Hi all who may be of assistance, I am a new electrical contractor on the central coast of California and I'm confused with all the different ways general contractors run their business and pay etc...I guess my main question is should I be bidding jobs for material, labor, and then a mark up of say 15% for example on top of the estimated cost...and how would I write that into a formal estimate
welcome to california contracting.
my past experience with general contractors was that they ran their business by
not paying.... :rant:
that's changed a lot for me, and now 90% of my business is from general contractors, and
all of them are 30 net, no retention, and everybody's current.
if you want to save some grief, go here, and do what she says:
http://www.ellenrohr.com/the-bare-bones-biz-plan/
you can't bid till you know what it
really costs you to provide the services.
and you won't have those numbers without some paperwork.
park the fish tape for a weekend, and pick up the spreadsheet.
direct costs of material, and labor, with a 15% profit on top of that will probably
have you out of business by next fourth of july. too lean a mixture for the engine
to keep the vehicle moving over the rough parts of the road.
there will be rough parts. especially when starting out, there are general contractors
who will use you only as a club to beat down their existing subs with. i look at my
experience since 2006, and the people i was happy to do work with in 2006, i wouldn't
consider doing anything with them whatsoever today.
i did the bare bones plan in 2011, iirc, and 2013, 2014, and 2015 have been very good.
about the only thing that i seemed to do differently was that business plan.
good luck to you.
