3 Steps for Your Construction Business to Give Back | Equipter

“Good will toward men” shouldn’t stop when the last holiday wreath comes down. No matter how big or small your roofing or construction business might be right now, it’s an integral part of the community—one with the power to share time, talent, and resources with neighbors. Here’s a three-step plan to help your company give back to its community.

Step #1: Decide how you’d like your business to give back.

If you poke around in your community, you’ll likely find plenty of opportunities for your construction business to support those in need. Here are a few construction and roofing community service ideas to get you started:

• Provide roofing or other contracting services for families in need, such as those with members who are disabled veterans, elderly, or in financial hardship. If you’re not sure who to help, identify those in need by contacting local churches or community aid organizations. You might also consider asking employees and clients to nominate a family in need.
• Work with an established community roofing organization like No Roof Left Behind (NRLB,) a national program that helps contractors aid their communities. How does it work? The public nominates families in need; after the public votes on finalists, a participating contractor installs a no-cost roof for the winner.
• Donate your services to a local nonprofit in need of material, people power, or logistics support for its own renovation, construction, or roofing project.

Step #2: Round up your crew and get ‘em involved.

Business-based volunteer projects aren’t just good for the community; they’re good for you and your team too. Research suggests a good workplace volunteer program boosts team building, company loyalty, and workplace morale. This even leads to greater employee retention rates. What’s more, your community involvement can help attract new hires, particularly Millennials—in one study 61% of Millennials said a volunteer program would be a deciding factor if they had to choose employment between two otherwise equal companies.

Create a team atmosphere around your company’s volunteer project. Learn more in-depth tips to implement a morale-boosting volunteer program at your contracting or roofing business in Business4Better: 7 Practices of Effective Employee Volunteer Programs.

Step #3: Make a “give back” plan—and commit to it.

Create a doable action plan to jumpstart your volunteer project or program. If your own to-do list is loaded, recruit a crew member willing to head up the project. (#BizTip: Community involvement and volunteer planning is a smart addition to your bad weather downtime strategy.)

Community involvement helps build your image as a trustworthy local business, so include plans to show potential and current customers you care:

• Contact local media outlets with pre-event press releases. Not sure how? Check out How to Write a Press Release w/ Free Template and Sample.
• Share volunteer project pics and updates online. Post them on the company website or blog as well as on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or LinkedIn. Remember to tag other local participating businesses and crew members with online social media profiles.

How does your contracting or roofing business give back to its community? Tell us about your awesome community projects by posting on Equipter’s Facebook Page.