If there is a building contractor's union in your area, and they are heavily trying to recruit you, you are probably reluctant to join. Maybe the reason why is because you are worried about your customer/client base, and what they would think about your union membership. There are a lot of false connotations connected to construction unions, and that may also be why you are concerned about joining. Here are some reasons why you should not be worried about what your customers think if you join a union. 

Being a Member of a Trade Union Only Elevates Your Position

You may worry that being part of a union will give customers the idea that you are too weak as a business to stand on your own. But being in a union has nothing to do with weakness or strength. Trade guilds existed in Europe long before unions ever existed, and trade guilds helped improve everyone's skills and public visibility in order to get more business and share the work.

The only difference with unions is that the longer you are in one, the better and bigger the jobs get. The best and most lucrative jobs go to the contractors with seniority, not the contractors who were doing exceptionally well before they joined the union or the contractors who were struggling before they joined. That does not matter; what matters is your length of time as a member, and the longer you are a member, the more elevated your position and your company's position. 

Customers Should Want to Hire Union Members Because Unionization Equals Equality

The whole point of unions is that they make most things in business equal. Pay is equal for all. Job availability for nearly all members is equal. Everyone gets a shot, no matter how big or how small the company.

Rather than five large contractors getting all of the work all of the time and the smaller companies or the less-advertised companies not getting any of the work, the union doles out work based on membership seniority first, and whoever wants it next. The union gives a lot of contractors/members a leg up in the world, protects the jobs and job security  of the contractors and their companies, helps vet employees to avoid lawsuits, and resolves disputes between construction companies if and when members have a dispute with each other or with a job/client/customer. The object of unionization is fairness and equality. 

Contact a building contractor union if you want to learn more about joining a union in your area.