Should I Drop This Guy?

eisert

I have been sub-contracting through a storm damage contractor for about nine months now. I am trying to decide whether to keep doing work for this guy or not. A good majority of the work is small piddly crap that I really do not care to do (replace 2-10 pcs of siding, things of that nature) and the contractor pretty much expects me to drop everything else I have going on to go do these small repairs within 24 hrs.

On the plus side, he only does storm damage work (roofing and siding) and has no problem with me marketing and selling other jobs to his customers (so far this has been small stuff like storm door installs, small repairs, but I did get one nice basement finish out of it).

When he calls for a full reside, I'll typically get the call on a Monday afternoon and have to go and measure out the house for materials so he can get an order in by Wednesday morning at the absolute latest to start the job the following Monday. How are his salesmen selling these jobs without knowing material costs and quantities?

Lately these resides have been happening 1hr 15min from my house. On the last 2, material was 2 days late (he supplies material). I figured I would give the house I was supposed to start yesterday an extra day for material to get there, so I didn't go until this morning and still no material. I called him and complained a bit, to which he answered "Well, it's not my fault, you should be checking with the yard to comfirm delivery dates." Shouldn't that be the generals job?

My dilema is that the resides always seem to fall into a break in my schedule, keeping my guys busy. I have a lot of work right now, and more calls are coming in almost daily, with a lot of bids going out also. I'm reluctant to drop him because of the convenient timing so far, but the PITA factor seems to be growing exponentially. Any advice?

P.S. He pays on a peice work schedule and it is VERY hard to get him to deviate from his set price lists to get paid for my extra time and running around.

oldfrt

A little easier to read this way>

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Gus Dering

Ah crap! I should have scrolled down and read the reply. I was struggling with that uni-paragraph.

I felt the same way about a designer recently. Man I wanted to dump her. PITA

But I blew some steam to anyone that would listen and came to my senses. In this economy I want and need all my clients to come back. I never know when that one PITA might show up with a job right when I need one.

So I pick my battles carefully and try to have her feel taken care of as I train her. Still wanted to dump her like a bad habit though.

But you may feel secure enough to dump your guy and simplify your life a little. More power to you if you can without it hurting the bottom line too bad.

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eisert

Original post edited for easier reading

6stringmason

Are you losing money, barely breaking even, or making just enough to make it worth your while? Answer that question and you will have the answer you need.

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jtpro

Sounds like this guy knows he can get by with how he's treating you.

However I would hold on to this guy untill your a 1,000% you can reign him in or part ways.

DaVinciRemodel

There are lots of PITA's if you need the $ and he does pay, stay for a bit. If you don't need the work - you don't need a PITA either.

Good luck!

freemason21

maybe you could sub out the work if you cant take it for the time being?

Magnettica

Yeah, right. Working for a guy like that right now and he's trying to tell me about the way things are. Puh-leeze. I might be new to the business world but not to electrical work. It's not like I haven't been doing this for half my frigging life! I can't sit around and wait for your call, other projects are going on and I wish I could help you but I need more than 24 hours because other customers are also important to my bottom line.

HVAC guys

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Tom R

You meant a little eiser't read this way, right??

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mics_54

you drive an hour before knowing materials are there??? wtf dude?

thats why he pays piece work I recon.

Gus Dering

Oh to be young and full of enthusiasm. I admire your spunk.

The only way he could sub this mess out would be if it was a slam dunk easy client. How complicated would it be if there was one more finger in the pie?
He has a client that he can barely keep happy when he jumps at his every whim. Then you have to get another guy to jump and all you have is a circle jerk of headaches.

These types of clients need to be coached when there is an opening. They need to be brought up like a kid. You can't just throw another guy on the fire and expect this thing to go smoothly. Quite the opposite.

Then what will prolly happen is the PITA will cut you out and want to deal direct with the new meat anyway.

Tell me if I'm wrong

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cabinet runner

Well at least you have realized this person cares nothing about you so you are ahead in that regard . The question you are asking none of us can answer for you .
A paying PITA beats the hell out of another who is decent and their check bounces .

I've been in your situation a few times before .
I'd try and move on but the only question you need to answer is if it comes down to sitting on the couch or working for this doucher what is best for you ,your family , and your mental well being ???

I'm very busy now but a few months ago I'd have worked for Stalin no questions asked . You know what you have to do .

abacab

Save your money up so you can afford some down time, then drop his ass. If you end up with down time, you can use it to improve your business, find new markets, get your sales pitch together. I think most my life so far I've worked so hard that I haven't had time to work smart. I still got a lot to learn.

RizzoMaryland

If you really look into this situation you may find that these "small" jobs are in fact affected your primary work. The added time on the road away from your normal market is one example.

Keep this in mind and evaluate how important your time is as a business owner.

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