seasonal worker business owner ?
- Thread starter md1
- Start date
I will pick and choose what big contractor projects im on Ior work for myself or do both in a few years but winter vacation will definitely continue from here on out.
I've seen your work. I've heard you mention taking on more side jobs or turning down side jobs. I don't doubt you have the skills to make it happen. Comes down to self discipline a lot of times. Jamie seems to have it figured out. I like what he posted as his routine. The only things that I see (based on what you've written here): building a house? IF the bank is considering your income for the loan, self employment doesn't always lead to approval of loans. Banks tend to like seeing a steady paycheck from an employer. Two: only you know if you have the drive and discipline to make it happen.
thanks for the replys. Now more than ever it's tempting to jump. Just wondering if it sounds crazy to have to give away 3 months of work that'd equal 3/4 of my current yearly gross income....
banks absolutely hate lending money to self-employed small business people, even if your credit score is in the 750-800+ range. if your work is seasonal, then it's even worse. they won't give you the time of day without a co-signer with steady income or unless you are making big money on paper for many years in a row.
do you have some sort of business plan? what about liability insurance? workers comp? credit with your material suppliers?
I've been debating this for years now, not just shooting from the hip. made calls got quotes and inquires of mentioned list above, almost signed paper work last two springs. Have talked to multiple general contractors around here I work for about this, but I can't pull the trigger. I have friends that are firing on all cylinders (general construction) that had way less reputation, contacts ,and work lined up. I said if I had a years worth of wages lined up for spring I'd try it. Main question I've never asked someone is how much work do u want to have to feel good about the upcoming season. % of income going into the season.....or what's normal? Zero clue here. None-year booked solid.
Going into your first year solo. . . If you had 2-3 months of work lined up you are probably ahead of most when they started. I thinks you'll find word of mouth travels fast. Seems like you have a bit of a name built up for yourself. Sounds like you have a nice "in" with local contractors. In the service industry I don't believe most people start off with months of work lined up.
how much work you need to feel good about it is not the same for everyone. in 30 years as as a smalltime house painter, I cannot think of a year when I didn't have at least a month to two months of work lined up before we were able to get started outside. I'd estimate would account for roughly 20% of annual sales. 20+ years ago I employed two crews, had a partner. today, I'm fine with a months work for me working by myself. I can get nearly any painting job I look at if I want it bad enough and I'm willing to settle for less money for the sake of staying busy or making "something", but I seldom do that today because I don't care if I'm balls to the walls busy for 7 months any longer. my career as a full time house painter is going to end in a few more years. I simply do not have to make as much money as I once did to meet my financial goals because we are debt free, aside from recent land purchase. If you are good at your work and treat people right, you will always have some work to do, but that isn't necessarily enough. you have to earn a living AND make a profit to run a successful business. I do less today to earn a living than I ever have. business working for me, not me working for the business any longer. I have the luxury of a solid reputation and tons of repeat business, but that has taken me over 30 years with my nose to the grindstone minding all the details of my work and business affairs to achieve. self-employment ain't for pussies or people lacking confidence. gotta take risks to get the rewards. some people are cut out for it, some are not. being good with you hands does not mean you can be successful at running your own business. lots of supremely talented tradesmen fail miserably at running their own business. only one way to find out if you can do it.
Well said Jamie. I've seen some guys who wanted to be self employed. Amazing talent. Hard hard hard working people. Not great at the business management end of things. Sadly, I could have put them on my payroll and they would have made more money. It is a balancing act. Price too high and land fewer jobs. Price too low and you may as well be an employee somewhere.
Lots of great articles about: Working on your business rather than working in your business. Put another way: don't get so driven that you are just making money because you are putting in more hours. You need to do the behind the scenes work too. Work "on" your business to remove inefficiencies. Reduce time in the field without lowering your income. Focus on building a lasting business which could be marketed and sold down the road. You need to ensure you have an end goal and exit strategy. If you are self employed but working just as hard physically, making the same money, AND taking on 100% of the risk. . . .you may as well be on someone else's payroll.
Lots of great articles about: Working on your business rather than working in your business. Put another way: don't get so driven that you are just making money because you are putting in more hours. You need to do the behind the scenes work too. Work "on" your business to remove inefficiencies. Reduce time in the field without lowering your income. Focus on building a lasting business which could be marketed and sold down the road. You need to ensure you have an end goal and exit strategy. If you are self employed but working just as hard physically, making the same money, AND taking on 100% of the risk. . . .you may as well be on someone else's payroll.
Next thing you know you'll need a tender to help get jobs done quickly. Then you will need another mason and so on. Sky's the limit. Once you get rolling and your reputation of killer work gets out there it would be hard to turn work down. I think the hardest part would be to try to stay small.
That is another fantastic point. Bigger isn't always better. We've had as many as 10 employees. We were less profitable. Find a place that works for you. Finding reliable help can be a challenge. Finding enough for multiple crews in this day. . .sounds like a headache. If you want to talk employees, we could have another thread dedicated to it. Lol
I remember distinctly the day my former partner and I sat down to discuss the future of our business because, after 6 years actively growing a business together, we were very obviously too big of an outfit to be "small", and too small of an outfit to be "big". we had to shit or get off the pot, so to speak. the most important consideration was finding more adequate labor to do all of the work we were getting, and in light of the ongoing difficulty we had always had finding reasonable help, we decided to scale it back a bit and do the work ourselves with a few employees and focus on custom residential work and smaller commercial stuff. Two years after that I bought out the founder of the company and went on with just me and a one or two helpers. I did that for over 15 years until my help was no longer helpful. I tried in earnest to find a younger person up to the task of being my apprentice, and I found one. I offered him the keys to the castle, but he wanted to be his own boss instead of running a crew for me. I farm my excess work out to him to this day. finding qualified, reliable help in construction trades is very difficult today because nobody wants to hit a lick or get their hands dirty anymore. everyone knows that you have to go to college to earn a good living and be "successful" in this world. 
Here we go im going to bid a job this week or weekend. If i get it im going all in. See where we go. If i can land and get my winter money in pocket before thd snow flys... f the man!
I did my own thing for 33 years, I'm a mason, my 22year old son is in his third year of his apprenticeship in local 5. Don't be shy with your pricing, there's very few people doing it anymore, none of my core crew do it anymore, a few of them are dead. I was told when on an estimate, don't throw out any numbers or price, KEEP your mouth shut, the customer will probably shoot out a number that they think it will cost, then go from there. If not ask if they have a budget, this will let you know if they're serious so you don't waste your time. When you run across one, and you will, don't forget to charge ASSHOLE TAX. FJB
Glad ur son is carrying on the trade. Im truly glad ive built huge shit in commercial work and seen alot of aspects of the trade and worked with hundreds of great and bad masons. Going to give it a whirl and can always go back if need be. Might just work on the big jobs after gun season until spring laying block inside...idk.
I thought off the asshole tax as a ? On here. Do you just put that extra on the bill or just give them other peoples phone numbers and dont even bid it?
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If you don't need the work then just bid it as high as you feel you need to deal with their BS. If you're struggling for work sometimes you have to grin and bear it. The company my wife works for hit a guy with a 40% rate increase this year because he's a difficult customer. He complained but signed on for another year.