How Did You Get Started?

Joe6pack

This is for the general contractors, but others can chime in. How did you get started in the remodeling business?

shed-n-deck

I went broke when in a single week I dropped $8,000 on labor costs and didn't bring any money in. So I fired all but 4 guys, and gave that a go, still didn't work, so I got rid of all of my help. I had known some Remodel contractors that I had framed a few garages for, so they set me up with some framing and deck jobs. Then they screwed me. So I opened up the yellow pages, and started making cold calls to every contractor in the book. I got a few calls back, but the one that really caught my attention was a pop-top (pop-up) in Cherry Hills. So I jumped on the job, and even helped the guys do some structural planning. I realized after a few months working with these guys that they were idiots. They had recently began a career in the remodeling business doing high end homes in the Denver area. Before that, they installed pre-fabbed sun rooms...At that moment, I knew that if these idiots could pull of $260,000 additions with a background in sun room installations, then I could. That's when I got my start.

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Shed

Flacan

I'd say that all my contacts, leads, etc, which have evolved into work, have come thru people I've known - friends, acquaintances, vendors, customers.

Basically, I let people know what I do, and eventually some of them ask me to work for them.

The above only works if you are likable and trustworthy. I'm not tooting my own horn, just trying to help.

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Raimo Kumpulainen
Those who don't remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.