Expected income/ work prospects

[Pinnie]

I am graduating the nccer at the end of this month and have 4 years in the trade. I consider myself knowledgeable and I have my fire alarm license as well. In Ohio after 5 years you can test for the EC license (no journeyman or master state license in Ohio). I am going to do this. There is no time pressure for me to do my own so I could just have the license and dip my toes in little by little. I have some concerns that maybe some of you could address.


#1
I am commercial so when I start my business I’ll be on my own. I’m not sure how, if at all, you can advertise commercial work. I am new/existing construction so I’m thinking I would need to just bid jobs. No use in having my phone and business plastered around town so every old woman (although I love them) calls expecting a service call. Not my forte.

#2
Obviously you can make a very fine living as a contractor. This depends too how many guys if any you have. My personal goal is to make my wife a stay at home wife (she is now down to part time as of this year) and I would like to buy a house with some privacy and land I can shoot on or run naked around a big bonfire ( as is natural) I am worried about funding these dreams. So how plausible are these goals.

 

[NoahsArc]

#1 I'm not the guy to ask, but just getting yourself listed on Maps (requires your home address) will get you occasional commercial calls. You can also advertise actively with adwords or other platforms, this can get quite pricey.

#2 Two things I've noticed is that it can take a long while to get going as a contractor, while some guys just start sprinting. I have also heard that you don't make more money until you have at least 5-10 guys, vs solo or +1, so there's a long stretch where you are dealing with a lot more stress while not really printing money any faster. But at the 10-20 guy mark, you start getting mansion money for sure, so long as your clients actually pay you what they owe you and in a timely manner.

 

[Pinnie]

#2 Two things I've noticed is that it can take a long while to get going as a contractor, while some guys just start sprinting. I have also heard that you don't make more money until you have at least 5-10 guys, vs solo or +1, so there's a long stretch where you are dealing with a lot more stress while not really printing money any faster. But at the 10-20 guy mark, you start getting mansion money for sure, so long as your clients actually pay you what they owe you and in a timely manner.

Yeah that’s the scary part for me is being responsible for other men’s income. I’ll stay solo for a while until I get some confidence.

 

[kwired]

Yeah that’s the scary part for me is being responsible for other men’s income. I’ll stay solo for a while until I get some confidence.

That solo thing is going to limit you to some extent, especially when starting out, and you likely will be taking on jobs you'd rather not do just to have jobs to do. Don't charge handyman prices when you do some those jobs, but make sure you do a good job and in a professional manner. Your name will get passed around by those you have worked for. If you do the handyman pricing, it gets around that you are cheap and you very well might get a lot of work, but will be a lot of work for those looking for and expecting cheap. Reasonable pricing for the trade will be discouraging for some, will weed out some you really don't want to work for, and still will get the word around that you did good job (presuming you did) and you still likely are more of a mid range price and not too expensive which keeps some interest in people wanting to hire you to do work. The ones that like and trust you will get you future work or refer you to someone that may have more regular work for you. Get in good standing with the right builder or even say an HVAC contractor or other specialty equipment installers and they will get future projects for you as well.

 

[Pinnie]

That solo thing is going to limit you to some extent, especially when starting out, and you likely will be taking on jobs you'd rather not do just to have jobs to do. Don't charge handyman prices when you do some those jobs, but make sure you do a good job and in a professional manner. Your name will get passed around by those you have worked for. If you do the handyman pricing, it gets around that you are cheap and you very well might get a lot of work, but will be a lot of work for those looking for and expecting cheap. Reasonable pricing for the trade will be discouraging for some, will weed out some you really don't want to work for, and still will get the word around that you did good job (presuming you did) and you still likely are more of a mid range price and not too expensive which keeps some interest in people wanting to hire you to do work. The ones that like and trust you will get you future work or refer you to someone that may have more regular work for you. Get in good standing with the right builder or even say an HVAC contractor or other specialty equipment installers and they will get future projects for you as well.

thank you kwired that’s very sound advice. That’s one thing I’m not great at is knowing what I’m worth and trying to be nice to make people like me. Nice guys finish last in some cases.

 

[NoahsArc]

will weed out some you really don't want to work for

How I learned this the hard way.
A bunch of cheapskate landlords that would stretch out past net30 for a $2k check and needed constant harassing.
I got in with a hoarder group that just passed cheap contractors around. I had to nope out of the last service call when I couldn't access the outlet in question because there was a 5ft tall pile of old clothes and CDs several feet deep in front of it.

Don't be cheap.