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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 4,294
Member
laugh Even less!

That shows how much I know, doesn't it?

The point is that it doesn't leave much room for profit.

That's craigslist pricing if ever I saw it.









Latest Estimating Cost Guides & Software:
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 251
T
Member
You guys are so anal, I did the math I make 3.038020833 times more. After expensise and I included medical insurance what I don't even have so i guess thats profit.

One $900 kitchen, one kitchen could of been a favor I did, which, in reality I charged $1300 (in the end) plus the extras I now am going back for. I left these little details out just for effect in the title post. Lets analize and scrutinize over every little word like its the code book. You guys are unreal...

Guess what!!! I'm not spell checking my spelling in this post either!

That $900 kitchen has lead to a 150 unit apartment project.

Are you guys married?


Shake n Bake
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 251
T
Member
now you got me opening Quickbooks and getting out permit cost papers...

ok, 900 job
160 permit
130 material
4 hour rough
2 hour finish
= $101.666666666 an hour.

Doh!... 1 hr permit pick up.. $87.1428 I picked up 2 other permits when I was down there.. should I divide that hour by 3?

Ok now lets make 8 other posts about how I didn't include gas and drive time, nor any overhead expenses... guess what I didn't include the 10 minutes it took for me to write up the invoice or the ink and paper either. <~~ I can't say this, now the topic will be , "you have to include the none billed hours yada, yada, yada..." hey guys i do a few jobs cheap every once in awhile. Lots of time i do this with first time customers... till they get to know me and see the type of work and customer service they get.

Last edited by Trick440; 04/25/08 08:39 AM.

Shake n Bake
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 251
T
Member
And I really hate talking about this... can't tell from these posts but I perfer to keep myself low key, but I guess if some people want to compare penis sizes.., I'll whip it out.. I'm not saying I'm some big shot I am far far from it... I'm a younger guy, whos doing better in his life then ever. I worked my butt off for it, guess what its happening. I grew up around business. damn 6 month... 6 months? I'm not no where near where I'm going to be in the future, this is 1 step in my plan, and this first step isn;t a big step, the following 3 steps are the same size. keep hating, I will continue to leave people alone on the internet and work on bettering myself.

I have been on this site sense 2005, I will be here in the future. We'll see what happens I'm not going anywhere, not now not in the future.. Wait till this economy pops... its working for me right now. if it stays down like this while I get all my pieces in place, I'm set. Where people see problems I see opportunities.

Last edited by Trick440; 04/25/08 08:52 AM.

Shake n Bake
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,429
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LK Offline
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What is taken for Nay sayers, is advice on caution, most of the guys on the threads that have been long established in business, have gone through both up, and down cycles, and many have learned the hard way, things like checking the credit and ability for your customers to pay, before extending credit.

One of the sad things you may see over the years, is an EC that worked hard, and in the end had nothing, because he built the business as a job and not an asset with continued profits over the years.

We all cheer on anyone who wants to go in business for themself, it is a great move provided you do proper planning and run it like a business.

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 717
M
Member
Your going to be fine, and you know it you don't need me to tell you that. I can spot a mile away the difference between somebody who knows what he wants and figures out how to get there and somebody who is clueless. What some of my well respected by me peers tend to forget about is drive. They are very much expert at navigation thru the ups and downs of things, no question about it, but as a whole without pointing out any single persons here or elsewhere, I have long noticed the tendency to forget about the drive factor. I have long observed that the most sucessful operations always and I mean always have something extra that the other guys next to them don't and that is drive. Pure and simple.

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 265
S
Member
Originally Posted by Trick440
Where people see problems I see opportunities.

Run with it. That will set you apart from your competitors.


Sixer

"Will it be cheaper if I drill the holes for you?"
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 169
C
Member
+1 Trick440

Quite frankly I'm afraid to ask a question here for fear of someone insisting that I should never have been issued a license without knowing everything there is to know about every aspect of the trade.

Many of the replies to questions here seem to go a step beyond condescending. I have noticed posters with older registration dates and high post counts seem to get a bit more tolerance when admitting they may not know everything.

I do however rest assured that nobody knows everything and even if they did they would be back to not knowing everything again with every code cycle or every emerging new technology. Also, nobody has any right to judge somebody's qualifications or lack thereof based on an online dialog alone.

Fortunately it isn't all like that and many darn good questions have been asked and answered by many very helpful people that have helped me to fill in holes in my knowledge without have to admit to those holes myself.
That's why I keep this site bookmarked and check it regularly.

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,158
Member
Thanks Macmikeman,Chicoc10,sixer, for getting this thread back to positive Ideas for the OP We All have times where things dont go as planned.

Macmikeman I have picked up on your "drive" Observations on this and other forums.

Trick 440 I wish you all the best of luck , your previous posts should be looked at by others as a learning experience for all of us.

Thanks for asking your questions here .

Now that many of us have searched out your posts lets learn about some of the frustrations they provided.

I was one person that didnt do a cost analysis for 2 years after i joined this forum.

I was told too,but I kept putting it off.Then I provided some information from this forum to my loving girl friend aka my book keeper .
It was a very complex explanation to me as how to figure out my indirect costs.
She spent a couple weeks with that information and and with her skills at excel provided me with my costs per hour.
some months they were 140/ hr ... in the slow times it was well over 200/hr.

So thanks to all who have guided me over the years here to make me understand that I could not work for 65/hr for doing service work.

Last edited by dougwells; 04/25/08 12:25 PM.
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,429
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LK Offline
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When this post started, the OP was asking for a letter to send out to GC's , The Bid market is a tough one, all you need to take a big hit, is employees that produce below your estimated production, all the drive an owner may have not make up for lost production from employees. Before sending out letters of introduction to GC's, it may be better to cover a broader market, and try to capture a mix of work, to help build more working capital.


Last edited by LK; 04/25/08 07:46 PM.
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