Gan Chin Joon took the effort
to grow his people skills and worked hard to grow his renovation business.
PERSISTENCE and hard
work have helped GCJ Construction Sdn Bhd founder Gan Chin Joon, 42, get his
home renovation business off the ground.
Gan notes that the
renovation business is a challenging venture to go into and having the skill to
manage human resource and cost is essential.
But that did not stop
Gan from going in anyway. After all, he has always been in the construction
line one way or another. In college, he obtained a diploma in building.
“My first job was a
site supervisor in 1994. After a few years, I realised that in order to grow, I
needed to be able to do sales and to interact with people rather than just
relying on technical skills alone,” he says.
Eventually, he got a
job as a security door sales personnel to help him grow his people skills.
Security doors were a
relatively new product back then and most of them were import from China. There
was a lot of convincing work to do and Gan had to go from door to door to sell
the products.
“I learnt a lot about
human behaviour while doing sales. Eventually, after much hard work, I managed
to become one of their top sales personnel and not only that, one of the
clients who was also a contractor was amazed by my persistence that they
offered me a partnership in their company,” he says.
Gan took up the offer.
But after a year, he
realised that he was not getting the terms that were earlier agreed upon.
In 2002, he decided
that it was time to venture out on his own.
“I was also thinking
of freedom, where I get to decide how I will be remunerated based on how hard
and smart I worked,” he says.
He did not have much
capital on him. Gan mainly used deposits and progress payments from one project
to fund the next project.
“It may sound simple,
but it really wasn’t. After about five years in business, I almost gave up,” he
says, adding that contract values were generally small and margins were thin.
He started with
distributing flyers and in some instances, looked around housing areas and
introduced himself to new home owners who needed minor renovation works such as
kitchen extensions, building additional bathrooms and installing plaster
ceilings and kitchen cabinets.
Still, starting his
business wasn’t the hardest part; finding the right people was a challenge for
Gan.
“Finding responsible
supervisors, workers and subcontractors is vital. There are many details to
look into, from the structural design, load bearings, plumbing, electrical to
safety issues. Having the right people on site makes all the difference,” he
emphasises.
Gan also saw a need to
deepen his knowledge and qualification and decided to further his studies in
construction management.
He spends much of his
efforts on approaching clients, monitoring the progress of projects and
ensuring that the job is delivered up to clients’ satisfaction.
Gan is careful with
the details when preparing quotations for clients.
“We cannot tell home
owners halfway through that certain jobs are not included in the quotation, or
bill them as variation orders as we would easily lose their trust. Simply put,
if I did not consider certain matters that needed to be in the quotation, I
would have to absorb the cost myself,” he says.
After a while, Gan
realised that this principle meant that he could have some problems breaking
even on some projects.
But he has been
rewarded in other ways. Some of his previous clients referred him to their
family and friends and this brought in more business.
In 2016, GCJ Construction
achieved a revenue of RM2mil.
Today, Gan has 12
workers and takes on projects valued from RM5,000 to RM1.8mil.
“The business started
with me looking for sales from new clients and now it is mainly referrals from
existing clients. We also work closely with architects while we serve as the
main contractor to coordinate the projects,” Gan concludes.