how much markup?

[Master Plumber Mark]

To KORDTS.....be WARY..keep expences down....

KORDTS This is really none of my business ...maybe you
are already a large company with 15-30 employees already.

and maybe I am just a chump and you are better at manageing people than I am ..thats OK

I have traveled down the very same path that you are
about to impart on....so BE WARNED...

and it could have been much worse but I put on the brakes...


If you think you are gonig to "kick back" and let the
girls answer the calls for you and do your paperwork
you are in for a rude, rude awakening...


You might as well get this "wet dream" out of your mind right now and do it all yourself or have your wife do it before you "trust" someone to deposit your CASH and do your bookkeeping....

remember you still got to keep an eye on them and know how to jump in and do it for yourself in case they some day decide to "bail out" with no notice when you dont give them a raise or expensive Med benefits...
( they see your books and know what you make)

gatting left "holding the bag" with a pile of papers strewn all over your desk is not a great feeling.


how much you gonna pay those "girls" for their loyalty??
at the very least about 18,000+ per year??

and if they are sharp looking ,
all they are going to do is cause
trouble at home with your wife or with your plumbers sniffing around.....thats real bad.

if you become dependent on them and cant do it yourself anymmore then you are totally screwed......


I got some bad checks sitting on my desk for about
maybe $2500 that I lost out on over the past three years,
perhaps it was my fault for not being more aggressive
with my billing.....I DONT CARE because

paying some ---"bimbo" ---18k per year to collect 2500 in bad debts over 3 years is not feasable.....

I pay about 150 per month for an answering serivce, and they never get mad at me or call in sick with PMS......


I post my own ledger with Quickbooks PRO 04 adn its the best thing I ever learned to do......it is not hard at all.

I HAND WRITE my own checks......so I keep things very simple

I use quick books for only a ledger and keeping a list of my customers ,,,, nothing too complicated at all.


I dont have the headaches of idiot employees or people trying to "best me" all the time and show me that I need them.....


I am presently working out of 2 buildings, the older one was built in 1845 and all I pay are the taxes and lights

My only real expence is the yellow pages.

---------------------------------------------------------------------


One good horror story I know of is

one Kitchen cabinet company that hired a secretary and simply handed her over the books. She embezzeld about 100k in cash and forged checks from them before she was caught.... and only becasue she had a heart attack!!!

I blame the people who did not keep a better eye on her.

--------------------------------------------------------------


their are really only 5 things you need

1 All you really need is a good ACCOUNTANT...to check your books and do your taxes.

and I dont mean your cousin "billy sue" who does your taxes on the side for you once a year..

2. you need a 24 hour answering service that will digital page you your calls immediatley.....not an answering machine.

3. You need a simple bookkeeping service that you can personally do yourself...... my quick books PRO 4 is on my main computor and its backed up on two other computors and on a lap top too...

4. if you are going to run your own business you have to have the ability and desire to WORK HARD and put in some hours.

5. this is almost impossible to find ...good employees willing to work.


.

 

[Kordts]

to Master Plumber Mark

Mark, my brother in bibs,
I am a one man shop with delusions of grandeur. I own a job, not a business. I want to own a business. I put in way too many unpaid hours. I thought I could set my rates at 75 an hour. Wrong, I get work, but I have to go north, and then I charge 85, but still come up short. I could make a lot more by going back to the hall, service shops need guys. But I want to be the boss. For every horror story you have, there are a million untold stories of people who are honest and don't embezzle. My new shop is a half hour away from where I live. My bank is in my town, and my wife and I are the only two who can sign checks. I am going to charge 90 an hour, and will probably go up in a year. My work is about not quite half commercial/industrial and over half residential. Everything we buy is marked up, we should be able to markup as well.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

you will do fine

dont worry about what I rant and rave about...

every so often........

you got to do what you got to do.

long hours and being your own boss it well worth it......

I just mention a few pitfalls that I have lived...

so either way..whatever you encounter,,, if it does not kill you,

it only makes a more seasoned plumber with lots more

experience to take on what ever else you do in life too

good luck

 

[Kordts]

Thanks,
my plan is to work by myself for one more year, then add a plumber a year for 5 years. Run the guys for 10 years, while grooming one or two to take over, then sell them the business while staying on the payroll.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

your game plan.....

Your plan sounds pretty good........


as a back up plan..

might I suggest that you either have a couple of

sons lined up to take over some day or find the perfect

"son in law" that might want it .....

 

[Cass]

Thanks,
my plan is to work by myself for one more year, then add a plumber a year for 5 years. Run the guys for 10 years, while grooming one or two to take over, then sell them the business while staying on the payroll.

I had a friend with nearly the same plan and he is now out of business due to financial problems. Many try and a few make it. I hope it works out for you.

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Many try and a few make it.

That's the very reason I put up with the long hours and stacks of paperwork at the office; I'd like the convenience of help but even bringing on a helper would be substantially dangerous. Most times they care about the buck and the free education......while they are there under your wing. Then they find another job for a buck more on the hour and they think they've hit the lotto. Office help would be nice but most times you have to know how to commit customers on the phone. Some receptionists don't know how to involve themselves into the convo to pull info out that can be used to get the customer to commit.

I literally haven't spent money on myself in 4 years....just for fear of what can happen if finances/health go down under and there won't be any shrimp on the barbie either.


Crikey!

Blimey!

 

[ToolsRMe]

Fast forward to today; did work for a really nice couple last week, Armed Services Veteran and gave them a good size discount over the top of $600 worth of work. They referred me to another customer and they called me about 11am this morning. First words out of their mouth, "I was referred to you by so and so and I need a free estimate to do work in a home that we are flipping.

OK, I'm on both sides of this.

I'm the general on my good-sized remodel. I'm not a novice but I'm not a professional, either.

I depend on my subs (two of them qualified general contractors in their own right) to not only do work but to use their brains.

In exchange I pay them immediately when they submit bills. I treat them well and they have become friends. Actually, in one case that's backwards. One of my subs is/was a political ally who became a friend and then became a sub.

Anyway, I make it an absolute rule: If I take someone's time then I pay for it. The electrical contractor is cool with it and is free with his advice. The only sub who doesn't like to teach me what's going on is the plumber. He does it -- but reluctantly -- because on of my subs feeds him a LOT of work.

I would recommend a policy of "estimates are not free" unless you're describing the work over the phone and you know what you're talking about.

Or maybe estimates are free to repeat customers who have paid you on time.

If estimates were not free then people would not shop for the lowest estimate and suck up everyone's time thus causing everyone to raise their prices.

 

[Abikerboy]

I would recommend a policy of "estimates are not free" unless you're describing the work over the phone and you know what you're talking about.

Or maybe estimates are free to repeat customers who have paid you on time.

If estimates were not free then people would not shop for the lowest estimate and suck up everyone's time thus causing everyone to raise their prices.

Had a nice experience with an estimate. Needed a small job done, so I called a contractor to ask about it. His policy is 1 hour labor for estimate. If I hire him, he will credit the one hour that I paid for the estimate to the job. My idea with getting an estimate had nothing to do with price shopping. I just wanted an idea of whether my job was going to cost me $100, $500, or $5000! Figured it would be a bad bomb if I hired him for a small job, and he handed me a bill for $5k when I dont even have half of that in the bank!

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

free estimates

by appointment only

...at my convienance.....not yours....

seems to get the point across pretty well.....


nothing irratates me more than someone expecting
me to come out to their home at 7 in the evening
for a free estimate....20 miles away.....