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MBE for Construction Management Firm Start up ??

Hello all,

I am currently starting a GC/CM firm with two friends of mine. We are all a couple years shy of 30. I grew up in a construction family with my dad owning a successful GC. His company is SBA certified (<$36mm annual volume). I have worked in construction pretty much all of my life (from general laborer for commercial to working heavy highway in the union for two years) and ended up getting my degree from an ACCE accredited university. I interned for 2 years at a large subcontractor (~$100mm annual volume), post grad I have worked at one large CM firm (>$11b annual volume) and one medium size firm (~$300mm annual volume). I was always more interested in the business aspect of industry and have studied it hard. I have worked relentlessly in trying to gain knowledge of what works at the large firms, what works in the medium firms and what works at a small firm. I know that what may work at a large GC may ruin a small GC and vise versa. So, we are going to tailor our operation to what works for us and trim the rest of the fat. Labor projections, estimating, forecasting GC/GRs, scopes, contracts, PCO's, CO's, sales and costumer relations, scheduling, contracts, etc have all been my interest for the last 4 years.

My partners are related to each other and their dad is a pretty well off developer. Buddy "A" was at the point where he realized he was doing so much construction for his dads company that it only made sense for him to start an operation by running work for others. My white/blue collar construction industry skillset and connections, mixed with their construction knowledge, bonding/insurance connections, the developer backlog (roughly $4ish million dollars for 2019) and the drive we all have seems like a good shot to jumpstart this thing. A big advantage is that partner "B" is a lawyer who decided she didn't like the corporate life. We all have pretty good interpersonal skills and are looking to build something steady and successful. Luckily their dad is on board for helping us start our business by making a profit on his jobs as if we were the CM (not at risk). It will be a great opportunity by giving us some time to figure out what standards and procedures we will want to implement when it comes to cost control, scheduling, document control, estimating, contract verbiage, scopes, etc.

So basically you are reading it right. We are going to try our hardest to mold a successful construction company. I grew up watching my father run his business and have always aspired to chase that dream. Both post grad companies I have worked for staff their projects as if it each team were their own company. I never got why people would put in 60-80 hours a week with unbearable clients, low percentages, limit pay to a salary, the job owning their life due to the project load and they dont even own a piece of the pie. (I understand why people would want/need a secure salary job; it just doesnt make sense in my head to do so)

We already are discussing a few outside jobs with other developer friends of my partners family; not including the above backlog. I know that it is going to be a risky and tough goal to accomplish, however, I believe that we are off to a good start.

Now - For the question: Im white/Caucasian. However, both of my partners are another nationality so they qualify for minority business enterprise (MBE) and combined will own more than 51% for the foreseeable future. We will definitely be getting the Small Business Administration designation (SBA). I was wondering if you believe that the Minority Business Enterprise designation is worth looking into? Honestly, coming from the well known companies I have worked at, MBE was always kind of looked at as a joke. Now I know what you may be thinking and I will say that there are legit MBE's, however, that is just the way it is due to more than just a handful of MBE contractors taking advantage of the system. We are not striving for that. We take pride in what we do and will do the work the right way. Basically we want to be known as a legit construction management firm and don't want to be thought of as a handout. Should we refrain from getting it? Should we get it and only talk about it when seeking business opportunities that are looking for the accreditation? Should we get it, use it to our advantage and work hard to emerge as an extremely legit MBE contractor that other firms will actually want to use when they have to have MBE participation? Does anyone have any experience with this?

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