Wow! Really great info guys. Some things are definitely things I've thought of or have seen, as far as the residential stuff. I mean, if there is a way to lose money in resi, I've lost it that way at least once.
arseegee: I track man hours and material costs as well. Its painful to see sometimes when you add up the numbers and see that you paid to do a job. Even if its only 5 bucks.
Its funny, for awhile I was thinking how nice it would be to be doing really well so that I could take on the attitude of, "Hey, you wanna be difficult to work for? Well I don't need your business, so sit on it!" But the more I thought about it its like, well I'm struggling here and being treated like crap by this guy, so what's the difference? I'm struggling with him, I'll still be struggling without him...so sit on it! I guess its just real hard to stay confident in such an industry that feels like its just trying to beat you down all the time. And there is nothing more frustrating than having a builder pull up in his Escalade on his way to the airport to leave for his third Mexican Vacation for the year only to stop by and bitch to you about a $50 trip charge that you billed because HE failed to schedule his trades properly.
Ah, anyway - off the soapbox and back to the original topic. I have already set some guidelines for what kind of work we want to break into. We have actually done some real light commercial work in the past but for REAL small builders so it hasn't actually been for a GC doing million dollar jobs. But I figure we don't want any part (at this point) in new construction but rather tenant build-outs, improvements, remodels and the like. We are sticking to jobs under 5000 sq ft, and sticking to things like smaller retail spaces in malls and such.
My biggest concern is something that a couple of people mentioned and that is capital. What the hell is that? Joke, I know what it is, I've just never seen it. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Its good to hear you guys say some things that I was already assuming. To that I say thanks for the confirmation. I figured residential was good for cash flow and we've actually got a plan to keep our residential flowing. Oh and to clarify. I have three very experience electricians in addition to a couple of real good helpers that have acome a long way. I also have got one guy who is a very good residential electrician that is wanting to work for us so there is my resi crew. It will be a transition to say the least but I have some confidence after this post and a whole lot of hope.
Thanks again for all the input and I'm very glad to keep receiving it if anyone cares to follow my progress on this journey.
PS: I thought of one other question regarding the bid for a commercial work. How do most people bid their man-hours. I mean if they give you a time frame for the project do you allow for a guy there for 8 hrs/day for the duration of the job or do you actually try to "guess" at how long that job will take?
[This message has been edited by Happi_Man (edited 05-05-2005).]
