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Can somebody offer some insight please?? We are relocating to Long Island, my husband is a commercial plumbing foreman with 14 years experience and we are having a horrible time finding a job for him. The union wants him to start all over again by attending their school, which is ridiculous and private companies don't seem to answer. I assume they are just answering the people who live in NY. He is going to look into taking the test to get a plumbing license, we just need to find the plumbing codes book for Suffolk County. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!! He is an outstanding plumber/handyman. THanks!!
Long Island is becoming a tax and spend socialist state...it may already be one...If you arre struggling where you are i would stay far away from here...i cant wait to get out of here & im pulling down a decent income for crying out loud.
quik, I know I gave my input on another thread, but the trades are TOUGH here right now and I know lots of wives of union guys(plumbers, carpenters, laborers) most of them are laid off or are about to be. A few years ago there was plenty of "sidework" to see these guys through. That has just about dried up.
I think more important than the code book would be contacting New York State Insurance fund to see how much a workers comp policy will cost you, then find an insurance broker to get quotes on liability. You need both policies active before you can even apply for a license. I think you mentioned being able to spend 400-500k on a home, in the areas you're considering your taxes will be at least 7k per year. Unless you're bringing a couple of hundred thousand as a downpayment you'll need to earn a minimum of 150,000k & I personally think that would be tight.
I asked my DH what some of the lead plumbing mechanics working on his jobs plumbing 10,000 sq ft fifteen million dollar homes are earning. He said he knows a few of the "older guys" are making 125k. Some of the new guys are making 65k.
Competition is fierce here, our little pennysaver papers are filled with ads from guys that do complete bathrooms for $3,995 or so they say.
The home equity money that fueled the home improvement train on LI the past 10 years has dried up & people are doing what they NEED instead of what they want.
That's usually good news for plumbers, but I'm just hoping you guys have enough money saved to cover the $$$$$ costs of running a business like that on LI. You'll probably need to advertise or spend a decent chuck of cash marketing to builders & other contractors. I'm not saying it can't be done.
Maybe it would benefit you guys for your DH to come here & stay with a friend or in a hotel & try to find real work before you take the plunge.
I really do wish you the best of luck, if I can help in any way let me know!
Non union contractor's wife chiming in. We own a business which we established from scratch. For a number of years we worked to grow our reputation and what we did make we rolled back into the business. There were weeks our employees took pay and we did not. Our costs were nothing like they are now, but when you're not taking a check in order to buy more equipment to grow a business, it certainly helped to have the other spouse working outside the family's business.
We're paying a base premium of $22K (liability -- spotless record) which is audited and usually means shelling out another $10K-$15K. NYS Insurance Fund - workers comp is in the $15K range (several employees, no claims), office rent $1300/mon, commercial auto insurance $9K (clean records- fleet of vehicles - no claims), inland marine (for equipment) $4k/yr, and then the nickle and dimes: licensing fees for the various towns and counties, disability insurance, uniforms, etc. We do not advertise as we are strictly word of mouth.
It wasn't easy to get to this point. When we started, we were renting, I was working at a job with health insurance benefits and we had 1 small child. We bought our house 12 years ago, and it was a fraction of what homes are going for now.
I spoke with one of the plumbing companies my husband uses; they pay their more experienced men $35 per hour. That sounds good on paper, but on LI it's not going to go that far when you account for mortgage, tax, fuel, utilities, etc.
quikmove should look hard and long at what KellyFG has written; I can aver that life on LI isn't easy when you're starting a business in the trades. Good luck
To all of you, thank you so much for the responses. That information is very good and honest and I appreciate that. I will tell you that we don't want to start our own business right now, it was becoming an option because we were having such a hard time getting responses from plumbing companies. Nobody will even call back. Our plan is for him to stay with my sister before we all make the move and see what he comes up with. For both of you trades wives, if any of the plumbing companies your husbands deal with need men or are interested in talking with my husband I would GREATLY appreciate the leads. You can direct message me with any info if you want. Thanks again for the info. It is quite an eye opener!!!
Well I think that construction is slowing down due to a lack of funding right now. The only 2 places that is still humming is East End (residential) and NYC (commerical). That is probably not help your situation right now.
Well I think that construction is slowing down due to a lack of funding right now. The only 2 places that is still humming is East End (residential) and NYC (commerical). That is probably not help your situation right now.
Yes, I think things are difficult all over right now. Both my husband and I work in the construction industry and things are busy right now, but Aug into the fall are bleak at the moment. I just want to try and get our foot in the door somewhere to get established. He can really start whenever, but ideally, if we had our druthers it wouldn't happen until the spring. My hubby is more interested in commercial plumbing rather than residential, but can do both. It seems more difficult in LI to find commercial non unioned work, so residential might be the way to go. I just hope something breaks soon.
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