Start small construction business or keep job? (real estate, degree, jobs)

[Eye-duh-hoe]

I moved to the Denver area about 10 months ago for a position with a commercial general contractor. The position did not work out very well for me. Currently, I am working an office job for a production home builder. The pay is good about 70k a year and about a 45 hour work week. I am a college graduate with a BS in construction management and have several years experience working in the field as a framing carpenter, drafting, and estimating. I have always wanted to start a small construction business that would involve both design and construction of small decks, sheds, and additions. I keep hearing that there is a major shortage of skilled workers in the area. To me it seems like the perfect time to jump in and get started. I was looking for some advice on how to start something like this. Anyone else run into a similar situation? Is this a better move since the housing industry is so unpredictable? Any suggestions on how to advertise and get started? Thanks!

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Eye-duh-hoe

The position did not work out very well for me.

This is a very common theme among new start trades people.

and have several years experience working in the field as a framing carpenter
...construction of small decks, sheds, and additions.

I was looking for some advice on how to start something like this.

Aside from affording the tools, truck, insurances, licensing, and cash reserve?
How about finding customers?

#1 suggestion is to UNDER estimate weeks/hours that you'll work.
That means the $80,000 net of everything else that this exercise needs to produce
needs to be divided by no more than 40 weeks of actual nail banging work.

If you need to allow for winter cold and rain as well (decks, sheds, etc)
then that comes down eve more. Call it 30 weeks or $2666 per week.
Plus the overhead costs ... plus whatever materials and markup.
---

I needed a framing carpenter to help me do a 20x12 shed this summer.
Got him out of craigslist for $100 a day. He milked the job some but did good work.

Can you sell a $4500 deck and complete it in a week too?

[chet everett]

This is one of those things that is less about "you" as a one-man-band and more about your ability to actually run a business. The obvious questions are things like "what experience do you have assembling crews / subcontracting to get jobs done? -- If there are labor shortages in Denver (which I have heard to be true...) that makes it SUPER HARD to line up qualified workers AS WELL NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to get subcontractors to finish up jobs in a timely manor...

A friend of mine was in a situation not that different than you are in. He grew up in a Chicago suburb, earned a degree in construction management from a respected school (Purdue), worked in a variety of roles for a quality home builder in Wisconsin and mostly had a good life. Then the bubble in real estate burst and the builder melted down. He tried to get some of the skilled guys he knew from the builder involved in a new firm but it was just about impossible to maintain the margins needed to support his family. Fortunately his wife had a fulltime job in an unrelated field and they were able to make ends meet but he eventually switched to something that was very different than construction / general contracting because it was just too hard to line up clients...

If you have some savings and could afford to sort of "live on the cheap while you put money into the business" I suppose you could try to make connections to folks that need a GC to build a new home or take on major renovations and if does not work out you might be able to go back to the builder you work for. It really comes down to how good your finances are, how effective you can be in lining up jobs that will pay and most of all what kinds of connections you have to potential crews to help get the work done..

[jman07]

The pay is very low for residential construction in the field. It is also very competitive and hard t make much owning a residential business. It is cut throat. Staying in construction management is your best bet.

[joe from dayton]

Sounds like you'll give up a 75K a year job so you can hope to clear 45k a year. I bet there are a lot of guys doing what you want to do who wish they had a steady and well paying job like yours.