A new trade contractor's first jobs: which to take and which to let go
A new drywall contractor has two employees and several possible first jobs. A large apartment package would fill the calendar, while smaller renovation enquiries offer different demands. The decision needs more than a comparison of quoted totals.
Choose early jobs by the work you can actually deliver and the arrangements you can confirm. Check scope, people, cash timing and the customer's working and payment process before committing. A single critical unresolved requirement may be enough to defer or decline a job; passing a simple scorecard does not guarantee completion or payment.
Make a selection card for each offer
- Confirm the work being offered. Record location, scope, quantities, current documents, exclusions and the customer's expected result. Identify missing information before judging whether the job suits your company. A small renovation can carry difficult access or unclear responsibilities, while a larger package may be workable under a different confirmed arrangement.
- Match delivery with actual capacity. Compare the required work with your available people, competence, supervision, equipment and other commitments. Include purchasing and coordination time. Ask what would happen if a key person or delivery became unavailable; hoped-for recruitment and unconfirmed supplier promises should remain visible assumptions rather than counted capacity.
- Map cash timing separately from price. List when wages, purchases, rentals and other job costs would be paid, then compare that with the agreed billing process and possible collection delays. Use your accountant or financial adviser for the business assumptions. A price that appears worthwhile can still require cash you do not have available when the work needs it.
- Check the customer and working arrangements. Confirm the contracting party, review route, invoicing requirements, payment terms and how changes will be handled. For a project run by another contractor, ask for the relevant schedule and coordination expectations. A written term records an agreement; it does not itself prove that cash will arrive exactly when expected.
- Decide how the job fits the business. Consider the work you want to develop, the support it needs and what you could honestly show afterward. Do not accept an unfamiliar package only because it is large or refuse every unfamiliar task without investigating suitable support. Keep this business-fit judgement separate from any essential qualification or safety requirement.
- Resolve the critical gaps before accepting. Mark missing scope, unconfirmed capacity and cash shortfalls explicitly. Seek a revised scope, timing or other acceptable arrangement where useful, then check the whole offer again. Decline or defer if the critical gap remains; choosing a smaller job is useful only if its own requirements are also workable.
Common mistakes
- Using contract value as a measure of available cash.
- Accepting unresolved critical requirements because most boxes pass.
- Assuming smaller jobs need less scope and customer checking.
Checklist
Keep the job-selection card
- Defined scope and missing information.
- People, supervision and other commitments.
- Costs due and billing assumptions.
- Customer, schedule and change arrangements.
- Fit with the intended business.
- Critical gaps, decision and reasons.
Check your understanding
A job passes most of your checks, but the upfront purchases exceed available funds. Should the overall score settle the decision?
Show the answer
Resolve the cash requirement before committing, using appropriate business advice and confirmed arrangements. An unresolved critical gap is not made workable by passing unrelated checks.
