When I first started thinking about starting my own business I was currently working in a industrial plant. I worked nights and there was a GC, and 2 plumbers that worked nights with me.
One of the plumbers was a one man show and the other plumber had four guys working for him. Both were 100% legit, licensed and insured. Since I was considering starting my own business I was a bit troubled by the fact they had been working nights with me for 12 years now.
Why were they still working two jobs? Were they bored and didn't know what else to do with their time? Did they not get along with their wives? Did they have 10 kids at home? So I asked them why.
They both said they worked nights at the industrial plant for the benefits.
What they really meant by this is they don't charge enough and their business can't provide them with benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, vacation pay, sick leave pay, holiday pay, etc. So they work a second job so they can have these things.
There's another plumber in town that's running about 10 service trucks. He doesn't spend his nights working in an industrial plant for his benefit package. He's quite successful and has been featured in The Successful Contractor Magazine. He spends his evenings on his hobby of restoring old cars.
When I mentioned him to these plumbers I was working nights with they both said the guy charges too much and is a crook.
So I guess the only way to make money as a contractor is either become a crook and charge for silly things like health insurance plans, retirement plans, vacation pay, sick leave pay, holiday pay, ect. or get a second job so you'll have these things and be able to keep your prices down to a reasonable level and not become one of those high priced crooks.
There's an EC in my area that does a lot of new residential homes. He saves money by hiring anyone he can find to do the work for cash money under the table. That way he doesn't need to hire employees to do the work and have all the expenses that comes along with them. He wanted to know if I would be interested in wiring some of his houses for $25 under the table. He knows I'm a licensed contractor and he has the nerve to ask me this? What a joke. $25 an hour won't even but a dent in my overhead. I didn't quit my job at the industrial plant to become a contractor working for $25 an hour.
I went and looked at a job the other day. It's for a beauty salon. When I get there a landscaper truck is parked out front. The guy is a landscaper and works a bit slow for him right now so he's doing jobs like this. He said he was planning on doing the electrical himself but decided he wouldn't have the time. So he wanted a price from me for the work. He's not licensed to do the work and it's not legal for him to do the work. He still plans on doing the plumbing even though he's not licensed for it either.
He got a funny look on his face when I mentioned I would be pulling a permit if I did the job. I'm sure when he gets my price and knows I want to pull a permit he'll just do the work himself. I'm going to make sure the city knows about the job even if he doesn't have me do it.
More and more it's seems to me that to make money as a contractor you can't do things legally and legitimately.
I got another call from a guy who told me he used to be an electrical contractor and had just gotten out of jail for insurance fraud or something like that and wanted to know if I was hiring electricians.
