As licensed and certified professionals, contractors are obligated to meet certain established standards to comply with local regulations and laws. Most of these requirements are evident from the beginning and are encountered as common knowledge during the general process of becoming a contractor. However, there are some less obvious educational paths that can provide the additional skills and accreditation needed to legally complete specialized jobs in a safe and efficient manner. More specifically, here are 4 kinds of courses that every new contractor should consider taking:
1. EPA Lead Renovator Certification
The Environmental Protection Agency has established a Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule which requires mandatory training and certification for anyone who is paid to renovate, paint, or repair a house that was built before 1978. You can find online RRP courses through accredited providers like ZOTA Pro. Graduating from this kind of course will give you the ability to work on the renovation of older structures and those which are likely to contain lead or other hazardous building materials.
2. Marketing
It’s important to remember that operating any kind of contracting business is always going to involve client or project solicitation at one point or another. Eventually, you might not need to implement ongoing marketing efforts after you’ve established an initial client base and local reputation. However, as a novice contractor, you could probably benefit from becoming a skilled marketer because the process of finding and appealing to a targeted audience is surprisingly similar in every in sector, whether it be construction or real estate.
3. Project Management
If you’re only a one-person show for now, you may not need any project management expertise to get you through your first projects, However, as you start to take on more complex jobs and manage teams of workers, understanding the fundamentals of project management will come in handy to help keep your workflow organized and optimized. Many project management courses will also equip you with essential leadership skills that will be useful when you’re playing an authoritative role as a team manager or company owner.
4. Business Management
Facilitating the completion of a construction project will typically involve the management of a large, diverse budget. In addition, there are many accounting and administrative duties that will need to be handled on a regular basis if you want to scale the business up into a more profitable endeavor. By completing a course in business management, you’ll have the entrepreneurial skills that will help you keep your company afloat and lucrative with a high level of reliability and professionalism.
Many Other Options to Consider
Aside from the course types mentioned above, there are dozens of other related fields of study that contractors can use to carry out their continued education. Some examples of topics you may want to learn about include search engine optimization, computer-aided design, real estate investment, and economics. By having a broad range of skills that are applicable in your position as a contractor, you can give yourself an edge over the competition in areas that they didn’t even know they should be specializing in.
