Newbie - Starting My Own Painting/Handyman Biz - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

utlax18 · 12-16-2008, 04:10 PM

Hello all-

First of all, what a wealth of information on this board. I have been reading it for the past month or so and it is eye opening and encouraging what I have read. From everything from bidding jobs, materials, techniques, business questions, etc.

After being laid off since October, I have finally come to realize an opportunity I have talked about, but never acted upon over the past couple of years and that is to be my own painting contractor. Why you ask? Here are my reasons:

1. Enjoy painting and seeing my work done as I go. Sounds nuts, but I like it.
2. Customers satisified with my work.
3. Flexible time to do other things if I must.

What are my qualifications?

Well, mine is not nearly that of the rest of the men and women on this forum. But, I have painted all of my houses (4 in 6 years), painted other friends houses and many have said 'you do such a good job, why don't you make a living of it'. So, here I am.

Does a good painter make a good business man? Or a good business man a good painter? No, not necessarily. I want to start out slow, being a one man show. Then, if/when business picks up, hire on. I have already had 2 paying jobs over the last month for $3000 and a commitment for another $1700 work next month and did not even advertise. I just wanted to test the waters to see if I have the stomach to do this.

So, am I nuts? Dillusional? A dreamer?

What made many of you decide to go it alone?

Is it stupid to also advertise some handyman services or is that watering down the painting profession too much?

Thanks and good business to all!

Mike

wizendwizard · 12-16-2008, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by utlax18

Hello all-

Is it stupid to also advertise some handyman services or is that watering down the painting profession too much?

Mike

IMO, at this point the market for "handyman" is occupied by every "Richard" that owns a hammer and a saw.

If you can truely paint and are "Great" at it, not just good, Get licensed and insured and stick with one source of profit. Focus on becoming the best in your area at "painting".

Take it from someone who has been where you are right now. Adept Home Repair Services started as a small backwoods tile company. I saw a need in my area for tile installs as the closest installer was 30 miles away. Unfortunately I got greedy and represented myself as a handyman co.

Classifying myself that way in all adverts and cards almost killed me. Customers were calling on me to repair foundations, install french drains, roof houses, do plumbing and electrical.

I was totally unprepared for what I got hit with. I wasted thousands of $ on estimates and adertising that I had no business messing with. Now I am stuck with this name so I can hold the "great" reputation that goes with it.

Again, My advice, stick with 1 thing and become the best at it. Then learn to do other work. Establish your painting as a base then work outwards to be more.

Good Luck and Welcome to the club.

**slickshift** · 12-16-2008, 04:40 PM

Read this now:

SLSTech · 12-16-2008, 04:53 PM

I agree with Wizend, if you are a great painter & like doing it - congrats you found your niche. You will make more money by doing 1 thing that trying to allot of different things. Besides the obvious book plug above, a good book to look into is Michael Stones book on Markup & Profit. As more & more jobs start rolling in - work on a logo, a web site, lettering your truck, Tshirts, etc... Also before you go into hiring others, make sure it something you want to do & have the business to support it. There are quite a few 1 man shops that make more than some of the crew style business's out there

utlax18 · 12-16-2008, 05:43 PM

Thanks for the insight. That is why I posed the question about the handyman service and wasn't even quite sold myself if I should solicit those abilities or not. Maybe if the customer asks if I can do those things I will ponder it and give them a price. But, as marketing goes, etc., I'll probably just leave that to rest.

Thanks!

Mike

logcabin man · 12-16-2008, 06:04 PM

I am in a similar situation as you, I worked for a log cabin company here in the UK for ten years. I left back in july this year as the company were making a few redundancies, so i left while i was in a position with lots of contacts. Luckily over the years i was able to try many different jobs in cabins including kitchens, bathrooms, tiling groundworks and more. Painting i hated if i'm honest because i never had the paitence, If you are good at a trade and you are confident enough then i am sure you will be fine. It does'nt take long for a reputation to get around and thats the best way for advertising. I have just paid for advertising in a company called Check'a'trade which is a recomendation only company. I am advertising as a property maintenance company so i will have to test all my skills i have learned over the years.

Good luck and work hard.

RCPainting · 12-16-2008, 06:32 PM

You might read this,
For new members and visitors: So you think you want to be a painting contractor? - Paint Talk - Professional Painting Contractors Forum
painttalk.com is also owned by Nathan, who owns this site. Come on over and introduce yourself, lots of good info on both sites.

utlax18 · 12-16-2008, 06:51 PM

RCPainting-

Thanks for the link. I appreciate everyone's encouragement and showing the newbies some tips and insights.

Mike

EricTheHandyman · 12-16-2008, 10:48 PM

Mike,

It all comes down to two things: what do you WANT to do, and what are you good at? Like another poster indicated, if you promote yourself as a handyman, you'll get called to do all sorts of interesting things. If you have a wide variety of talents, why not use that to your advantage to get work when there aren't any painting customers? However, if you hate hanging drywall or making sawdust, don't promote something just to get the phone to ring for something that you can't do anyway.

Good luck, Eric

capital city · 12-17-2008, 09:45 AM

Weird seeing everyone encouraging Mike instead of bashing him, everyone must be in the Christmas spirit.

Mike as others have said I would not recommend the handyman route. You want to be seen as a professional at what you do and I think most poeple see a handyman as ok at everything but not great at anything and expect to pay accordingly. If you want to pick up more work just do a good job painting and your customers will be asking you to do all kinds of stuff. I also can and will do alot of stuff other then painting and am good at it but I keep my main focus on painting. I usually will let a customer know when a job is done and they are satisfied that they can call me for anything they need and if I cant do the work myself I can usually recommend a good contractor that they can trust.

One more thing, always keep in mind how important every customer is to your business. You can advertise all you want but it will never outweigh word of mouth. I have found if I am recommended by someone else I probably land the job 95% of the time, most of the time they dont even get another bid. Good Luck

utlax18 · 12-17-2008, 12:32 PM

Capital City-

The more I think about it, you are correct in focusing at one thing and becoming a consumate professional at and if the customer asks you about other non-painting items, bid those as well, barring you feel comfortable to do it. An example is my daughters friends grandmother wanted a quote to paint her bedroom and bath, then asked me if I could repair her threshold and hang some curtain hardware for her as well. I have both jobs lined up for January to do the work when she is out of town. So, without even painting the room I was asked about performing other work for her.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

RCPainting · 12-17-2008, 04:07 PM

Are there any licensing/insurance requirements in your state?

utlax18 · 12-17-2008, 05:25 PM

RCPainting-

Nope. No contractor license requiredd for a painting. I have liability and workman's comp just on myself since I am a one man show at this time.