Business planning looks at the future through more quantifiable lenses. It incorporates a strategic focus, i.e. "Where are we going?", and puts more tangible steps in place. Most of the better contractors I work with have a burning desire to quantify where they are going to direct the company. They set financial objectives, they specify the markets they want to dominate, and they set targets of accomplishments that objectively state where they are going to be at specific points in the future. This might also include how much volume of production they want to contract for during the year such as total yards of concrete poured or finished or square feet of formwork or perhaps how many pavers to install on a weekly or monthly basis.

The direction set out by the business plan should clearly state what markets will be entered or maintained, what resources will be needed to meet the market objectives including the type of workers and equipment, and what the financial requirements to secure such resources will be. The financial requirements will require the creation of a budget, something that many contractors wait way too long to create.

Once the direction is developed it is then critical to create action steps to bring the plans to life. Thus a second section of the business plan is the section that most contractors have little problem creating. This is the tactical effort that most contractors are more comfortable committing to. The key here is to create action steps that are believable. Believable does not suggest that the steps should be easy, but rather, that the steps are justified due to the amount of experience, type of resources, and a method for deployment that the leaders all understand and are committed to.

One brief example of action steps in place might be the decision to add another service to your business. For instance, let us look at a flatwork concrete contractor who is adding concrete counter tops to their field of services. The action steps might include the following list of items.

1. Identify best market for concrete counter top opportunities.
2. Review current clients with potential for concrete counter tops.
3. Determine needed expertise for forming, pouring, and finishing counter tops.
4. Determine needed tools and equipment for concrete counter tops.
5. Set realistic goals for concrete counter top revenue for first three years. (Determine optimum profit potential.)
6. Purchase needed equipment and tools.
7. Hire needed workers for selling and producing concrete counter tops or train existing employees to do.
8. Look at marketing strategies and needed marketing budget to support new sales.
9. Make the monitoring of concrete counter top revenues, gross margin, etc. part of the company's overall effort to monitor business.