequence with call, text, and email templates that wins more jobs back.
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The Job Handoff Checklist: From Estimate Approval to Crew Dispatch
A job handoff checklist for contractors: confirm scope, materials, customer selections, access details and crew needs before dispatch to avoid costly delays.
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How to Organize Your Contractor Business Documents: Folders, Names and What to Keep
Organize your contractor business documents: one folder structure, a file naming rule, what to keep and for how long, a 15-minute weekly routine and backups.
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Bookkeeping for Contractors: A Simple System and How to Work With an Accountant
Bookkeeping for contractors: categories for a trade business, a weekly and monthly routine, money set aside for taxes, and working with an accountant.
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Get Paid Faster and Keep Your Projects on Track + Free Template
What a contractor invoice template should include: header, job reference, payment terms and legal notes, plus a free Google Sheets template to get paid faster.
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Contractor Taxes, Deadlines and Renewals: A Calendar for Your First Year
Contractor taxes and deadlines in one calendar: federal estimated tax and 1099 dates, license and insurance renewals, and a year-end list for your accountant.
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Weekly Admin Checklist for Contractors: A Routine That Fits in Two Hours
A weekly admin checklist for contractors: a 15-minute daily wrap-up, a two-hour weekly block for leads, money and scheduling, and monthly and quarterly checks.
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Job Preparation Checklist: Plan the Job Before You Arrive
A job preparation checklist for contractors: a one-page job sheet, materials and tools lists, permits and access, the customer message and a day-before check.
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How Contractors Set Customer Expectations: Scheduling, Arrival Windows and Updates
Set customer expectations from the first visit: realistic schedules with buffer, arrival windows, what the customer needs to do, update messages and delays.
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Time Tracking for Construction Crews: How to Log Hours Per Job Without Paper Timesheets or Buddy Punching
Log crew hours by job with GPS instead of paper timesheets. Where labor leaks, how to stop buddy punching, federal travel-time rules, and an app checklist.
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What Is a Change Order and Why Is It Important?
A change order is a signed amendment to your contract. Learn when you need one, how to price it, and copy a free change order template for remodeling jobs.
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The Contractor's Punch List: How to Close Out a Job Without Losing Money on It
What belongs on a contractor punch list, how to run the final walkthrough, a simple template and closeout checklist to finish jobs and collect final payment.
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Contractors Advisory
Advice for contractors who run crews: pricing, cash flow, job costing, proposals, office-to-field coordination, and the signs a business is ready to…
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Featured articles from the MotionOps blog: scheduling crews across multi-day jobs, markup vs. margin, managing subcontractors, and client…
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Step-by-step guides for contractors: close out jobs with a punch list, track labor and materials, build proposals, bill by progress, and manage crews.
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Software
Software guides for contractors: how to choose field service, scheduling, dispatch, estimating and job costing tools, and when spreadsheets stop…
Browse softwareThe Monthly Contractor Roundup
A monthly catch-up on the news that matters to contractors, starting with the September roundup: what U.S. contractors should know heading into fall.
Browse the monthly contractor roundupUseful Tips
Useful tips for running a contracting business: job costing, markup vs. margin, work orders, punch lists, crew handoffs, and keeping clients informed.
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Pricing, crews, cash flow and the software questions contractors ask us every week. No spam, unsubscribe in one click.
Budget vs. Actual: Compare Estimated and Actual Job Costs, Line by Line
Construction Company Org Chart: Which Role to Hire Next
Construction Sales Process: A Pipeline Your Team Runs Without You
Construction Workflow: Map One Job From Request to Final PaymentRead less about it.
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