Big Island Services Needed? (Hilo: insurance, house, employment)

[Annyz]

Someone on a recent thread mentioned Hawaii is lacking services such as "reliable contractors and other service people". Can anyone expand on this?

[leilaniguy]

A lot of people here, (including me) have had bad experiences with contractors and tradesmen. There is a tendancey for some to show up late or not at all, to lie about there skills, to get "loaded" on the jobsite, or even to take deposit money right to the airport.

[Annyz]

Maybe this is an area we can explore for employment purposes. My hubby can do just about anything related to carpentry, plumbing, electrical and small equipment repairs. He does a lot of tree cutting and can operate a farm tractor. He is not a greedy person so I think he would be very fair when pricing a job, he is reliable although does not work at a rapid pace (LOL) and he gets along with just about anybody. AND...neither one of us drinks unless it is a social occasion which is very rare for us anymore!
We are trying to get some insight to self-employment job opportunities since jobs on the island seem to be scarce.

[hilobound]

I am also a sub contractor by trade but master in tile. I also can do about anything so moving to hilo might be easier to get a job than i thought. Are there many professional tile setters on the big island and in hilo? thanks

[hotzcatz]

Check to see what licensing and insurance requirements are required to set up shop in the construction trades here. Mainland licenses do not transfer over to here, mainland experience means nothing. I think even if you are running a complete construction company on the mainland you will have to apprentice to someone over here for awhile to become legal. The house next to us was bought by a mainland contractor who was planning on moving over here and setting up a contracting company. When he found out he would have to apprentice to someone for several years before he could set up his own shop he decided to stay on the mainland and retire over here later.

All electrical and plumbing work is required to be done by a Hawaii licensed contractor so that would take those two off the list right away. There are also a lot of folks over here who already have the licenses, contacts and equipment, you may be able to find work with them, but a lot of them have been laying off workers because of lack of work.

There aren't a lot of farm tractors around here, most folks use a caterpillar or dozer of some sort.

I know of two tile guys who aren't working in tile right now. They are now considering weed whacking at ten dollars an hour. You can always set up a yard service, that always seems to be in short supply. There are some other folks looking for coffee pickers, but that is seasonal work.

[Annyz]

I was thinking more on the lines of a handy-man, not a contractor. Someone needing minor repairs that contractors are not interested in doing because the job is too small and not enough bucks involved.
I mentioned the tractor only for reference to my hubby being capable of driving large equipment, or could easily learn if needed to help someone out.
We are trying to compile a list of supplemental jobs we can do in case we need additional income.

[leilaniguy]

Remember the economy here is in the toilet just like the rest of the USA. There are 4 guys on my street who work as handymen and are hurting. I agree with hotzcats that a better bet would be in yard service. There are 6 yards mowed by gardeners on my block every week, 5 of those owned by out of state owners. The people next door to me pay about $20 an hour, it takes the guy about 3 hours to do 2 acres.

[Annyz]

Yard service...I'll be there tomorrow! I love nothing more that being outdoors and have spent days on end mowing on our property. Personally, for some reason I like the push mower over the rider. Probably would have been a better idea to move my horses over to the area and not waste so much of my time, but then I would have had to do some fencing first. Not my favorite job!
Thanks to you both for the advice. Any other ideas to add to my list?

[Calico Salsa]

If you are good with yardwork, maybe you can build gardens for people who would like to start one but dread the initial manual labor. Raised beds, with cinderblock sides - wood is too expensive and prone to rot & termites, and I wouldn't want treated wood around my veggies. You could clear the area, reroute any grass irrigation, put in the garden bed & fill with organic compost, set up timed drip. Maybe even plant the first set of crops.

These days, with the cost of everything, some homeowners might want to take out grass and put in gardens.

Now there's an idea. You put in a garden AND tend it. They get the veggies. They pay the same as a yard service, but they get veggies as a bonus AND they are saving water (drip) AND they can be more self-sustaining.

[hotzcatz]

Folks are taking out their lawns and replacing them with food plants. Our garden club went to Hilo town yesterday to buy some banana keiki from a fellow in Hilo town who was proceeding to do just that. His whole back yard was bananas and other plants, his side yard was had fruit trees and such. He was showing us where he was going to take out the rest of the lawn and grow more bananas as well as cane and other edibles.

If you want to do agricultural work, that you can find. Picking bananas, coffee, weed whacking, mowing, trimming, etc. If you expanded into the zone of planting things as well as cutting them back that would be a plus, I would think.