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#21 ·
Spaint90 said:
I once met a guy who drove a chitty beat up toyota carolla with 200k plus miles on it. Funniest part was he is a billionaire from a dotcom he started and sold. Dresses like a freaking bum. Has a couple beach shacks, literally shacks in places like tahiti and indonesia. Lives down to earth. One of the coolest and nicest people ive ever met.

But i wake up everyday and deal with people that cant even afford their cars really, dress up in expensive clothing and are complete assholes.

So Otislilly- cheers mate. Materialism and objects are very little.
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Yeah, it's all about materialism. Good call, that's what this is about.

For the record, there's a good chance a billionaire who drives a piece of junk has serious mental issues. Have you considered that or is this normal? Lol

I feel like this is high school.
 
#22 ·
otislilly said:
I drive used trucks by choice, bought 7 1/2 acres of land and building My house with no loans( no intrest)
Anyone can try and ridicule me all they wish, I can shake it off.

I was a lead man for a GC for many years, I have trippled my income on my own, as well as putting other people to work.

I have no intentions to buy a new truck I need to worry about scratching. I dont need to look the part of being successful, there is no vanity in me. Its the means to an end.

If I spend 5 days building a custom tree-house with HO's rough sawn lumber I dont have to cry from any loss income from no markup on materials. All of my markups are in my rates.

IF I have to pick up something, that I was too stupid to have included when I ordered my materials, then I am more than covered for the trip to supply yard by my rate.

If I had to drive from NC to PA to pick it up I would be covered, I dont care if I am driving, digging, drywall or cabinents, I cant loose money,
and on T&M, I make more for every person there with no gamble, not ever, no matter what we are doing.

For the record, and to noone in particular, Anyone whom wants to personally look down there nose at me can respectfully,
Pound sand.
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"All of my markups are in my rates"

Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself. Lol

So basically you are lying to your customer when you say you don't markup?
 
#23 ·
otislilly said:
Having NO markup IS my #1 selling point for new clients, shows the data from my job end questionaire, consistantly over the last 2 yrs.
....
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In other words, you don't know how to proerly price your labor units when you are marketing to bottom-feeding customers
 
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#28 ·
Oconomowoc said:
"All of my markups are in my rates"

Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself. Lol

So basically you are lying to your customer when you say you don't markup?
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we need to start our own thread if we are to throw this around awhile,
No I clearly say No markups on material. and I dont. All overheads are figured into what I need to make per hour. They are agreeing to pay me the amount I need to stay in buisness, and grow.
They agree to pay my rate based on the service that I have provided to whomever refered me to them, they know full well that if there are no markups on one thing its somewhere else, somehow its easier for them to swallow if its in the labor I recon, thats what my questionaire shows. hey whatever works for you, is on you. I am just trying to get mine.

Call it marketing, call it ignorant, call it a bait and switch, dont matter to me. But I have to say since comming to this board, and seeing how much overhead everyone else has to make up for, seriously has me questioning if that rate is enough. maybee I am underselling myself. I am gonna try and do some research on that. I know I am better off now Than I ever have been, maybe I am still not where I could be.
Untill I find out differently, ignorance is bliss, I'm lovin my life.
I think we are just from 2 different worlds, (truth is I am from WV)
so what is heaven to me, may be a pigpen to you.
I think we should just agree to disagree, and let it go.
God I hope I dont find out I should be making more and have to say your right someday. But I would, if I did.
 
#29 ·
I could be wrong, but I always thought that buying and selling a product or service for the same price is bad business. When you purchase material, or hire a sub, your are in fact selling it to your client, which in turn is income to you which you will be taxed on. If you just get reimbursed, you are working at a loss. I did that for quite a while when I started over 27 years ago, because most of my work was residential, and it was difficult to make certain homeowners understand. Luckily 95% or more of my work now is commercial and I am dealing with business people who understand what it takes to be and stay in business.
 
#30 ·
I don't mark up materials, it's easy for H.O. to reference what they cost & this way i don't have to explain myself to anyone and besides I'm not in the retailing business. Also, if I spend say a $1000 on materials, that is deducted as business expense, I am not paying any income tax on that. This being said, I also do NOT shop for my customer's materials for FREE, nor do I deliver my customer's materials for free - I charge my same hourly rate as I do for my time working on the job as it's time out of my life that I am spending on behalf of a customer.
 
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#31 ·
JMurphy said:
I'm in a situation where a client asked if one of my crew could do some power washing as well as misc. repairs on their house. I agreed and told them that we would do it hourly and bill the cost of materials back to them after the work was completed. After a couple days labour and a couple hundred dollars in material costs the client wants all the receipts from our purchases for their records. I've never given a client my receipts before and don't want to start now. I typically charge a small percentage on top of materials for pick up and delivery etc and don't need for the client to be examining the way I do business.
We also built a set of stairs that was in a quote that had supplies and he wants the receipts for this as well or he's not paying anything.
I've never run into this before but before I start lien's and court action I just thought I'd reach out for some advice.
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You need the originals for tax puposes. Customer gets photocopies. Make sure to up your percentage to cover time and fuel for running around.
 
#32 ·
I don’t mind giving copies of receipts if I’m doing a T&M job.
The markup will already be in my fee. Any stock items or materials I use that I already have, caulk, finish nails, putty, plumbing fittings, glue sandpaper, (it can be a long list if you really want to get detailed) gets charged to the job and I will write an invoice for supplies at whatever cost and markup I see fit. :whistling

The HO usually just wants to see how much he’s spending VS how much you said it was going to cost. Other than that, I can’t see him having the receipts being any advantage for him.
 
#33 ·
Sweebs said:
Also, if I spend say a $1000 on materials, that is deducted as business expense, I am not paying any income tax on that.
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Precisely. I don't know why anyone would pay income tax on their materials. If you are you need to find a different acct. Inc tax on the markup would be different.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Oconomowoc said:
Change the subject all you want but a billionaire who drives a POS has issues. Sorry, but I think this story is made up and I'm going to bed. Pretty sure this conversation is not headed in a good direction.
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Most computer rich people are a little different, imo. :laughing:

For the record, I have seen a billionaire who was a Co founder of a major internet company in the late 90s , sold his stock in 2001. My dad was a sub for the GC on his home on the water. We remodeled the kitchen last winter. Until last year, he drove an older Lexus. He wears normal, Target type clothes. His wife and he are the nicest people you could hope to meet. Completely un pretentious.


Far cry from shanty's and pos cars, but driving a 10 year old car and wearing 20 dollar shirts is not "normal" for a billionaire. He is completely sane and stable, I assure you.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Most places i deal with give me a receipt with the normal cost and what i pay on it. It is usually a 15% difference so that is what i use for the mark up. I then give the customer a detailed invoice with my marked up prices, if they want a copy of the receipts then that is fine by me but they pay the marked up price. I have had a few argue it but it is my account that the materials went through, not theirs. I also charge extra for pick up and delivery, my truck and i do not move for free.

As far as the T&M argument goes i do most jobs T&M and i seem to do well with it. But i do mark up materials, i do charge travel time for pick up and delivery, i charge for saw blades and drill bits if i use an excessive amount of them to do the job. These items i usually list under misc. along with nails, screws, caulk, glue, tape, etc. I do not care what people drive and you can usually read what type of customer they will be the 1st couple minutes you meet with them. I have learned more and more to be a prick to those who choose to beat me up on my bill. Lately i have found arguing over a bill costs me time, time is money and when you tell the customer that we can argue for hours over the bill and he will be charged accordingly for that time wasted you will have his attention. I do my estimates for free which i remind them about, i am no longer willing to waste extra time arguing over a bill wasting my time to save them a few dollars. The free estimate is already their free "bone", they get no other freebies.
 
#36 ·
Oconomowoc said:
Change the subject all you want but a billionaire who drives a POS has issues. Sorry, but I think this story is made up and I'm going to bed. Pretty sure this conversation is not headed in a good direction.
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Rumor has it that Sam Walton drove an old truck and wore walmart clothes.

If I had to I could drive an old truck, but walmart clothes:eek:
 
#38 ·
r4r&r said:
Not only the old truck but he also brought a brown sack lunch everyday and beat the hell out of vendors over price.
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I have no idea who sam walton is, but I did some work for a family that is just shy of being billionaires. They were the tightest, cheapest most ridiculous bunch I ever worked for. They did have huge homes and nice cars though. Cars weren't that nice though, just caddies
 
#39 ·
r4r&r said:
Not only the old truck but he also brought a brown sack lunch everyday and beat the hell out of vendors over price.
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And the company continues to do that to this day!

We as a nation think we're entitled to union type wages but want to buy things at Walmart pricing!

Trying to have it both ways is running our country into the ground.

This pricing race to the bottom of the barrel has to stop.
 
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