Why would a customer hire a big company over a 1 man shop?

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KVA

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Just curious and this is not bashing the larger companies. Just wondering what are the benefits of hiring a larger shop mainly in residential?

By hiring a one man shop the customer can save big time because they don't have to pay for the higher overhead such as a helper.

I can only think of the larger shops having same day service but what else?
 
In the minds of the public large shops have the ability to respond faster, have more of the proper tools, and have supplies in stock that a small shop has to order out for. Usually if a shop has been able to get to the point that they are larger it is because they do the job right. Not my opinion, just what I've heard.
 
tsamples said:
In the minds of the public large shops have the ability to respond faster, have more of the proper tools, and have supplies in stock that a small shop has to order out for. Usually if a shop has been able to get to the point that they are larger it is because they do the job right. Not my opinion, just what I've heard.
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Wow that is a lot of research on your part:lol:

There are lots of 1 man shops with supply houses on wheels and I'm getting to that point myself. As far as tools your pretty much right on but in Residential the tools needed aren't hard to acquire. Now I don't own a megger yet and some other high end troubleshooting equipment but I haven't had the need for it yet.
 
Some contractors/customers like the one man shops due to the fact they are dealing with the owner all the time even though the company is just him. We used to have a residential builder that most of the subs except us were small outfits with the owners doing the installs, the plus was if there were any problems they could be resolved quickly and the quality of work was always there.
 
KVA said:
I don't consider these guys in business. If your going to be in business you need to invest in it. That list of stuff sounds like a side jobber not a 1 man business.
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Oh, they're investing in it. A ton of time, and maybe in 6 months they can spring for a DVM!
 
KVA said:
I also had many customers tell me part of the reason they called me is because they don't want to pay extra for a helper.
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Maybe they haven't seen what a good helper can do?

I work for a shop with 20 guys or so, just because there's a few of us doesn't mean we all go out to the same jobsite together. We can still go out solo too, so I don't really understand what your customer is getting at....
 
I think response is the biggest factor a larger shop can get to the job faster as far as saving money if you are charging less as a one man shop because you think your overhead is lower then you should read some books on pricing. I think larger shops have a greater presence so that builds confidence with the customer.
 
Rewire said:
I think response is the biggest factor a larger shop can get to the job faster as far as saving money if you are charging less as a one man shop because you think your overhead is lower then you should read some books on pricing. I think larger shops have a greater presence so that builds confidence with the customer.
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:blink::blink:

Of corse a 1 man shop would be cheaper then a big company I don't need to read any books it's common sense. Less employees, insurance, extra trucks, extra tools, employee bennies etc.. An employee is a large expense.
 
KVA said:
:blink::blink:

Of corse a 1 man shop would be cheaper then a big company I don't need to read any books it's common sense. Less employees, insurance, extra trucks, extra tools, employee bennies etc.. An employee is a large expense.
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On the flip side, an one-man show costs 100% of overhead per person. A shop with 100 costs 1% of overhead per person.
 
KVA said:
:blink::blink:

Of corse a 1 man shop would be cheaper then a big company I don't need to read any books it's common sense. Less employees, insurance, extra trucks, extra tools, employee bennies etc.. An employee is a large expense.
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The cost of an additional employee is made up in the additional revenue produced by that employee, is fuel for your van cheaper as a one man show or the cost of your cell phone? Is insurance on your van cheaper or the tires last longer? Aside from employees your overhead is probably close to mine as a percentage of your gross.
 
Rewire said:
The cost of an additional employee is made up in the additional revenue produced by that employee, is fuel for your van cheaper as a one man show or the cost of your cell phone? Is insurance on your van cheaper or the tires last longer? Aside from employees your overhead is probably close to mine as a percentage of your gross.
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Nothing you say will convince me that my overhead is the same as large company with multiple trucks and employees it's impossible. That's like saying a mom and pop hardware store has the same overhead as home depot it's insane.

Also bigger companies need to have work all week every week to support all the overhead. With a 1 man if I don't work a couple days I don't have to worry about employee wages, bennies, insurance, multiple truck payments, and money for tools collecting dust.
 
I made this mistake early on thinking I could charge less than the larger shops what I needed to do was to stop thinking in dollars and cents and start thinking in percentages. If company X a one man shop spends 100.00 on advertising company Y a large shop spends 500.00 who has a larger overhead expense?

Company Y appears to on first glance but to get a true picture we need to know gross revenue and what % is advertising.

Company X has a gross of 1000.00 so 100.00 represents 10%

Company Y has a gross of 10,000.00 so 500.00 represents 5%
 
KVA said:
Nothing you say will convince me that my overhead is the same as large company with multiple trucks and employees it's impossible. That's like saying a mom and pop hardware store has the same overhead as home depot it's insane.

Also bigger companies need to have work all week every week to support all the overhead. With a 1 man if I don't work a couple days I don't have to worry about employee wages, bennies, insurance, multiple truck payments, and money for tools collecting dust.
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Do you consider yourself an employee?
 
Rewire said:
Do you consider yourself an employee?
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I am an employee and owner of my business and I pay myself a salary. And nobody said I should charge less then a big company YOU did. I charged based on my overhead WHICH IS LESS THEN a big company.

So basically your telling me i should be charging what a company with a 20+ trucks on the road with 20+ employees is charging?

:lol:
 
KVA said:
I am an employee and owner of my business and I pay myself a salary. And nobody said I should charge less then a big company YOU did. I charged based on my overhead WHICH IS LESS THEN a big company.

So basically your telling me i should be charging what a company with a 20+ trucks on the road with 20+ employees is charging?

:lol:
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Yes that is exactly what I am telling you. Why do you feel you should not? Do you think a large company with ten times your overhead charges ten times what you do?
 
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