Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #61  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

I thought this might add something for anyone considering doing some side work and wondering how to know if they are pricing their jobs correctly. Pretty sure most already know.


How Do You Know You're Making Money? | JLC Online

From the article: "A client recently sent me an e-mail asking an accounting question. But first, he provided a brief update: çš„ have been busy working and, I believe, making money?

What stood out to me was that he added a question mark to what might otherwise have been a celebratory statement. And that reminded me of how easy it is to get lost in the work and lose sight of the profité*�nd to fool yourself into thinking things are going one way when they may not be. In these challenging times, as the pandemic forces the work to slow down, ramp up, and potentially slow down again, itç—´ even more important to pay attention. Here are two tips that can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your business."


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   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #62  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

You can have 'Quick, Good or Cheap'. You pick any two.


...actually at times it's seem more like pick at most two.

Quick and cheap frequently turns into long and expensive when it has to be redone/replaced multiple times.

Good and quick frequently results in some small detail being overlooked which can result in rework/replacing. Even a collection of experts can screw things up when rushed too much, and if they've never worked together before it's almost a guarantee there will be a miscommunication or detail overlooked the only question is how costly it'll be to correct.

As for good and cheap about the only time that combination seems likely to happen is if someone doesn't know what an item/service is worth.... or there are some very special/unique circumstances at play (e.g. work being done at cost just to keep good people employed during a slow time).

Seen these variations play out quite a few times when it comes to complex systems (e.g. aircraft, networks, software design). .

...and no matter what else when engineers start wanting to be "perfect" they will likely overlook some pretty big parts of reality (e.g. tight tolerances on moving parts combined with a wide difference in required operating temperatures don't always play well together). Which is where the "joke" is in:

Q: How many engineers does it take to do a task?
A: Two. One to do the work, and one to tell the first when to stop.
 
   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #63  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

years and years ago i priced my electrical work at what i thought was a fair price. my accountant asked me if this was a hobby or a business.

i raised my rates and parts markup. i lost some customers, but in the end my business grew.

moral of the story.... dont undercut the price of your competitor, cause he will drop his rate, than you drop yours. than go get a job at McDonalds.
 
   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #64  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

I was in sales but one of the engineering mgrs and i were buddies and he had a heck of a time managing engineers. He used to say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

It's very similar to I.T. work, backups, redundancy, high-availability, uninterruptible power, etc....

You can redundancy yourself into the poorhouse.

There comes a time when good enough is good enough. If you can afford better than good enough, go for it. However, sometimes that last 10-20% of goodness costs more than you'll ever get on your return on investment.
 
   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.
  • Thread Starter
#65  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

Well, I really didn't desire for this thread to become a "are you making money" thread, but I don't think there is much else to add to the equation. Probably stuff I will have to sort out and make decisions. Have another job to look at Sunday. Customer actually regurgitated what I had just told him in that I quote by the job (plus) and I realize the bottom feeders cruise around charging by the hour and just rack up the clock with their crap equipment. He mentioned he has now lost thousands playing that game. It sounds like the typical game where small equipment has been used and tried, and just can't get the job done. Of course no one will come in and tell him how the job needs to get done because most are just wanting to screw him.

But as far as this "formula for making a profit", I drove mostly through business school so I can grasp numbers, but I just don't see this as a black/white deal like accountants. I have done this in other businesses and it can really twist you up if you "go by the book". I think the wildcard I continually play is that I am capable and do fix everything I own. I will spend the money on the right tools, books, etc, because at the end of the day, no one will fix it faster than me. It has also helped a ton to know how to maintain stuff. I take some things too far but when I really "know" the equipment, then I can bet on it for jobs.

I have watched people flail with junk equipment, and fail with new equipment. I think you have to find the middle ground until you have the right rep and work leads to get that new stuff. However, I HIGHLY doubt I will EVER buy new. Even in my other business which has warranted new 6 figure machines purchases, I just won't do it. It helps me sleep at night knowing I have say a 200K machine for 100K, and if things roll over hard, I can at least move that machine and I am not going to lose my ***.
 
   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #66  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

From what I have read, YOU made it a "are you GONNA make money thread".

Not quite sure why you are whining about it now........

:rolleyes:
 
   / Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work. #67  
Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

When I was hiring to do the demolition on my barn, I had plenty of offers from guys with excavators. But none of them had the dump truck and had access to one through a friend or was going to hire it out. That concerned me as I didn't want them to under estimate the truck loads and run out of money or come to me for more money. I ended up going with the outfit that had both excavator and a dump truck which turned out to be a semi with a 40 yard container. It took a dozen loads to haul off the barn and concrete floor. All the estimates came in around $10K, and I am glad I went with the contractor I did so it only cost me $10K and not more!

Barkhamsted Barn Demolition - HD - YouTube
 

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