Cole Burgess

BUS-1010

November 20th, 2018

Term Project – General Contractor (Entrepreneur)

Job Description

The day to day tasks that a general contractor owning a company can go thru may very

greatly. There is however a couple of constants that will need to be taken care of on a daily basis

to be a good GC (general contractor). The daily tasks that a GC is largely responsible for are “all

communication with the clients, and also ensuring that needed materials are always on site,

managing their employees, and also managing the work of sub-contractors who have been hired

to perform various parts of the project” (www.construct-ed.com). So, with all these

responsibilities, it is clear to see that good communication is vital, whether it be with clients,

subs, employees, distributers etc. A necessary aspect of having good communication with these

parties is being very knowledgeable about various process, materials, tools, codes and so on. All

of this construction knowledge and great communication can be obtained by a GC while

fulfilling the requirements for the job.

General Career Path

To become a certified general contractor, one must complete the requirements that take

about as long as earing an associate degree. The first two years are the most physically difficult

part of this career path because you are required to work under a GC for two years with at least

40 hours per week. This means beginning at an entry level position and doing actual hard
construction labor in Utah’s hugely variable climate. Aside from these two awful years of labor

all that is really required to move up is completing a brief class and test that earns you a GC

license. However, one must also look into alternate licenses because “many states require

different contractor licenses for certain types of projects, like high-cost, commercial, residential

or public works contracting and have stringent requirements for contractor licensing”

(https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/contractor/). Although only two years is required for the

license, one should continue to work under people with more experience before attempting to

start a company.

General Education Experience

For the general education aspect of becoming a licensed contractor, all that is really

required is a high school diploma. But it is becoming more and more necessary to have “a

bachelor's degree or at least an associate degree” (www.study.com). It is becoming more

important to posses one of these degrees because there are a fair amount of people trying to join

the field. This gives employers of all types the ability to be more selective in choosing a GC. If

one chose to seek higher education than what is required for a license, then they could consider

an associate or bachelor’s degree in construction management that would make them much more

appealing to potential employers.

Average Salary

The average salary of a GC can vary greatly depending on variables such as what type of

jobs they do, or is they work for a large company or own their own. One can see that the salary

varies because “according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics page the Mean (Average) hourly and

annual figures (for a GC) are $46.88 and $97,510, respectively. These figures are based upon 52
work weeks at 40 hours a week” (Ryan, 2016). For a job with as low of education requirements

as this one, the average of those salaries listed above is not bad at all. Especially when

considering a job that has similar work requirements and not much for education such as a

fireman, who have an average of ~43,000.

Career Outlook

For the most basic of GCs who only has a high school diploma and the basic two year

requirement, the future may not be very optimistic. But for someone who is willing so spend

extra time working under a GC with experience and extra time in school, the future of this career

is much brighter. The odds of obtaining work. with this extra experience both educational and

hands on, are much greater and so is the pay potential. The overall health of the economy also

plays a huge part into the general career outlook of a GC. This is because when the economy is

doing well, people are doing well, and therefore more willing to spend money on renovations

and other home improvement. Since we are no longer in a recession the economy is doing better,

the “construction management jobs were expected to increase by 5% between 2014 and 2024”

(U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.Learn.org). Although this isn’t a huge increase it is still

better than the availability of jobs potentially decreasing in the future.

Bio of Someone in the Profession

As I have mentioned during this class, I currently work for a general contractor who

persuaded me and has grown my interest in the field tremendously. I decided he would be great

person to conduct an interview with. His name is Josh and he is the owner and general contractor

of Norlen Construction. He is 31 years old and employs three other people with his small general

contracting company. The business started in the spring of 2017, and although it hasn’t been
around for very long it is still doing rather well. He claimed that the two most difficult parts of

the job he has as an entrepreneurial GC are, first getting the company off the ground with

funding and a first job, and bidding jobs accurately coupled with keeping the customer happy.

Working for Josh in these early stages of running a small business has given me the opportunity

to learn from him, everything he knew as well as everything he is learning and mistaking whilst

going thru the process. For example, he tried to over expand a little too quickly within the first

year of the company and ended up having to let a couple people go. The rapid expansion, along

with other factors made him unable to manage crews efficiently which meant there wasn’t

enough money coming in to meet the growing payroll needs.

Pros and Cons

Some of the most obvious pros of owning your own company in any labor field are that

you are no longer doing the labor and your schedule is extremely flexible. However, some pros

that are more specific to the construction field are; it’s a growing industry, it has a positive

impact on the community and it “offers the opportunity for specialization in order to compete

more effectively with other businesses” (Rush, 2017). Specialization refers to a company being

able to perform some of the more niche construction services that other companies do not

provide. Along with all these pros, the pay is also not too bad considering that one doesn’t have

to acquire massive debt from school loans to get to this position.

Where there are pros, there must also be cons and some of the ones that come with

owning your own small construction business can be quite daunting. To begin with, the general

safety and health risks that are associated with construction work are a con. Although once

someone has started their own company, they are usually not in dangerous situations it can still

happen. One aspect to be seriously worried about is the potential legal issues that can arise if
something is done unproperly or if a disaster unfurrows. If something were to collapse or if work

wasn’t being done appropriately then these could be reasons for a client to take legal action.

Aside from these cons, the most worrying of all has to be the fear of another recession. As

previously stated, the construction field (especially small business) rely on a healthy economy in

which people are willing to spend money on renovations, upgrades etc. As soon as the economy

begins to go downhill, people are less willing to spend money on “frivolous” things, causing the

industry to take a hit and even putting many small businesses completely out of order.

Your “fit” with this Career

I believe I would fit well into this career path for a couple of reasons. The first being that

I have become more interested in the field and what it has to offer as a potential career path

thanks to working under my current employer. Secondly, I enjoy the work environment that it

has to offer. You don’t get stuck sitting in an office all day or working around boring people that

stare at computers. Which brings me to another point, after working in various industries I have

most enjoyed the company of those who I have met thru construction. All in all, the people that I

have encountered in this field have a much more laid back and humble persona than those in my

former occupations. There are a couple of elements that do make me weary of saying that this is

a good fit for me because I am unsure as to if I want to take the risk on of owning my own

company. According to an article on linked in, the 5 most important qualities of a good general

contractor are; experience, reputation, integrity, flexibility and listening skills (Melchers, 2015).

The first two in that list are things that must be acquired after working in the field for some time,

however the last three are personal traits. I feel as though I am very flexible with things and I

strive for integrity and good listening/communication skills. These aspects, along with the many
pros and things I currently enjoy about the industry, lead me to believe that this would be a good

fit for me.

Sources

 Education Requirements for General Contractor. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2018,

from

https://study.com/articles/General_Contractor_Educational_Requirements_for_a_Contrac

tors_License.html#article

 General Contractor Job Description, Salary, Requirements. (n.d.). Retrieved November

19, 2018, from https://www.construct-ed.com/job-description/general-contractor/

 General Contractor: Job Duties, Career Outlook, and Education Prerequisites. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 19, 2018, from

https://learn.org/articles/General_Contractor_Job_Duties_Career_Outlook_and_Educatio

n_Prerequisites.html

 Josh Cameron. Owner and General Contractor of Norlen Construction (Interview)

 Melchers, G. (2015, January 28). Five Qualities To Look For In General Contractor.

Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-qualities-look-

general-contractor-gene-melchers

 Rush, M. (2017, November 21). The Pros & Cons of Starting a Construction Company.

Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://bizfluent.com/info-8017018-pros-cons-

starting-construction-company.html
 Ryan. (2016, December 16). General Contractor Salary: How Much Can You Make In

All States. Retrieved November 19, 2018, from

https://generalcontractorlicenseguide.com/general-contractor-salary-much-can-make-

states/

 Writers, S. (2014, February 04). Contractor Careers & Programs | How to Become a

Contractor. Retrieved November 19, 2018, from

https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/contractor/