Your first step toward commercial work

Start with the buyer, not the bid

Choose one type of commercial customer and one service you can deliver consistently. An HOA, property manager, and general contractor may have very different buying processes. Learn who makes the decision, how they invite proposals, and what information they expect.

Get your business ready to deliver

• Describe your service area, capacity, and scope clearly.
• Organize the documents each buyer requests and verify the requirements with the appropriate professional.
• Know who will schedule the work, communicate with the customer, and review the first job.
• Build a follow up process with an owner and a next date for every opportunity.

Learn the commercial workflow

For work based on plans, practice finding the relevant drawings, confirming scale and revisions, measuring quantities, and turning those quantities into an estimate with documented assumptions. For recurring maintenance, use site conditions, task quantities, and service frequencies.

PlanSwift is a takeoff and estimating tool. PlanHub is a platform for discovering construction opportunities and managing bid activity. They solve different parts of the workflow. We can work through a sample opportunity together and choose tools around the work you actually want to pursue.

Choose one next step

You do not need to pursue every commercial opportunity. Start with a defined service and an opportunity that fits your capacity. The goal of training is for you to repeat the process with more independence.

Tool references: https://www.planswift.com/ and https://planhub.com/subcontractors/

Independent consulting and training. Software subscriptions are separate; no vendor certification or affiliation is implied.