Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I'm thinking of going into business.

I've been considering posting this thread for a few weeks. Here goes...


All the pertinent details-

My current job with a plumbing and heating contractor has me at a dead end. I've been here for 15+ years and am now stuck at desk full time, which I detest. I'm a knowledge seeker and I'm not learning chit sitting here. I've also been at the same salary for a few years while I've watched the price of everything go up, up, up.

I have a Master Plumber's license and in about 3 weeks I'll be taking a State administered test to get my Plumbing Contractor's license - a requirement in this state if you want to be in the plumbing biz. I have a good reputation in the area and have had high-end builders question me in recent years about whether I might start my own business. Stating that they'd be very interested in dealing with a subcontractor of my "caliber".

I also have a background in building. I have the knowledge to build a basic home from start to finish, not including things like drywall and electrical and unfortunately, I don't have any HVAC licensing yet. (but I will eventually) Complicated or busy roof lines would throw me a bit at first but I'm sure I could figure it out if called upon to do so.

What I'm considering is starting a one man show in the handy-man, home maintenance and plumbing business. With all my experience, working my way up from an apprentice to a journeyman, then a few years as a field supervisor and then estimating, and most recently, adding my Master's license - what I lack is the small business smarts.

I have no plans to employ anyone other than myself. There are enough guys in the area that are happy to lend a hand when I might need one that I'm certain that a one man show is viable. What I'm looking for answers on is - what steps does a guy like me need to take to have all my bases covered regarding liability, taxes, advertising, etc.

Another issue is health insurance. While my current employer has taken our health insurance coverage down, down, down, at least it's something. Retirement isn't an issue since my employer stopped our 401K a few years ago. I'm hopeful that I can do better than the current nothing that I'm putting away.

I realize this would be a huge risk, but I'm thinking of getting it off the ground while I keep my current job. That means I'd have to focus on the maintenance/handy man stuff since my boss will not allow me to operate as a plumber on the side while I work for him (understandably).

So, what say the 'fire men (and women)?

Break is over, back to work. I'll check in in a bit. Thanks for any constructive comments.

Skot,

I had to go self employed when I was laid off 2.5 years ago, and its rough.

But thankfully my wife was a good pre-planner so we got by on basically an 80% pay cut.

Lacking business in general made it hard, but if the work is there and you can do it, then do it.

I'm actually back at my old office for financial reasons (they had another employee retire, so they gave me first crack at coming back).

All things considered, I'd much rather work for myself in a good market. Even if the pay was less and the hours longer.

As a side, my boss will allow me to continue free lancing because there's not much of a chance of me stealing his clients.

Theres is no such thing as small business smarts... and I almost not kidding either....
I've been doing what your talking about for the last 30 years. Nothing smart about it my book.


Health insurance cost, or bad health, will we the only thing that trumps pure determination for me.

I do welding repair and fabrication peice work. I have some of the best customers in my town and I don't even advertise.
I can buy lunch for the whole crew at the price of a single meal!

Don't spend or borrow more than you have in your pocket.

Be versatile, humble and accomodating....If folks want a ditch dug or even the trash taken out and I have time to do it I will, it all pays the same.

Nobody knows your situation but you.

If I had to do all over again, I would do it again, but I would not wish it on anybody....
like I said, smart doesn't have much to do with it as far as I'm concerned...

But from what I read in your post,...You are ahead of the curve as far as what it takes to succeed. Don't worry about your competitors or what they may say about you, let your the quality of your work and your character speak for its self...In the end that is the only thing that will make you or break you.

If you're going to start a business, do not do it as a general purpose handiman. You'll be competing against illegal aliens and guys who can't handle a full time job so take odd jobs on the cheap and your customers will be cheap if they pay at all. Doing it right will require insurance, bonding, tools, vehicle, etc, i.e. quite a bit of up front costs and then you have to build a reputation and client base.

The key to starting a successful profitable business is to specialize. Find a niche and fill it. Figure out the market your current company isn't able to capitalize on and fill it.

Based on your plumbing experience I'd recomend going into water based fire supression systems aka sprinklers. It's a good specialty and there are plenty of markets Tyco/Grennel are not well able to serve due to their cost strucure.

Spend time researching what it takes to run a small business. What makes or breaks businesses typically isn't the ability to perform whatever service they are geared for. It's the overhead costs that kill you. You need to be extremely efficient and frugal.

for someone doing what your looking to do, lack of "business smarts" can mostly be taken care of by getting a copy of Quickbooks and learning how to use it well.....most the time when i see guys fail is cause they do a piss poor job at the book keeping end and arent keeping track of their costs.....learn to use quickbooks and use the reports like profit/loss statements and look them overe atleast monthly and you will go a long ways towards succeeding......part of the reason we do well is we keep our records pretty well and keep an eye on those P&L reports to know where we are having issues and what areas are hurting us....

x 10,000

just cause your always busy doesn't mean your being successful in your business..
and if your going broke,..you might as well just go fishing instead...

Excellent input, guys. Just what I'm looking for. Thanks and keep 'em coming.

good advice from rattler, and good luck on your plumbing contractor's license test. Get the HVAC license asap.
I agree with shying away from the 'handiman' gig. There's too many of them, and the expectations of 'something for nothing' from your clientele is high.

It's very satisfying being your own boss. I found out a long time ago I was not cut out to anyone dictating my job to me, and set out on my own. It's been trying, but very satisfying.

just keep in mind the reports are also only as good as the data put into the system......we break things out in alot of ways so we can see just where problems are.....we dont have just a "sales" input.....we have newsstand sales, paper sales, display advertising sales, classified advertising sales, legal advertising sales, print shop printing sales and computer printing sales....ect

while you can go to far and get obsessed with splitting to the point the reports get huge and a pain to get through, you will do well to break up stuff in to numerous categories as makes sence so that if you start wondering what areas you are doing great at and what areas need help you can go to a report and find out and not just have you sold X amount in services total.....and we do the same with costs, each area of the business gets kept track of.....

Be careful of growing too fast as well. Growing pains hurt. Me and a buddy started the business I am in now seven years ago when I was busy practicing law. It only took off last year after six years of losses. Now I do not have the time or inclination to practice law, nor could I take the pay cut.

That is never gonna change for 98% of the folks out there.


I have folks wanting to market my business all the time. Guaranteeing me 15% more business or they won't charge for thier service. I tell them I don't need 15% more business nor do I want 80% of the market...

I just want my cut from the top 2%....and they are not the ones that can decide who that is, I am the only one that can make that decision happen.

Rattler, just curious, how "small" is your business?

Skot...

Some great advice here, especially Rattler's bit on Quickbooks. My wife was trained as a book-keeper and what she can do with Quickbooks and Excel for our home finances is amazing. I've never seen such a healthy balance sheet for personal finances, my whole life!

Other than watching your books and hiring a good tax accountant, the only other advice I'd pile on is that you should form an LLC. I've found that the tax advantages of forming an LLC are well worth the minimal cost.

ok, how do you want me to measure it cause people "measure" by alot of different ways....number of employees? 5 full time(myself and my wife being 2 of those), 3 very part time when we have a full staff.....

I'm still here at work-wish I had time to answer each post individually. Maybe later this afternoon I can.

My wife has some background in book keeping and is a numbers junkie, so I've got good help there. I think she knows quickbooks, too.

I need to learn more about LLC's. Sounds like a good way to go.

Not many illegals in this area except during landscaping season.

Already have the majority of tools needed and will use my own truck. Would be nice to get a utility trailer outfitted so that I don't have to load and unload the truck when swapping from work to personal mode.

I'll check back in in little bit.

the other important thing about something like a LLC is keeping your business separated, legally speaking, from your personal stuff like house, savings account ect should the worst happen and you wind up in court....

Thats kind of what I was asking thanks.

A motorcycle wreck that left me out of work for 18 months and plus a tanked economy, both in 2007, pretty well took its toll on my capital finances.

I find myself haveing to get ready to head into a differant self employed work stratigey myself.
Long term business growth/expantion never was really my primary goal. I have always pulled top money and bigger just was not always better to me. but I am haveing to re-evaluate alot of things at this point.

some good info in this thread..

with those 8 people we run 2 small town weekly newspapers and a print shop....they are all under "The Herald-News, Inc." but we keep track of everything separate and each gets further broken down so i know where costs in each are hurting us and where in each we are doing very well.....

like with bruin, if he is going to do both plumbing and HVAC work he will want to separate them out in quickbooks, doesnt matter that he may be doing both at the same time on the same job out of the same truck, he will want to keep track of costs and profits for them separately so he knows how each part of his business is doing independently.....least it would help him tremendously if he does....

What do you do now?

Lawyers make decent ching.

laffin...
I don't know who your talikn to but I know that I'm to old and dumb to go to law school!!