Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is partnering with Avitan Business Resources to offer applied, applicable and unparalleled business courses for contractors.
Called the Contractor’s Academy, the six-course series is specifically designed to empower contractors with the management and financial skills to effectively grow their companies. With courses beginning Sept. 19 at KPU Tech in Cloverdale, the academy will offer sessions in business essentials and banking smarts, charge out rates, contracts, estimating principles, change-orders and sales, all tailored to trades.
“Contractors are doers, problem-solvers, people quick to recognize opportunity and accept a challenge,” said Wayne Tebb, dean of the KPU School of Business. “But their success tends to create challenges for which contractors have little preparation. The Contractor’s Academy allows contractors to advance their business and management skills so that they can more effectively grow their business.”
Offered through continuing and professional studies (CPS) at KPU, participants will gain a wealth of business tips from professionals who are well-versed in both business, and contracting. The focus of each class aims to arm self-employed contractors with the tools that enhance their work – turning paperwork, contract and estimate skills into assets that boost business.
“It’s easy to get into contracting. But unless you learn to manage the money and the business, it can be a lot of hard work for little profits. Knowledge is power, and we teach contractors how to be businessmen,” said Amos Avitan, owner of Avitan Business Resources. “An educated contractor is an owner. An uneducated contractor tends to be stuck in a self-employed, stressful lifestyle. We teach contractors how to run a business – with efficiency and profits.”
CPS offers several strains of business, financial and marketing courses, applicable across industries, and to employees and employers alike. The Avitan series takes instruction one step further, with highly specialized courses that address what contractors face on the business side of the job. It’s this knowledge, says Avitan, that makes you money from your quality work.
“If you complete the entire series, you will learn how to build a solid and strong company. It’s like building a wall with all the bricks in place – it can withstand anything. So can a well-built and well-run company. We teach contractors how to do it,” he said.
Each course runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and costs $795 before tax. For information on KPU’s Avitan Series of Business Training for Contractors, visit: kpu.ca/cps/business. More on Avitan Business Resources is available at www.avitan.ca.