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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 71
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I'm new to doing work on my own. I was just wondering if you guys had any advise on meeting some gc's to work with on residential homes. Should I just call them out of the phone book and tell them I'd like to bid for their jobs?
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 697
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Sure, and architects might be another good source for prints to bid on.
Beware of low-bid work, though, and GCs can leave you waiting for money when you have past-due supplier bills on your desk.
Dave
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 34
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I've been known to do alot of different types of leg work to meet new GC's and hopefully get some of their business. From actual pull names out of phone book and fax a Letter of Introduction about my company with follow ups either by phone or personal "drop in for a visit" trips to just driving around and spotting sites under construction and talking with supervisors and leaving a business card or just spotting empty lease spaces and taping my cards to the doors along with everyone else.
All I can say,it's starting to pay off. You have to do the leg work to get yourself known.
Might try taking out an ad in the local school newspaper or your local paper or phone book. No one knows your there until you make the first move.
John C. Harvey IndCom Electrical Estimates
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 687
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You can send out some sort of mailer (post card, flier, letter) interducing your self. Many will hit the trash. Some will be saved just in case they need a new EC. I got about a 3-5% responce. Seems like some just want you to bid a job out to check their other EC prices. I ended up with about 1% turned into a customer.
Be carefull what you wish for. Some GC think you only work for them. At a phone call they think you should drop everything for them. Also what happened with the last EC? Was he paid?
A good GC can make you money a bad GC you can never charge enough.
Tom
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1
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When our company was starting out two years ago we sent out a mailer, a letter of introduction, to 300 or so local GC's, and recieved responses in similar numbers to Active 1. Even without any telephone follow up we had about a 3% to 4% response, and about 1% turned into actual customers. One of those customers we did almost $100,000.00 in business with last year. A pretty good return on investment for $150 in printing, envelopes, and stamps.
The source for our customer list was just a list of GC's from a local business association that we found on the web. Yellow pages would probably work just as well.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 687
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Something elece that was happened was it seemed like 7-10% of the GC out of a 9 month old phone book were returned "moved or gone, no forwarding address". What happened to them and their subs? Just be carefull cause some GC's move around like carniville people.
Tom
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 23
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I still think the best way out there is word of mouth. Good GC's are the key, if you lost money with one on 2 small jobs think about why usually it is their management which will not change....ie. hurry up where ready...walls not fully framed...etc.
It does not matter if you win or lose but how you lay the blame :-)
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Posts: 1,803
Joined: March 2005
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