Helping Latino businesses scale to greater heights

By Jenny Yu.  

NAHICA focuses on closing the business knowledge gap for Hispanic contractors. 

The National Hispanic Contactors Association (NAHICA) is working to close a long-standing gap in the construction industry by helping Latino contractors strengthen the business side of their operations. In this Roofing Road Trips® episode, RoofersCoffeeShop® Influencer and NAHICA President Sergio Terreros spoke with Megan Ellsworth about the organization’s mission and the challenges many Hispanic contractors face as they grow their companies. 

NAHICA represents a wide cross section of the construction trades, reflecting the diversity of the Latino workforce. “We have all sizes and all traits because we are dedicated to the Latino community in construction,” Sergio stated. “We have electricians, roofers, concrete people, brick people, general contractors and developers.”  

When determining NAHICA’s mission in its founding, Sergio drew on his own experience as a contractor. “When I was working in construction, I knew about the trade. We know how to install a shingle, put up a frame or connect things, right? We know the technical stuff, but the business side was lacking,” Sergio said. “I didn't know how to scale a business, how to find business. So, that's going to be our purpose.” 

To fulfill this purpose, NAHICA provides business education programs specifically geared toward helping Latino contractors in the trades create financial success. “Staying busy is not the same as making money,” he said. “And I always tell our members, are you in construction to stay busy or you are in construction to make money?” NAHICA’s education programs are designed to answer that question by helping members build profitable, scalable operations. 

One of the association’s most popular offerings focuses on commercial work. “As soon as you win a project, now how do you run the project, how do you manage the project,” Sergio explained. “People can learn virtually on our website about how to build a project, how to win those contracts. We have attorneys in our database that assist them, insurance people that assist them. We have all the resources for them to learn how to be a better contractor.” 

So far, the NAHICA mission is coming to fruition. “We are the most recognized association growing in this niche,” Sergio expressed. “We have success stories, like a company that was making $300,000 a year now makes three million. We are very excited about that and the purpose is to always keep improving. We're always bringing new stuff for the members in our seminars.” 

Read the first article in this series or Listen to the podcast to learn more about how NAHICA is helping Latino contractors scale their businesses toward greater financial success.