Contractor Advise

Dmiller

First off i am 23, I am about to start something. My goal is to one day have a sucess business as being a contractor. and my soon to be wife landscaping and pool design I am about to get married to a woman who has a degree in landscaping from Texas A & M.
As of now I have no school. I was looking for a type of school such as a trade school but I dont know what kind of school or what to look for? Do I need to Go to a Contractor school or would it be better to go to a Carpenter school....... need some help!!!!!!

LIFE IS FULL OF CHOICE THE HARD PART IS JUST TO PICK THE RIGHT ONE........

maj

Learn how to be a carpenter FIRST , Then after ten years or so of learning the basics, you could jump up to lead or super, then after ten years or so in that position, you might be able to start thinking about starting your own contracting business..

Post back in 20 years about the "starting my own business question"...

Dmiller

Then I will be 50 years old and Into my first year of owning my own business..... That might have been your plan but i think that if you want to make money that you have start alot sooner but thanks for the great wisdom. People go to school know to own businesses

Dmiller

anyone else with some GOOD advise......

joasis

Kinda a different idea then your other post, but realistic. If i were doing it all over again, I would do it like last time and work in construction while I was taking night classes. The difference would be doing something in engineering or construction technology in a junior college. There is no substitute for experience, and while some guys can lead after minimul experience, it is really better to spend a lot of time doing the hands on work so you know what the hands need to be doing.

We have a guy who calls himself a builder here, and he couldn't frame a dog house. He found the skills to manipulate people and conived his way into the home construction business by getting some money together and then doing the contracting of a home himself. He got really lucky and sold it, then repeated til he broke into custom homes, ect. Now he is in a class action lawsuit over the poor quality of some of the homes under his flag, and even though he is a supposed "builder", he didn't have the baseline experience I think is critical to really handle construction. He learned the craft watching his subs work, and they are doing as would be expected with a weak GC. The guy is a jerk and a crook, and I don't feel sorry for him, but you get my point and maj's also, get the real craft experience, and the education in school will flesh out what you learn on the job. Hell, you are young, do it right.

maj

I thought that was GOOD advise.... Jeez.....

I don't know of any GC's in their 30's let alone their 20's..

joasis

One other thing: Just an add to other advice, but your approach sounds very impatient. My son is the same way, and he doesn't listen either. School is great, BUT it will not substitute for REAL experience. The local vo-tech here has a carpentry or construction class that builds a modular home every school year. Guys in that class learn a lot. But building a mod/home with a class and an instructor looking over your shoulder every step does not make you a framer. It qualifies you to know your way around a job site, hold a nail gun, crown studs, ect, ect....get my point?

College level building and tech classes will teach you how to determine span loads, building design, construction costs and estimating, codes and compliance, ect..ect...but will not teach you what it takes to handle when things go wrong, when the slab is not square, when erecting trusses in the wind, framing a 12/12 roof walking on 2X6's and holding a worm drive saw in one hand and a rafter in the other, ect, ect...or about blueprints not meeting code or windows not matching plan or spec after the framing is up...I could go on and on....one more...the architect makes a critical mistake and you have no support for a second floor balcony and the HO says no way to an interior column, then what do you do with the degree from the junior college?

I hope this helps and you take it as I gave it. Maj and I think alike and I bet others will chime in...there just ain't no substitute for the real world trade experience, PERIOD

Dmiller

yeah i agree with that and the rest as well. I have been working for contractors with a two or three man crew for about eight years. He always has a spec or custom home that he is working on and then some remodels, I would like to start early so when I needed time off i can use it. What kind of school does your son attend?

joasis

My son has a degree in criminal justice, was an intern for the US Marshall in Oklahoma, and after 5 years at OU and I hate to guess the gallons of beer, is currently selling Hondas so he can "pay off debts" before he gets a real career in law enforcement or gets broke and has to work for dad building houses......I love him to death, but what did I get for my money? I should have made him stay home and learn framing...least then he would have money instead of calling me when car sales slump.

Dmiller

yeah My familly own a business and it was going to get handed to me and I chose school and found out the hard way that an university was not for me thats why I want to go to a construction school just to get what you cant learn i the field

Mike Finley

Yep. Get both your wife and yourself a job with a landscape company, learn everything you can about how to do landscaping, meanwhile go to school for business not landscaping.

Then start your own landscaping company with your wife doing the design work and you running the crews and you'll retire before you are 40.

Cole

Where are you from, Dmiller?

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Dmiller

College Station Texas

Bob Kovacs

Mike-

Don't forget- if he's going to start a landscaping business (especially in Texas) he better take a lot of Spanish classes while getting that business degree

Bob

RowdyRed94

You can be a builder without having a lot of carpentry experience. Being a builder nowdays means more business and less carpentry, despite what the old-time carpenters want you to believe. There's a lot of snap-judgement and negativity here, so try to see past that. If you're good businessman and hire good carpenters and foremen, you can be a good contractor.

It's clear from your writing that you need some education. Clear written and oral communication is paramount in any business.

For the record, I have gobs of carpentry experience and I'm a poor businessman. I wish it was the other way around, so I could make some real money. I'm working on it.

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Clint - carpenter, coordinator, webmaster

A+Carpenter

yea dont become a contractor unless you want to be a cutthroat to get business. If you want to feed your family all year around. Make sure you have something to fall back on!!!!

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joasis

[QUOTE=RowdyRed94]You can be a builder without having a lot of carpentry experience. Being a builder nowdays means more business and less carpentry, despite what the old-time carpenters want you to believe. There's a lot of snap-judgement and negativity here, so try to see past that. If you're good businessman and hire good carpenters and foremen, you can be a good contractor.

Ok...sure, ANYONE can be a builder, and I am sure their are lots more then the jerk I mentioned who are doing it and doing it sucsessfully. Fine, but do you think it is sound advice to lay it on that a good businessman can hire his subs, and KNOW what he is getting? What if he hires the wrong foreman? A better plan would be to hire a contractor and take less profit since the GC will get a cut. At least the contractor will have references and EXPERIENCE to get the job done correctly. I do not think anyone has to spend 20 years in the trenches to make the cut. I have seen EXCELLENT trade people who just have the natural gift for their craft. I regularly hire a concrete finisher who is 23 and works the best floor you can get without laser screeding. My tile guy is 24 and I would match his work against most. I have acted as a GC for a Buildblock rep who is 28 and putting up steel buildings for lease and re-sale. My Reynolds/Norandex siding rep is all of 28 and has contracted 3 houses (as his own GC) and is doing a 4th, but keeping his day job. Did I mention though, he did framing with a crew in highschool and college?

I do not mean to be negative, and shoot anyone down, but I firmly believe in getting all the facts and making an informed choice. Back many years ago when i was a kid with a new pilots license, i dreamed of getting all the ratings and flying for the airlines. An older, wiser, retired airline pilot pointed out to do what i wanted would almost mean doing the USAF route, since the majors don't hire Cessna flight school graduates. Now sometimes, a civil pilot makes it up the long hard way, but most are from the military. So who would you rather fly with? The guy with a few years or the retired air force pilot with lots of experience starting a second career?

wackman

This is good advice. To truly be a successful contractor you need to be a business man that works construction, not a tradesman that tries some business. All of these guys make good points about having some time in, other wise you'll always have an uphill battle with your subs, supervisors, foremen and even laborers. You can't just go with the high or low price. You need to really understand what you're looking at to find value.

I'm a young builder and doing pretty well for myself, but for a great example, my cousin (and good friend) is 28 years old and will build 120 homes this year. He built 50 last year. He already has a couple million dollar home and a new ferrari. However he worked incredibley hard for this success. 7 years ago he was sleeping on my couch with a stack of business cards and a 480 credit score to his name.

You can do anything you set your mind to, just never ever give up, be prepared for some sacrifice and do everything you can to educate yourself along the way.

Good luck

Dmiller

Does he build custom homes or are they all specs?
What price homes do he build? And Thanks for the luck

wackman

Most builders borrow the money to do all the work and you have limits to how much they will lend you, it's called leveraging. You can borrow more if they are pre-sold or custom, plus it's nice to know you won't have a home just sitting there when it's finished. You can close right away and stop paying interest on the borrowed funds.

Specs are generally easier and you usually make more on them but they're riskier. Customs are more of a pain because you're dealing with the buyers, and you usually make less, but it's much safer and you can borrow more, hence build more homes = make more money.

Here we both build mid to upper-mid level homes that sell between $400 and $800k. Nicely finished, between 1800-3500 sqft.