Business ideas

[LoneCowboy]

What does "this" mean?

It means "ditto"

It means, you said it way better than I could.

it means "exactamundo"

It means, Plus 1

 

[LoneCowboy]

What does "this" mean?

It means you said it better than I could.

I agree 110%

sorry, double tap.

 

[Builder]

Gotcha!

 

[collije]

I am by no means an expert on this but my wife has a home based business. She has joined the Chamber of Commerce for the area we just moved to awhile back and so far it has helped her. I don't think anyone has mentioned this but it is a good way to do some networking and make connections even for mowing the overgrown building lots, many real estate agents are chamber members adn are always looking for good people at reasonable pricing.

Best of luck.

 

[wolc123]

Hang in there imron, you can do anything if you want it bad enough. There is nothing wrong with making the fat-cats squeal a little. Competition is good, that is how our system is supposed to work. If you can offer a service cheaper, then go for it. **** the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

 

[LBrown59]

What state do you live in ?

Do they sell "double-wide/mobile homes" in your area ?

*If so, Go to all the places that sells "double-wides" and see if they will let you dig "pads" for them... Most places that sells them don't have tractors, and they make the employees dig them by hand.

Around here you can make $600 to $800 in a couple hours digging pads.

You can also ask the person buying the "double-wide" if they need a ditch dug for the water line.... Advertising is easy.... You can buy business cards and print off what you want to do.. You can also print off "flyers" and put them in hardware stores, grocery stores etc..etc.. You can also put an ad in you local newspaper.

Once you do work & do good work, then other people will spread your name around.

Back in the 1970s when I was selling doublewides getting someone with a BH tractor or dozer was a big headache .
They were always booked up when you needed the job done yesterday.
I found that real frustrating and often wished I had my own equipment.

This would be a natural for me as I now have the equipment and also the knowledge of how to prepare the home site from being in that business and doing it for a number of years.
Actually my home set ups were superior to my competions.

I've seen other dealers take my crew and do a botched home set up simply because they didn't know how or what to tell the crew to do.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Back in the 1970s when I was selling doublewides getting someone with a BH tractor or dozer was a big headache .

They were always booked up when you needed the job done yesterday.

If "imron2" can get a contract with a company that sells 'double-wides' then he could only work for them digging 'pads,' and not be tied up with the public doing other work... And if the home owner will hire him to dig a ditch for the waterline, then he could dig that before they deliver the home since he's already there.

 

[newbury]

Despite the rants of the "professionals" against the influx of "white collar" workers into their field it is a fact of life.

Many of these "white collar" workers held jobs going thru their education and growing up that taught them how to do the tasks of home assembly and maintenance.

How many of those in the "construction, excavator, landscaper, painter, whatever trade" held jobs that taught them how to do the "white collar" work?

I can fully understand Builder's comments:

I do get somewhat annoyed that people lose their jobs and immediately want to take work away from me in construction, or from my full time excavator, landscaper, painter, whatever trade they decide to become an "expert" in.

There's very little work for us either, and it seems like everytime the banks, retail stores or other white collar occupations lay people off, they immediately want to get into the trades. Doubling the problem, of course, they will work for peanuts because they have no concept of what it costs to keep a business like that for the long run.

Then we all of us that do this for a career have to drop our prices to get down close to their prices they pull out of a hat somewhere so we can continue to work.

Finally, they get re-hired back into their computer, marketing or sales jobs, they leave us with the low hourly rates and we have to spend years picking up the pieces to get them built back up to prices where we can once again start making money.

Not picking on the OP, but I'm sick of white collar or non-tradesmen guys deciding to to take up my way of making a living until the boss calls them back to work.

Sorry for the rant, but that's my honest opinion. Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, OP included.

If one has sunk costs (paid for equipment) and can "take up your way of living until the boss calls them back to work" would you prefer they go on unemployment or welfare?

And if it drives the wages of the construction/landscaping industry down that's supply and demand.

Although imron2 seems to have left the discussion I applaud his willingness to work.

 

[Builder]

Despite the rants of the "professionals" against the influx of "white collar" workers into their field it is a fact of life.

Many of these "white collar" workers held jobs going thru their education and growing up that taught them how to do the tasks of home assembly and maintenance.

How many of those in the "construction, excavator, landscaper, painter, whatever trade" held jobs that taught them how to do the "white collar" work?

I can fully understand Builder's comments:


If one has sunk costs (paid for equipment) and can "take up your way of living until the boss calls them back to work" would you prefer they go on unemployment or welfare?

Yes. And most laid off white collar workers for AIG, GM, whatever receive severance packages that last 6-12 months. Then there's unemployment. We go through this everytime the white collar sector gets bloated and then there's a recession and they have layoffs. You see the same thing, they start painting houses, landscaping, etc. for below market wages for short periods of time. Then everyone in the community expects guys who have done this on a professional basis for 20 years to work that cheap, too.

And if it drives the wages of the construction/landscaping industry down that's supply and demand.

Not really, it's called something else, I would call it "temporary lowering of current prevailing wages due to white collar sector inefficiency & over-hiring" . And it's really annoying when you've put your time in to a trade only to see a weekend warrior taking work away from you who you know will be gone in a few months back to selling pharmaceuticals.

I guess you wouldn't know the feeling since few tradesmen try to moonlight as sales people, or insurance executives.

I've seen the results of hacker, weekender, summer and temporary work. Some was good, but I've fixed some of it, too.

I have no problem with a full time white collar guy starting a business to do what he wants on weekends. That's a legitimate part time business. It's the guys who are "in" one day, then "out" the next day that screw it up for us.

I know a guy who sealcoats driveways on weekends and sells insurance during the week. His work is top notch and he is the only guy I call. The difference is, he's in the business to stay, even if it's only 1-2 days per week.

 

[polo1665]

Contractors and tradesmen like Builder already have one problem to worry about, when the "white collar" community starts losing jobs, then they lose their bread and butter as well. I'm only guessing, but I would think that the "white collar" community constitutes quite a bit of your customer base. So I guess its a double whammy for you Builder, you lose customer base due to unemployment, then the guy you would have been working for takes your job. Bad situation all around.

Honestly though, I can't see a problem with the guy mowing some overgrown lots. Mowing hardly seems like a skilled trade to me.

Mark