Is going into business worth it?

Pinnie said:
How much of a nest egg do you guys think is reasonable to save for before jumping ship? Would 10k be enough or should I shoot for 20k? I have 10k emergency fund and then I’m saving for a separate business starting fund that would be at least 10k as well.
Click to expand...
Enough to cover 6 months of personal living expenses. That’s over and above what you need to get the business going.
 
retirede said:
Enough to cover 6 months of personal living expenses. That’s over and above what you need to get the business going.
Click to expand...
Yeah that sounds more like what I am thinking as well. My wife works 24 hours a week (2 12 hour shifts) and can cover our mortgage by herself. I need to sit down and get our finances a little more down pat because we spend a lot on stuff we don’t need.
 
Congrats to those who made it work for a long time.

One of my mistakes was I tried to do everything and there is not enough hours in a day. When you start and run a business your always worried about having enough work so one of my mistakes was taking on too many different things because you need the work. but you get stretched too thin. Sometimes you get bogged down in things that are not your sweet spot.

Best thing is to carve out a niche. Sounds like @Mystic Pools did that successfully. I didn't that was one mistake.

A lot of successful contractors do one or two things.

As an example, my buddy had a neighbor across the street that needed there old Victorian rewired and updated. It was all old knob and tube. He didn't want to get involved.

The neighbor asked around and found two women electricians who specialized in old work and they did the job and were in and out in no time.

This kid on You Tube Jacob Palmer has some videos out. He is like 23 years old and just does residential and started his own business as soon as he got his license. Doing well, I guess.

Most important also is to CHARGE ENOUGH and get the bills out or get paid ASAP. Stay away from GCs that jerk you around.

Stay away from the new flashy 60K truck. Learn the business end because that is a big HUGE part of it. And just because it's not your favorite part you still have to do it's not just twisting wire nuts and pulling wire I wish it was.
Insurance, taxes, payroll. What do you do when your truck goes down?
 
Eddie702 said:
This kid on You Tube Jacob Palmer has some videos out. He is like 23 years old and just does residential and started his own business as soon as he got his license. Doing well, I guess.
Click to expand...
Yeah I’ve seen his videos. He’s doing very well for his first year. He’s busting his hump doing residential which I would like to avoid.
Eddie702 said:
Most important also is to CHARGE ENOUGH and get the bills out or get paid ASAP. Stay away from GCs that jerk you around.
Click to expand...
Yeah you have to know your numbers well. That’s not the fun part but if you don’t you’ll lose.
 
Joethemechanic said:
remember nowadays safety is watching everything hard
Click to expand...
That's right.

Capital concerns not focused on the regulatory environment will be ignorant of rival adaptations.

Around 2006 while sitting on the wait lists, or union books, I called a few solar shops for work, and their objection to hiring journeymen was liability with side work. They complained employer's equipment found on side jobs, stenciled with the shop name, was getting them sued.

At that time shops that survived were hyper vigilant about side work, and our local business manager was enforcing sanctions against journeymen caught truck slamming without licensing, or employee insurances, but the regulatory environment has changed.

As each administration defunds regulatory enforcement, the economy produces more scams that ignore Do Not Call Registry, bugger us by phone, and for a time provided accident attorney's a gold rush of damage awards, until Tort Reform castrated the law for certain campaign contributors.

With corporate Tort enforcement less lucrative, an army of hungry accident attorneys now fight over car accidents, and construction defects.
 
Eddie702 said:
Most important also is to CHARGE ENOUGH and get the bills out or get paid ASAP.
Click to expand...
I remember decades ago getting a free new water heater at the lake house, because the plumber never sent a bill. After 12 months we stopped asking for it.
 
Pinnie said:
I am gearing and studying to go on my own as a solo commercial contractor. I know it’s a common discussion whether or not it makes sense for someone to stay an employee vs the stress and complexity of starting your own business. I would just like to know how possible it is to hit the ground running and how lucrative it can be. What is achievable take home pay for one man doing small commercial jobs a year? I’m in Ohio which is a very good market.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have found it is most definitely worth it. It's not easy, and you will constantly need to learn a lot of stuff. When I started I had a few side jobs while working and a few big jobs lined up before I quit my previous career, and made enough to buy a used truck and trailer and more tools. My goal was to never go into debt, figuring if I didn't make it, I could close up and get a job again without much negative consequence. The biggest challenge for me has been hiring employees. It's a completely different story than being solo. I'm in Ohio as well.
 
solarken said:
Yes, I have found it is most definitely worth it. It's not easy, and you will constantly need to learn a lot of stuff. When I started I had a few side jobs while working and a few big jobs lined up before I quit my previous career, and made enough to buy a used truck and trailer and more tools. My goal was to never go into debt, figuring if I didn't make it, I could close up and get a job again without much negative consequence. The biggest challenge for me has been hiring employees. It's a completely different story than being solo. I'm in Ohio as well.
Click to expand...
Wow that’s pretty uncanny. I also don’t want to go into debt for the same reasons.

How hard is it to line up work? Do you do commercial contracts or residential or both?
 
I worked for a company that built restaurants and other food service, coffee shops, bakery's etc. for almost 20 years. I went off on my own in 2012 and never looked back. For me, I got sick of making other people rich.

There are some things I miss, like the paycheck, the benefits but all that comes when you finally own the company you work for. I took 10 years to build it out correctly. Over time I found that being in the niche was the place to be. Most of my customers are mechanical contractors or electrician operations that don't have a full time engineer, or know how to wire and install digital BMS, control systems, VFDs etc. It took quite a while for the technologies to be better known as well. Today every utility company uses the technologies we install in all rebate programs, and most all food service is switching over to "digital saturation" type technologies. Most all refrigeration is getting away from analog "box temp", and instead utilizing "coil face deltas" and building a compressor cycling algorithm for that.

www.advancedrooftopcontrols.com
 
Pinnie said:
I believe hvac companies are the single most commonly failed business ventures, as well as the single most commonly started ventures. We can draw our own conclusions from that fact.
Click to expand...
I believe that. I've seen it where "Joe and Mary" see the numbers that private equity are making off of residential HVAC and try to go do it on their own. Good luck. LOL
 
Pinnie said:
How hard is it to line up work? Do you do commercial contracts or residential or both?
Click to expand...
My company is a solar business, residential, commercial, off-grid, and starting to get into larger systems more toward utility scale. It has not been that hard to find customers and win contracts, but with the solar tax credit changes, we shall see. Some jobs have included extra electrical work beyond the solar PV and battery systems, I may try to pursue more of that work depending on how things go.
The other big challenge is an affordable health care plan, if you can't get it through your spouse's employer. Mine is very expensive, and there are few options out there.
 
solarken said:
My company is a solar business, residential, commercial, off-grid, and starting to get into larger systems more toward utility scale. It has not been that hard to find customers and win contracts
Click to expand...
Ohio seems to be a great state to be in our industry. Where abouts are you? I’m in Dayton.
 
Most electrical service operators are either all residential or all commercial. Some do both. It depends. Personally, I can't stand dealing with "Joe and Mary homeowner", where getting mud on a carpet in the living room becomes a bigger deal than the dead outlet there and the reason you came to the service call. Commercial has none of these issues but it's harder to get consistent work. Big jobs come and go. I have spent 2-3 months without much work, spending most of my time hustling and bidding, driving, cold calls, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top