General Contractor relocation (RV park, appointed, real estate) - Idaho (ID) - City-Data Forum

Farmgirl32 · 01-30-2017, 04:19 PM

Hi everyone,

My husband and I own and operate a General Contracting business that he built from the ground up. We are in our 5th year, we operate out of Bellingham, Wa, and have grown exponentially every year. However, it is too crowded here and the home prices are so astronomically high that we can't afford even a run down mobile home. Not to mention the severe bubble that is about to burst in which we don't want to tangle with. We've looked feverishly for years to find a way to diversify what we do, such as flip homes etc., with no success. The homes here are so horribly built they rot to dust within 10 years. What the realtors deem as a "fixer-uppers" are in such severe state of rot that we'd have to sink upwards of 50k into most homes. And being that they are over priced, the ideal 30% profit for a flip becomes non existant. Whatcom county has also issued a well moratorium so building in the county is out of the question.
We had been renting in the county south of us when the landlords sold the place. So we got a rental up here. 1 year later and with a 5 month old we had to move again because the landlords said they were moving in
We didn't want to be subject to landlords yanking us around so we thought we'd buy an RV and find land to plop it on and eventually build. That was before the well ban came about. Now we are stuck living in an RV park with no way out. Any time we go to look at a home in our price range we are sorely disappointed. The last one we looked at was a 20+ year old mobile home that had never been updated, was rotting, someone took a bat to the windows and sheet rock, the deck was rotten. The land was a swamp. 230k is what was being asked for a beat up, rotten mobile home on a swamp. It went pending days later. Not that we wanted it, but people around here will buy ANYTHING at ANY price. If we wanted a few NICE acres with a 1200sqft home that wasn't total junk, we'd need at least 400k. Nope, not interested!

Anyway, we want to move to a less populated area to raise our little daughter, with acreage and affordable housing, and some good ol self sustainability (cows, garden, chickens etc) . We are both originally from eastern Washington (husband grew up in the mountains, off-grid and I on a large, working farm) and crave the solitude once again.

We are considering areas such as Spokane or CDA but are concerned that we'd be able to make a decent living. As is, my husband solely works on fixing rotting homes here with an occassional kitchen or bathroom remodel. Since we'd no longer have the guarantee of rotten homes to keep us busy, we wonder if we could stay busy with remodels, decks and possibly new construction? He has rave reviews online, we are BBB acredited, he has been in construction pretty much his whole life. His dad owned a construction company for 30+ years, and my husband was a journeyman union carpenter for 5 years. He is very well-rounded and has a work ethic like you wouldn't believe. We are aware that we'd have to lower our hourly rate, and that's fine. But could he stay busy enough to sustain us?

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond!

-Sam

javatom · 01-30-2017, 07:41 PM

I think you would be better off where you are now. He could take a job working for someone so the income would be consistent.

Farmgirl32 · 01-30-2017, 10:20 PM

Except as an employee he wouldn't make more than fifteen an hour around here which would be mere chump change in this area, and we can't get our hands on land or a house. We're fine with cutting his hourly wage - would just need to stay busy.

Shaner · 01-30-2017, 10:39 PM

I think if you were to make some connections before you come so that you can find work, and also broaden the scope of his work until he finds his niche, you would be much better off. We are very short handed when it comes to skilled laborers, and since he has experience he would be able to get into something rather quickly I would think.

Farmgirl32 · 01-30-2017, 11:40 PM

Thanks. Good advice and something we've talked about. We would change our website first and also send an email to all our past customers asking for any referrals in the new area they might be able to offer. Among a few other ideas.
Those are my gut instincts. That given his skill set he should be able to find work easily.. Just a hard move to make given that we've established ourselves here, and via rampant rotten homes that we likely won't find in the dryer side of the PNW! Needless to say we are quite busy ha.

oregonwoodsmoke · 01-31-2017, 07:32 AM

CDA is a small town with a cold winter. My best guess would be that there is some construction work in the summer and not much in the winter. Construction work has a tendency to stop when there is snow. If there are a lot of retirees, there is probably handyman work, which pays moderately well, but is unreliable. Although, a good honest skilled handyman can be in high demand once his reputation is established.

Spokane is a lot bigger with a tired look to it, so I suspect there is a lot of renovation work.

My suggestion: call a few construction companies and ask if they are hiring. That should give you a hint about the amount of work available.

New to an area, a job working for someone else while you get established would be the safest way to move. It takes a long while for a construction worker to establish a reputation to the point that one can own an independent contracting business. A steady paycheck for the first year or so would come in handy.

You might study house prices carefully. It looks to me like a decent solid house on a few acres in CDA is not all that cheap. You want acres that you can homestead on, which means relatively level and sunny. I'm not sure you can find that is what appears to be your price range. Prices are much lower than Seattle prices, but it is a popular tourist town and real estate prices reflect that.

Shaner · 01-31-2017, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

CDA is a small town with a cold winter. My best guess would be that there is some construction work in the summer and not much in the winter. Construction work has a tendency to stop when there is snow. If there are a lot of retirees, there is probably handyman work, which pays moderately well, but is unreliable. Although, a good honest skilled handyman can be in high demand once his reputation is established.

Your best guess is wrong. LOL. Construction does not stop when its snowing.

Baynative · 02-04-2017, 02:44 PM

Within 30 minutes of CdA there are homes on acreage in need of improvement that can be found in the $150K to $250K range. In Bonner County which covers a large part of the panhandle a building permit requires only a plot plan to verify setback compliance. It snows and temps drop below freezing a lot. But with good planning, local builders get buildings wrapped and dried in so working inside can continue in cold weather. The market is picking up and reliable help can be hard to find.