How did you sell him on the job after being the high price? He told me how much higher we were. I said that I will go back and look at the bid to see if I can cut some fat. He said that he would rather work with us since we have done some small stuff for him in the past and we were also local guys. He said let me know by Monday. I faxed the revised proposal at 7:00 AM and he called me back at 7:05 and said, let's meet tonight to sign papers. Politicing wins more jobs than anything else. Warning: The topics covered on this site include activities in which there exists the potential for serious injury or death. Always use proper safety precaution and reference reliable outside sources before attempting any construction or remodeling task! You might not have equipment payments but you still have replacement cost for every piece of iron you own. Just because you own a piece of iron doesn't mean your operating cost are less. That equipment should be billing towards replacement. The money you use to purchase equipment should not come out of the profit margins on your jobs. It is better to have good liquidity and moderate equipment payments than it is to have to have low liquidity and zero equipment payments. Relacement costs, what are those?? My old man doesn't replace anything, he just keeps fixing the old stuff. Most ppl base replacement costs on 10,000 hrs. Almost half of our equipment has more than that..... It is true that doctors and lawyers don't bid work but a lot of contractors drive pickups that cost as much as a Mercedes and make as much if not sometimes more than a doctor does in a year. We just can go broke a lot faster. They are the same contractors that have to have all the brand new equipment and have the high monthly payments and have to charge more to cover their payments. Landscapers are the most nortorious for this. Well first off most owners don't get unemployment checks since we don't pay into unemployment. True, but I am not the owner, so I do get that little check. I do all the bidding and shmoozing to prepare to take over one of these days. These past couple years I have been contemplating or not if I should put my college degree to work. I am giving this a shot and pushing forward. I think I did pretty good being within 4% since we are a 3 man show and they are a 150 man show with estimators, foremans, superintendents, mechanics, secretaries and accountants on the payroll. Can someone please lock this thread. Don't sweat it Rino..... I used to do work for a builder that no matter what my number was he would always come back and ask if I could cut 5 or 10% of my bid numbers. After a few episodes of this.... I would pad those jobs a little so I had room to drop the price. You have a builder that wants to work with you, and assisted you in getting the project, You'll probably catch hell for that too. Some days ya just can't win. Bottom line is you have 12 lots to develop and most of us are trying to figure out where to find the next crumb of work. You might not have equipment payments but you still have replacement cost for every piece of iron you own. Just because you own a piece of iron doesn't mean your operating cost are less. That equipment should be billing towards replacement. The money you use to purchase equipment should not come out of the profit margins on your jobs. It is better to have good liquidity and moderate equipment payments than it is to have to have low liquidity and zero equipment payments. Relacement costs, what are those?? My old man doesn't replace anything, he just keeps fixing the old stuff. Most ppl base replacement costs on 10,000 hrs. Almost half of our equipment has more than that..... It is true that doctors and lawyers don't bid work but a lot of contractors drive pickups that cost as much as a Mercedes and make as much if not sometimes more than a doctor does in a year. We just can go broke a lot faster. They are the same contractors that have to have all the brand new equipment and have the high monthly payments and have to charge more to cover their payments. Landscapers are the most nortorious for this. Well first off most owners don't get unemployment checks since we don't pay into unemployment. True, but I am not the owner, so I do get that little check. I do all the bidding and shmoozing to prepare to take over one of these days. These past couple years I have been contemplating or not if I should put my college degree to work. I am giving this a shot and pushing forward. I think I did pretty good being within 4% since we are a 3 man show and they are a 150 man show with estimators, foremans, superintendents, mechanics, secretaries and accountants on the payroll. Can someone please lock this thread. I wasn't trying to bust your balls, I was just stating facts that some of us deal with. Maybe I should have started with a congrats on getting work. Nobody wants to hear negetive comments about work you where just awarded. I am an owner of a realitively small shop but we do larger projects. We have low overhead and have always been smart with our money so we have little debt with decent bonding capabilities. There has been projects that I have been awarded by leaving 10% on the table and still made damn good money. I have noticed that over the last 3 years two kinds of site work contractors have failed. Your company along with my company are in the niche that has been plugging along, working for less than most can and still making a decent profit. In short congrats on getting the project, keeping guys working and the doors open is the most important thing now and thats what you are doing. Rino Sounds like we have some things in common. He tells me all the time how much easier it was to run a business before all the current BS. There are times when I question if I should take over the business or go in different direction. I just keep on plugging because better days are ahead. BTW, what do you have a degree in? It's good to hear some positive news out of our industry. Every day I hear about my competitors going bankrupt, etc. Meanwhile, companies that I would never consider my competitors due to sloppy work, unprofessional attitude, or thieves seem to be winning a lot of the bids in my area. Best of luck to you. Knowing that many homeowners and DIYers are looking for a community to call home, we've created DIY Chatroom is full of helpful advices and perfect for DIY homeowners.
