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Sub Contracting

1K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Chris Johnson 
#1 ·
My boyfriend works for a contractor during the week and subcontracts his skills all other hours.

Recently he turned the guy he works for on to a very expensive job. He sold it and brought his "boss" in on it.

To say the least he is now only offering to pay my boyfriend his regular hourly rate with no recognition of a commission. Is this common practice? Seems he should get %15 - %20. He visited with the client up to 8 times and also had blueprints made of the job but felt that the day crew he works with would be best for the job. Hence going to his day job boss.

I feel like the guy is screwing him. I am angry. He is in a bind and his boss knows it. :furious::furious:
 
#3 ·
What was the discussion/agreement before all this went down? That should answer your question. I'll tell you 15-20% is waaaaay too high (unless agreed to ahead of time).

Now if your boyfriend is a salesman for a remodeling company with an agreed upon commission, that's a whole other story.

Unless you've run a business for awhile, you're going to be pretty clueless what the real costs of doing business are. I'll guarantee you the gc is'nt netting anything close to what you two think he is.

J
 
#4 ·
Yes this is common. It happens to young guys all the time.

The trick is to not let it happen again.

He had a great idea he just forgot an important step.

The step where he says " I've got something great in this box. I'll let you peek, but before you can have it I get something in return"

One good thing that came from this experience is now he knows what type of person he works for.
 
#5 ·
The big thing people forget is communication. If your boyfriend had presented a case up front, like "hey, if I bring work in, can I get (fill in the blank)?" Expecting something along the lines of what sounds like the 10-20% markup on a sub (his boss' company) for a job he found himself kind of stretches common sense if he didn't work this all out up front. If he wants the 10-20% that bad, then I'd say have your boyfriend be the GC, get the insurance, get the contractor's license, get the line of credit, stick his neck out, etc, and truly sub this work out to his boss' company. Right now he really doesn't have a leg to stand on. If it were one of my guys, they'd get a finder's fee, because we have that worked out. But our finder's fees are on the order of an extra weeks pay, down to some extra folding money, depending on the size of the job.
 
#6 ·
He brought the job into the company, who priced it?

I can look at this two ways, yes he deserves something from his/your point of view. He found/received a client, worked with them to make the project into a reality.

From the business owners point of view, he is acting in good faith as a dedicated company employee, keeping is job secure looking out for the guy who pays him.

Reality...I would give him some form of bonus...after the job was done, the bonus would be based on the value of the job.
 
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