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Juat curious if people are busy or slow so far this year. We are in the dayton Ohio area and it seems slow around here. I dont know if people are broke from the hard winter or what.
Just for the sake of learning what was the adjustment that cost you two months?Jason, Once you build a real base the famines are shorter lived and less painful.
I had to make a big adjustment last year and it cost me nearly two months. I am just catching up from that lull, but am also booking for late Summer early Fall. I just received 7 calls today alone.
I didn't know that story Rob- I thought you were above all of us. Lol.I have told the story on here a few times and Ron and Angus are pretty familiar with it, so I apologize for those that have heard it before.
In late 2011 I had a buddy of mine passed off a tiling job for a local plumbing outfit. This shop has been in this town since the 60's. Dad owned the shop and retired several years ago leaving it to his son and daughter to run.
Well, I did them right by that job and they asked if I would be their "tiler". I agreed and we came to terms. Over the next several months it became painfully obvious that daddy was still pumping money into the operation to keep it running and that his kids knew nothing about running a successful business.
I ended up being the unofficial GC for a large kitchen job, but really more like the jobsite supervisor. They used my Electrician (Ron) and my HVAC contractor. Here's how bad it was. The day that Ron showed up to start piping the "project manager/designer/world's biggest idiot when it comes to construction and remodeling", him and I had to lay out the kitchen cabinets. Here pen drawings on old 3 hole punch were surprisingly unaccurate. We sat there for the better part of two hours laying out the design and making the proper adjustments.
To make a long story short, they had so much work coming in that I was unable to really support any of my own. It was pretty good money. The problem was I had tied myself to them and had no real base any longer of my own.
Well I should have known how they operate because when I was brought on they already had a contractor working with them and instead of telling him what was going on they just stopped using him.
In December of 2012 we finished up a bathroom and I then took off two weeks over Christmas break. We had 6 jobs in the wings and were going to hit the ground running. I called them the first week in Jan of 2013 and they told me everything was on hold for a a week. That week turned into two and then they stopped returning my calls. I got the hint.
It put me in an awful position. I had to basically start from scratch. It took those two months to update my website and shake the bushes, but in the end, it was the best thing to happen to me. It was a great lesson in business. Never again will I hitch my wagon to anyone's horses.
I like the 'hitching the wagon to the horses' part. That is a great saying that I never heard before.I have told the story on here a few times and Ron and Angus are pretty familiar with it, so I apologize for those that have heard it before.
In late 2011 I had a buddy of mine passed off a tiling job for a local plumbing outfit. This shop has been in this town since the 60's. Dad owned the shop and retired several years ago leaving it to his son and daughter to run.
Well, I did them right by that job and they asked if I would be their "tiler". I agreed and we came to terms. Over the next several months it became painfully obvious that daddy was still pumping money into the operation to keep it running and that his kids knew nothing about running a successful business.
I ended up being the unofficial GC for a large kitchen job, but really more like the jobsite supervisor. They used my Electrician (Ron) and my HVAC contractor. Here's how bad it was. The day that Ron showed up to start piping the "project manager/designer/world's biggest idiot when it comes to construction and remodeling", him and I had to lay out the kitchen cabinets. Here pen drawings on old 3 hole punch were surprisingly unaccurate. We sat there for the better part of two hours laying out the design and making the proper adjustments.
To make a long story short, they had so much work coming in that I was unable to really support any of my own. It was pretty good money. The problem was I had tied myself to them and had no real base any longer of my own.
Well I should have known how they operate because when I was brought on they already had a contractor working with them and instead of telling him what was going on they just stopped using him.
In December of 2012 we finished up a bathroom and I then took off two weeks over Christmas break. We had 6 jobs in the wings and were going to hit the ground running. I called them the first week in Jan of 2013 and they told me everything was on hold for a a week. That week turned into two and then they stopped returning my calls. I got the hint.
It put me in an awful position. I had to basically start from scratch. It took those two months to update my website and shake the bushes, but in the end, it was the best thing to happen to me. It was a great lesson in business. Never again will I hitch my wagon to anyone's horses.
I know I'm relatively unknown around here but I think this is the most valuable post made by TNT.TNTSERVICES said:I have told the story on here a few times and Ron and Angus are pretty familiar with it, so I apologize for those that have heard it before. In late 2011 I had a buddy of mine passed off a tiling job for a local plumbing outfit. This shop has been in this town since the 60's. Dad owned the shop and retired several years ago leaving it to his son and daughter to run. Well, I did them right by that job and they asked if I would be their "tiler". I agreed and we came to terms. Over the next several months it became painfully obvious that daddy was still pumping money into the operation to keep it running and that his kids knew nothing about running a successful business. I ended up being the unofficial GC for a large kitchen job, but really more like the jobsite supervisor. They used my Electrician (Ron) and my HVAC contractor. Here's how bad it was. The day that Ron showed up to start piping the "project manager/designer/world's biggest idiot when it comes to construction and remodeling", him and I had to lay out the kitchen cabinets. Here pen drawings on old 3 hole punch were surprisingly unaccurate. We sat there for the better part of two hours laying out the design and making the proper adjustments. To make a long story short, they had so much work coming in that I was unable to really support any of my own. It was pretty good money. The problem was I had tied myself to them and had no real base any longer of my own. Well I should have known how they operate because when I was brought on they already had a contractor working with them and instead of telling him what was going on they just stopped using him. In December of 2012 we finished up a bathroom and I then took off two weeks over Christmas break. We had 6 jobs in the wings and were going to hit the ground running. I called them the first week in Jan of 2013 and they told me everything was on hold for a a week. That week turned into two and then they stopped returning my calls. I got the hint. It put me in an awful position. I had to basically start from scratch. It took those two months to update my website and shake the bushes, but in the end, it was the best thing to happen to me. It was a great lesson in business. Never again will I hitch my wagon to anyone's horses.
How do you think I became so smart? Experience...and screwing up every once in awhile.I didn't know that story Rob- I thought you were above all of us. Lol.
There is something to be said to owning your own dog and pony show.