Suggestions
- Decide what kind of contractor you will be. Will you contract directly with the government or will you choose to subcontract to project manage or perform one of the trades involved in building government housing? There are few government contracts for framing, for instance. This would be a subcontract, although government standards will still have to be met. Project management and complete projects are often direct contracts. Trades may be contracted directly for repairs on existing structures only.
- Meet contracting requirements. Government housing contracts have certain requirements that companies must position themselves to meet. Insurance is always required for both general liability and workman’s compensation. Certified payroll is always required for every employee on a government job. When the company certifies their payroll they attest that all workers are paid at rates that the government has set by trade and by the location of the job. This is the Davis-Bacon payroll system. Be familiar with it before you get into any government project. Bonds are also required in most cases for direct contracts. Be prepared to show experience when contracting directly with the federal or state government.
- Look for a service that tracks available government contracts. A company that wishes to track all potential government housing projects out there may hire their own employees, but this is impractical since numerous Web companies already track this information. Private services that track all agencies are necessary because the process can get complicated. HUD, which is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, does not build new structures. HUD gives grants to companies, states and counties to build new structures. To track all these sources, a service makes sense.
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