southernyankey1

I love NEW HOMES...I made very good money in the Wash D.C. area working on new houses. 750,000 for a 3 story townhome which has all the quality a stacked double wide trailer...lmao. You can completely gut the kitchens with a Fisher Price hammer and a screwdriver in an hour or two. All the doors are crooked because it settled out of square and it's generally thrown together in 6 to 8 weeks using the cheapest materials and labor. We did pretty well finishing basements and adding media centers and updating the bathyrooms and kitchens at a fair price. when you can charge enough for a job to be able to work exactly as you stated in your last post there is really no stress involved anymore as you can concentrate on giving your client the best and/or highest quality work you possibly can. It was great while it lasted and everyone was happy. I had small crews of highly motivated and SKILLED guys that took pride in what they did everyday and I didn't have the headaches that come with throwing a few 10.00 an hour guys at it and hoping for the best. Nowadays down here in Florida it's a crap shoot. I have to give away a certain amount here to even get the job, then we have to decide on where we can cut corners and still make a a profit while trying to find skilled , reliable guys and keep them busy enough to hang around... It's a royal PITA most days.

LobstahClaw

I took a different route. By mid 2006 i could see the handwriting on the wall and pared it down to just myself. When the recession hit over the winter of 07-08 i was ready. In that single year the work in this area dropped off by over 50%.

The big boys in this area were dropping like flies. Their overhead was so high that they couldn't survive in a lean environment. I stayed small, hunkered down, and diversified.

It was a bit of a scramble to survive. Every business depends on repeat customers. Most of my customer base was middle class. I lost almost every single one of them because they had hit their debt limit and their generative capacity ws so badly degraded.

I had to completely redevelop my customer base to the wealthy.

They've been good. Every year they call back and have more work for me. It's not great ... but it's a living. I was never in it for the money anyway. After twenty years of doin' the 7:00 - 3:30 thing i was bouncing off the walls. I needed a change. I needed the freedom (and responsibility) of being being my own boss.

I come and go as i please. No regular schedule. As long i've met my commitments to the customer my time is my own. All told ... i probably get three months vacation every year.

Now that there are more days behind me, than there are ahead of me, time seems a much more precious commodity than any amount of money that could ever be earned.

Anyway ... that's just me. I don't see the point in knocking yourself out 60 - 70 hours a week unless it's to provide timely service to the customer during the busy spring season.

LobstahClaw

Terrible thread derail. (We'll drop it soon enough.)

<sigh> The glory days in construction are gone now. Chances are that we won't see a return to pre 2007 levels for the remainder of our careers in the trade.

Any business owner has to change and adapt when there's a change in his environment. It's a death sentence to "keep doing the same thing harder".

Pre 2007 the economy was expanding at a break neck pace so construction was all about expanding and upgrading.

Post 2007 it's all about not losing what you've got. Most of the construction activity reflects that in that it's about maintenance, upkeep, and repair.

There's good money in roofing. We're bidding our jobs at around 450.00$ a square these days. If you've got a crew of hardworking guys and you can bang the jobs out you can clear some coin.

Same thing with painting,decks,window replacement and everything else that has to be done every 15 - 30 years.

4wheeldevil

if your in south florida the only good ford dealership i know of is maroone ford of fort lauderdale. i used to work there and they still got a few old mechanics. if you call them techs they will just say that fancy word for the young ones that dont know nothing. haha.

their electronics guy Manny could of solved your issue without trouble. because i dont live down there anymore thats where i send my friends. normally they need front end work and i tell them to ask for tony. the trick is to know which mechanic you want to talk to and bypass the sales rep(slimeballs one and all) all together. this way you can work a deal with the tech and not pay the shop rates. well except for the cost of an oil change. they got to have something on the books.

southernyankey1

thanx...

i'll be looking him up as she is giving me a hard time again. 10v at the tank again and i have to crank the hell out her till she builds enough pressure to start...lmao. She's a lot like my ex-wife.....cranky,bitchy,and expensive to keep happy!