ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Introduction letter to General Contractors

Slow down, there is a big difference in property magagement groups, and property managers, the management groups usually have control of the entire budget process and work directly for the owners, where the porperty manager is usually a salary, or wage employee working for a managment group. This is why I recommended Blue Book they have the best results, in finding contacts with managment groups.

If you are a small shop, willing to take small jobs, getting hooked up with a condo/HOA type property manager can keep you working.
If you play golf there may also be some "barter" opportunities. That might interest you if golf is over $100 when you can get on.

Greg,

in this area the condo HOA managers will call every EC they can find to get the lowest price, and call a different contractor every time they have a problem, we have one or two EC that worked with these managers because the worked for below what it cost them to operate, they hung in there until 2007 came and the economy but them under, In my opinion there is nothing like quality accounts that profitable work year long. taking on the condo HOA accounts will bring in plenty of work but may not bring in the money needed to operate.

I am not sure that is always true if you can establish yourself as reliable and competent. People usually shop price when they get the idea everyone is the same. That gets back to my original point about returning calls and keeping appointments. If you are talking about an owner managed HOA they are more likely to shop around but if you have a management company they really prefer to keep their life as simple as possible. If they have a vendor who is competitively priced and always takes care of their problems with one call they will use them. As soon as you have them calling you back to find out were you are, you become just like everyone else.

Trade associations, business to business groups, Score, SBA, local heating and air conditioning contractors, church groups, little league, the list of potential clients is vast. Network is key. I am glad the original poster is doing well. It is a black eye for the naysayers.

Doing well, he said making 4 times the money, so if he was making $24 an hour now he is making $96 an hour, that is not doing well it is great, if after all his overhead and operating expenses, he can have $96 he is doing better then great, and should be telling us what to do.

Considering he started in Nov 2007 he is new to the business, and with most start up's in the EC area only 1 in 8 will make it thru the first year, so i would not be pulling out the party supplies yet.

I don't think some of the posts are nay sayers, I think they are just voicing some of their experience with business deals. The bad approach would be to lead him into thinking there are easy ways to attract new profitable business.

Hey Trick, how about keeping us posted on how its going for the next few years so we can bandy this subject around a bit more. Lets say 6 month intervals. I am betting you make your first year no problem. And the second. And the third.........

I agree with LK. There's a big diference in billing out at $96 an hour and making $96 an hour.

Count me as one of the "naysayers".

In another thread, Trick 440 said he did a kitchen remodel for $900.
The permit was $350 alone.
That leaves $650 for all materials and overhead.
A minimum of 2 trips was necessary (actually 3, after the Code corrections).
Where is there room for a $96 an hour profit?

The math just doesn't add up.
BTW, I hope you make it, but you've got to realize that's not just clear profit.

[quote=electure]Count me as one of the "naysayers".

In another thread, Trick 440 said he did a kitchen remodel for $900.
The permit was $350 alone.
That leaves $650 for all materials and overhead.


The math just doesn't add up.


No it doesn't...900-350=550