Anyone Diversify?

RYANINMICHIGAN

I have a chance to open up two other businesses. A property maintenance service and a Home inspection service. I will not be working at either just managing it and the revenue. I have a guy who is pretty talented in multiple areas and is hurting for work. My plan was to employ him to do these two services and make some money for me financing it. I am not sure about how to structure the handyman side of it in terms of pricing, I need to work on that but I think there is a demand and will be for a while with the boomers retiring and the unfortunate movement of the working class to be untalented suits. I know the housing sales are down but I have a good family friend that owns a mortgage company who I could get some good captive advertising through. What do you guys think? Anyone branch out?

pwrpapa

If your in MI. I would branch right out of the construction biz altogether like I did. The handyman side of it is just what it says.
Everyone is one,there's no money in it here. Home inspections are the same too.Lots of people without work are cutting prices. Let us know how it goes for ya.
Good luck, Pop's...

ron schenker

Ryan..Is your guy a licenced home inspector? If not, will he get one? Here in Ontario there is no government legislation and anyone can be a H.I.
Just curious, but you say he's pretty talented in multiple areas..then why is he hurting for work?

Grumpy

I've said this a million times and I stand by this statement whole heartedly. being the worlds best tradesman does not qualify you to run a business nor mean you will have any level of success in a trade business.

RYANINMICHIGAN

Exactly grump. skilled hands yes, buisness man no. He does not need a license for any of it.

Teetorbilt

Diversify? Surely! I was in the marine business for years before construction took off here and I'm always looking for niches. Window treatments may sound strange but the profit margins are there, I've been there for 7 yrs.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

dirt diggler

i often fantasize about diversifying ...

especially during the winter ...

even thought of doing home inspections.

HOWEVER ... I am slowly coming back to something that a wise (and elder-er) man once told me and that is "pick something ... get really good at it ... become an expert in that area ... and make some money"



oh --- and these diversification fantasies often occur when things are slow ...

Good Luck!!

Mike Finley

Branching out is good - however beware of what will most likely happen, when you look at something that you don't consider full time, or being able to 'just manage' it or any venture that you aren't whole heartedly ready to devote a tremendous amount of time to... usually the long term results are something that pretty much does one of two things - gets all fu#ked up pretty quickly or ends up just fading after awhile due to the lack of staying on top of it and being very serious about it.

Starting 1 new venture is ambitious, starting 2 at the same time is pretty well... I don't want to say naive, but you might be surprised either how it blows up quickly or just dies on the vine after awhile. Starting 2 is very ambitious. Get rich slowly, by expanding slowly.

pwrpapa

Bingo,You win the prize.......There's not a day that goes by that I miss the construction biz. At one time in my life I ate sleep an crapped framing. I'm glad that's just a bad nightmare gone by.
I'm making more money now than I ever did doing what I love.

RYANINMICHIGAN

It is all about the $$. A friend of mine opened a deli about 10 years ago and asked me to be a silent partner. I was not thinking of the bigger pic and did not want to own a deli. Well 10 years later and 3 more locations, and well he just kind of hangs out now.

pwrpapa

You can do the same Ryan. Don't let yourself think that construction is all you can do. I did that for over 30 years. Outsourcing of our jobs really made me do some thinking.
I get around 20 to 30 paychecks a day now. LOL...