The Contractor's First 90 Days: A Month-by-Month Startup Checklist

Starting a contracting business is exciting, but the first 90 days can determine whether your company grows or struggles. Most plumbers, HVAC contractors, electricians, and other tradespeople start with the skills to do great work. What they usually don't have is a roadmap for building the business behind the work.

I've spent seven years running operations for a plumbing company, and I've watched new contractors either build a solid foundation or spend their first two years fixing mistakes that a simple checklist would have prevented. Here's the month-by-month roadmap I wish every contractor had when they opened their doors.

90-Day Contractor Startup Checklist

☐ Form your LLC or S-Corp

☐ Get your EIN

☐ Open a business bank account

☐ Purchase insurance (GL, workers' comp, commercial auto)

☐ Create estimates, invoices, and change orders

☐ Set your pricing off a real worksheet

☐ Build a one-page website

☐ Claim your Google Business Profile

☐ Set up scheduling and dispatch

☐ Track KPIs and job costing

☐ Hire your first employee

Month 1: Build Your Foundation

Week 1: Get Legal. Form your LLC or S-Corp and pull your EIN from the IRS the same week. Reserve your business name, file with your Secretary of State, and draft a simple operating agreement even if you're a single-member LLC. Not sure which entity to pick? Our LLC vs. S-Corp guide walks through the tradeoffs. This is the paperwork that separates your personal savings from your business risk. Don't take a single paid job until it's done.

Week 2: Get Licensed and Insured. Register with your state contractor board and pull every trade-specific license your work requires. Bind general liability coverage (most trades need $1M minimum). Add workers' comp if you'll have employees, and commercial auto if you're driving a company truck. Save every certificate, because customers and GCs will ask for a COI inside your first month.

Week 3: Set Up the Money Side. Open a business checking account and a separate business credit card. Sign up for QuickBooks, Wave, or a simple bookkeeping spreadsheet and connect the accounts on day one so nothing slips through. Register for sales tax if your state requires it on labor or materials. Never let personal and business money touch. That's the fastest way to lose your liability protection.

Week 4: Build Your Paperwork Stack. You need at least five documents before the first customer call: a professional estimate, an invoice, a simple service agreement, a change order form, and a customer information sheet. See 15 business forms every contractor needs for the full list. They don't need to be fancy, they need to be consistent. The free Contractor Starter Pack has pre-built versions of all five.

Month 2: Create Systems That Scale

Week 1: Price for Profit. Most new contractors undercharge because they're used to employee wages, not business ownership. Build a pricing worksheet that covers labor burden, materials, overhead, and target profit, then price every job off that sheet instead of a gut feel. If price competition is already eating your margins, read stop competing on price before you set your rates.

Week 2: Set Up Scheduling and Dispatch. Pick one calendar and one dispatch tool and stick with it. Google Calendar plus a shared spreadsheet is enough to start. Write a two-page dispatch SOP: how calls get logged, how jobs get assigned, how the field reports back. Our guide on building an SOP your team will actually use covers the format that sticks.

Week 3: Build Your Customer Experience. Create a follow-up sequence for every estimate. Most contractors never follow up, and 40-60% of quotes close with a single reminder call. Set up a review-request process so a direct Google Business Profile link goes out the same day you finish a job. And start a real customer list with names, addresses, and job history. That list is the single most valuable asset in your business.

Week 4: Get Found Online. Claim your Google Business Profile, add real job photos, and list every service area you cover. Build a one-page website with your phone number, service list, and a contact form. List the business on Yelp, Nextdoor, and Angi. For a deeper playbook, see how to get more contractor leads in 2026 and TikTok marketing for contractors.

Month 3: Prepare for Growth

Week 1: Prepare to Hire. Your first hire is the most expensive decision you'll make. Write the job description, define the wage range, and build an employee file checklist (W-4, I-9, direct deposit, handbook acknowledgement). Post the role on Indeed and your local trade school job board. Even if you're months from a hire, opening the pipeline now shortens the timeline later.

Week 2: Document How the Work Gets Done. Write a new-hire onboarding checklist for Day 1, Week 1, and First 90 Days. Draft a one-page training outline for your trade's core install or service call. Create a safety orientation. This is what turns a good technician into a productive employee in weeks instead of months.

Week 3: Track the Numbers That Matter. Set up job costing on every job: quoted vs actual on labor, materials, and subs. Start tracking AR aging weekly so nothing sits past 30 days. Build a simple KPI sheet: revenue, gross margin, average ticket, close rate. For the mechanics of setting this up, see job costing for contractors.

Week 4: Plan for Growth. Build a 12-month cash flow forecast. Write a one-page business plan that answers three questions: who you serve, what you do better than the competition, and how you'll hit your revenue target. Create a launch-day checklist for any new service line or expanded service area. Then set a quarterly review date so you actually revisit it.

The One Thing Most Contractors Skip

It's not the LLC or the insurance. Most people handle those. It's the systems. The documented process for answering the phone, scheduling jobs, invoicing the same day, and following up on old estimates. Contractors who build those systems in the first 90 days grow faster, sleep better, and rarely panic during busy season. If you want a shortcut, the contractor tech stack that actually pays for itself covers the tools that hold those systems together.

You Don't Need to Be Perfect on Day One

Every successful contracting company started somewhere. You don't need the biggest truck, the fanciest logo, or a huge marketing budget. You need solid systems, consistent habits, and a plan you can follow. The first 90 days won't make your business perfect, but they can give you a foundation you'll build on for years.

Free Startup Resources

The Small Business Startup Bundle includes all 13 documents you need to open your doors: LLC vs S-Corp guide, EIN registration walkthrough, operating agreement template, contractor agreement, startup budget, cash flow forecast, pricing worksheet, and every checklist mentioned above. It's the legal, financial, and operational foundation I wish I'd had from day one.