self employment opportunities? (Portland, Bangor, Brunswick: sales, how much, vacation home)

[nullgeo]

I live on a small island in Puget Sound. Wonderful. Been in the NW for 38 years. Love it. Except: so do a bazzillion other little ants come to this picnic. Western Washington (west of the Cascade mountains we are affectionately called 'Wetsiders") — about the same size as Maine — has grown by over 2.5 million new people in the years I have l lived here. That is double Maine's entire population on Top of the couple million that were already here. So more than triple Maine's population density with another couple million projected in my remaining lifetime. There's no stopping it. And it's still a terrific place to live, work and play. But I was attracted out here from my east coast youth, including Maine, for the NorthWest's sense of "edge of wilderness", and for the decidedly "outdoorsy" community. Evolution has transformed this area into a fast-paced, highly developed, world-class cultural, center for high-tech industries and nearly European "hipness". Another California. So much for my checkered wool shirts, muckboots, and chainsaw ;-)

So here we get closer to my question: my three grown sons are all in worker-bee trades and self employed as 1) carpenter, painter, welder, all-round handyman ... 2) bricklayer/mason, stone mason, landscaper ... 3) granite/marble/tile fitter, cutter, installer. Like their old man (emphasis on "old"), they are "rabid" hunters, fishermen, who have listened to my tales of pulling off leeches and dodging moose in prehistoric days of my youth in Maine (seems like a few thousand years ago, anyway). They all say "sounds Great!" ... they even love snow (good thing, huh!) ... can't wait to ice fish.

First wife died some years back and second wife is from northern Minnesota and misses her snow and frostbitten toes ... poor thing ;-) Our property here is worth half a mint and I can be debt free if I move back to Maine ... and I'd get back to hugging my chainsaw and going into the diner with dog hair all over me and still get served.

But can my boys scare up work should they choose to follow me? With all the Bostonians' vacation cabins and estates is there maintenance and contracting and construction enough to squeeze a few more worker bee's into your state's economy? Probably mid-coast area ... roughly from Wiscasset to Belfast. The boys, of course could commute around from Brunswick to Bangor. Not sure they'd much care to get down all the way to Portland.

thanks!

[flycessna]

Well, I would say first, it depends on how successfull they are there. Like you said, Maine's population is 1/4 what yours is...so I expect that there would be some competition..and it would probably depend on "how good " they do there job. I SAY (IMO) there is always a need for "HIGH QUALITTY" Contractors.

Second, I might consider the current shape of the economy. Nation wide things are not looking good. And here in Maine, things really don't look good. Maine is already considered to be burdoned with high taxes, as I would expect your area isn't much better. But we do not have much of an industry here. So....if this was 4 years ago, with all the construction going on I would have said "come on over"..but now I think before I uprooted myself and uprooted my business. I might want to continue to research and see how viable a move like this really is right now.

This is a great forum with many knowledgable people. So i'd expect you will get many diffrent perspectives so that you can make a well informed decision.....Good Luck

[dramamama6685]

Welcome, nullgeo. Debt free would be a wonderful thing. I would have to agree with forest, do the research first to know if this will be the right move for you and yours.

[island mermaid]

In my humble opinion, Maine sounds like a perfect fit for ALL of you. Do a wage comparison for your sons trades first just to get a feel, but from reading your post I feel like you would all truly be happy there. Yes, there is a need in Southern Maine for each of their trades. Maine has everything you're all looking for.

Good luck!

[corgis]

All of those trades would fit perfectly in Maine as people rehab older houses as we are doing. I'm thinking there's a definite market whether in southern, midcoast, downeast or northern Maine.

[nullgeo]

A few replies already ... thanks. And I note that, because I am new to the Forum, I have a tag of "Junior Member" under my name ... geez, that's nice ... haven't been referred to as "Junior" for Any reason for about the last couple hundred years of my life ;-)

I guess I should add to my original, long-winded post, that I am (actively) retired and therefore have no concern about deriving my own income from moving business / trade to Maine. Out of the rat-race. And there's no question about me knowing what I am moving to, environment, activity, and weather-wise. As for taxes: 1) my income is from tax-exempt pensions, 2) your Maine State Sales Tax is Notably lower than here in Washington, and 3) your property taxes vary widely, but in general you folks are within a reasonable range, with options for various categories of relief (e.g. I qualify for Disabled Veteran deductions).

I know my sons will all come out for some hunting and fishing if I move back. I know how Maine will knock their socks off. I am trying to gather information about the nature of the independent contractor market: how much demand for services and what kinds of rates are chargeable. My sons are good at what they do, absolutely. But they are all in their 20's still and therefore not fully "seasoned" ;-) Carpenter son recently moved to the wide-open spaces and forests of eastern Washington ... where he earned $20-$25 an hour in Seattle, he now has trouble staying busy at $14. Rock mason / landscaper son lives on the island with me in the la-la land of the relatively rich invaders that have bought up every square inch of land here, and is able to charge $20 an hour for ordinary yard work and up to $25 and $30 hourly for his masonry. Granite and tile son earns about $16 an hour working for a company in the growing community across on the mainland from me, and he is working so much overtime he can't get enough sleep (and Man, is he Good at what he does, despite how young!)

Certainly, salaried employees don't earn $20 and $30 hourly cutting lawns and laying brick in Maine. But, do independent contractors charge anywhere near that as one-man shows? Can independent home remodelers, painters, handymen charge $20 or so? Tile and stone interior workers / independents?

And finally, as for "do some research", I am ... this is part of it ;-)
thanks

[dmyankee]

I think you will find the pay for masons pretty comparable up here as there are not a lot of them in the field. I know a guy who charges by the job and seems to do fine. The well to do still want their stone walls, tile floors and stone chimneys. There is a big business up here in chimley relining and rebuilding as you can not install a new heating system any longer with a substandard one.

There are plenty of carpentry jobs if you can hook up with a company. Lots of seasonal work for the hard worker, willing to travel. Wages are all over the place!

[Zymer]

It would seem to me, that if you sold your current property and bought/built in ME and *remained* debt free, AND if you and your sons were amenable to a co-operative living arrangement instead of everyone trying to maintain seperate houses, you all should be able to do fairly well together even if income producing opportunities are somewhat less than you might be used to.

[nullgeo]

dmyankee ... thanks for the encouraging info ... intuition has been telling me that all those vacation homes need everything from lawns cut to chimney's repaired and windows replaced. What I don't know is whether the established local tradesmen are keeping up with demand, struggling to find work, or overwhelmed with requests for services? Here, the tradesmen can't keep up with demand.

[corgis]

I'm having 5 new double hung windows put in this summer. The windows will cost somewhere around $198. a piece and I don't have anyone to put them in for me. I would be most willing to pay $20. an hour for that service.