Ping Contractors

[BYU 14]

April 1st was Freedom Day

It has been almost three Months since I walked away from Coporate America and started a Contracting Business with a long time Friend. He has the construction background, mine is in the Business management end. I am totally enjoying the experience and we are doing reasonable well in terms of the struggles you can expect when you launch a new Business adventure.

The one thing I have found though is the Construction Business (At least here in AZ) is totally different from just about everything else. As I am still learning the Construction end, while trying to get my partner a bit more Business savvy, I would be interested to hear from others in this line of work...particularly what was the biggest mistake you made when you started. There is a lot of wisdom on this board and though, like I mentioned, things are going well, I am never too proud to ask for sage advice from others.

[Swaggs]

April 1st was Freedom Day

It has been almost three Months since I walked away from Coporate America and started a Contracting Business with a long time Friend. He has the construction background, mine is in the Business management end. I am totally enjoying the experience and we are doing reasonable well in terms of the struggles you can expect when you launch a new Business adventure.

The one thing I have found though is the Construction Business (At least here in AZ) is totally different from just about everything else. As I am still learning the Construction end, while trying to get my partner a bit more Business savvy, I would be interested to hear from others in this line of work...particularly what was the biggest mistake you made when you started. There is a lot of wisdom on this board and though, like I mentioned, things are going well, I am never too proud to ask for sage advice from others.

My father has been a contractor for 35-years. He didn't really know what to do after college, so he started a company and has kept it going for all these years.

My advice would be that bigger isn't always better. And what I mean by that is that there may be the temptation to go out and hire dozens of guys, load up on tools/vehiciles, and take every job you can find, but building up your business slowly and solidly is probably a better long-term approach. You may have some quick success by inflating your business quickly, but it is difficult to find reliable workers and the business is sometimes up-and-down, so you may end up having to pay unemployment during down stretches.

I'd advise that you find a small, skilled, reliable crew and work no more than 3-5 jobs at a time. It is better to build up a very good reputation for the quality of your work, so that you get repeat business. If you do a good job of that, you will be busy enough that you will not have to advertise and all of your work will come from word of mouth.

[BYU 14]

My father has been a contractor for 35-years. He didn't really know what to do after college, so he started a company and has kept it going for all these years.

My advice would be that bigger isn't always better. And what I mean by that is that there may be the temptation to go out and hire dozens of guys, load up on tools/vehiciles, and take every job you can find, but building up your business slowly and solidly is probably a better long-term approach. You may have some quick success by inflating your business quickly, but it is difficult to find reliable workers and the business is sometimes up-and-down, so you may end up having to pay unemployment during down stretches.

I'd advise that you find a small, skilled, reliable crew and work no more than 3-5 jobs at a time. It is better to build up a very good reputation for the quality of your work, so that you get repeat business. If you do a good job of that, you will be busy enough that you will not have to advertise and all of your work will come from word of mouth.


It's funny you mention this, that has been the one pothole thus far. My Partner took on a big commerical job right before I joined him and to get the people to do it, basically made a deal with a Sub-contractor that really didn't benefit us at all, even going as far to add a few Dollars to all of the guys crew to cover HIS tax impounds for his Workers.

I was not happy when it all came to light, but we were Hamstrung at that time.....We ended up losing Money on a Job we should have made 10-15 K profit on. Needless to say we have had this talk several times and we have scaled down a bit, though he is still spending too much time getting new jobs lined up. We have 4 regular Employees right now (Including us) and 3-8 Guys we use as needed and pay via 1099. We have decided to sub more work out on bigger projects and work the Remodels with our Guys, and I would like to have no more than 2-3 Jobs going at a time right now.....Currently we have 5 and it just stretches us too thin. I try and tell him that with his connections, and the word of Mouth we get people will wait an extra week or two for good Work.

Thanks for the advice Swaggs, it makes me feel I am on the right path.

[Swaggs]

Sounds like you are on the right track. I didn't really get to develop my thoughts as well as I intended to, but the story about losing money on the big job was something I meant to touch upon. A lot of times, you might have the opportunity to do a big job and think it will be big money, but if things go wrong (and it may not be your fault--could be a delay in getting materials or the customer ending up not having enough money, etc.) you may find out that you ended up working the last several months for free, which sucks beyond words.

One of the great benefits, beyond not having to spend to advertise, of having a lot of worth of mouth/repeat business, is that folks are generally more willing to trust you and will be less likely to shop your price around to other contractors. So, you will not have to pare down your price to try to match or beat another contractor.

If you have the skill/ability and the market, bathrooms and kitchens are a great way to make some money without a lot of risk. If you (or some of your guys) are skilled with tilework, there is good money in it.