No one should ever start an enterprise without having a good business plan.  Designed to help you get started and stay on track, many of these plans are quite similar.  However, what you need to begin building green might be a little different than what you’ll need to start a regular construction business.  Here’s a look at what’s required in a green building business plan, and how to put one together.

Your title page should look good without being overly busy, and should exist only to identify the plan.  You’ll start the content itself on the next page, which may be the most important.  After all, investors and lenders usually use the plan summary to get rid of business plans that aren’t worth their attention.

That might tempt you to play things up, but don’t exaggerate.  It’ll only lead to problems down the line.  Describe your business plan completely and concisely, including your aims and those of any other owners and officers.  Use this page to really sell what you have to offer.

After that, you’ll want to show what’s in the plan.  A table of contents is the next part.  It should be accurate and complete.  Try finding any particular segment of the plan through the table of contents.  Get a friend to do it, too.  That’ll help you make certain that readers will be able to navigate through your business plan without too much trouble.

Your problem statement comes next.  Ask yourself what your business needs and how the reader can help you solve the problem.  Competition, market issues, and similar topics need to be addressed here.  The funding you get should be able to help your green building business get off the ground.  Explain how that’s going to happen.

Describe your business and the industry it’s in - in detail.  Remember that the reader doesn’t necessarily know the things you do.  Too much information, or badly presented information can cause problems, but you need to explain things thoroughly.  Make sure it’s clear where you stand in the green building industry, and where that industry is going.  Include the resumes of owners and important business personnel, highlighting the great things they’ve done.  Draw attention to everything your business has to offer.

The next section backs up your assertion with numbers you’ll list your past sales, your profits and losses, and project what’s going to happen in the future.  Use statements from the competition to figure out what they’re going to do.  Use hard numbers and make sure you’re willing to be realistic.

Add in an appendix that includes all the supporting documents you couldn’t include in the main text.  That’ll help bolster what you have to say.  The end result will be a great business plan that results in success.