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If I started a home repair/remodel business and had quality tradesmen who were interested in being on board, is there a right and a wrong way to do this?
- It would be a woman (minority) owned business
- I know different states have different requirements. I'm hoping to relocate to the eastern part of TN or a state in that proximity. I'm not asking for State specific, if possible. More general.
- Would I need a GC license and all employees would need their individual trade licenses?
I'd like to set something up to help some of my coworkers who want to move east with their families. It would hopefully provide insurance for them and enough income to get a new start.
I'm looking at property that could be divided up with a shared farming area.
I respect the c-d professionals. This is probably a hairbrained idea but could it work?
If I started a home repair/remodel business
and had quality tradesmen who were interested in being on board,
is there a right and a wrong way to do this?
You just described the WORST and most WRONG way to go about it.
The BEST way, the OP topic line Q, is to develop genuine competence of your own.
You must bee able to do EVERYTHING related to your business yourself. Y
You don't have to be the best at any of the separate skills... but basic competence is required.
Then you can get into the business (money/contracts/license/insurance, etc) skills you'll also need.
You just described the WORST and most WRONG way to go about it.
The BEST way, the OP topic line Q, is to develop genuine competence of your own.
You must bee able to do EVERYTHING related to your business yourself. Y
You don't have to be the best at any of the separate skills... but basic competence is required.
Then you can get into the business (money/contracts/license/insurance, etc) skills you'll also need.
Way to assume I don't have basic competence. Thanks for the input.
I did some internet searches but was looking for opinions. Thanks for the suggestion anyway, Dave.
Opinions are useless but here is mine which is based on 41 years till retirement in an extremely successful and storied career in the biz you're thinking about. First off, to label yourself as some special niche such as a minority biz is limiting yourself to a rather small group of potential customers who might actually wish to support that niche. Personally I would never support any business who advertised as any special niche, well I take that back, I would support advertised Veteran owned.
Next, why would you move to someplace you're unfamiliar with to start a business? Most all businesses are started by being hired by friends, family and then friends of friends which give you references to brag about. And those that the new business hires are people who have a long standing business relationship with. Hiring strangers in a strange environment is not healthy. When a potential customer asks you for references and how long have you lived in Anytown, Tennessee, what are you going to tell them?
Good luck with the license thing. I been around the block in the construction trades over 4 decades and only in recent years are some towns, cities, states implementing licensing. Many municipalities are only selling licenses with zero qualifications. Just apply, pay and get one. Unfortunately this scenario plays out such that nobody trusts contractors. Anyone with a pickup truck and a tool box and sometimes a sign on the truck door saying Joe Contractor are in biz. And I have seen the most despicable workmanship over the years by these people. It takes many years to build up a reputation. The early years are handyman jobs. Handyman just rings unprofessional know nothing to the general public.
The only other advice I have if you simply must leave Georgia is to explore Florida. The fastest growing state in the USA. That's where I am heading quite shortly to explore building new homes. Yea retirement is boring but exciting. Hey there's a guy who lives near you who will probably be chiming in shortly on his views. His name is Kledge Builders I think it is. Good luck.
Start a “business”- having a high level of running a business- no matter what makes the profit.
In this particular case, we’re talking about a “service industry” type business. Have an understanding of business law (S-Corp, LLC), day-to-day operations (accounting, scheduling, marketing, insurance, taxes, licenses, etc.), and capital. With this type of operation, one person can’t do it all. So, you surround yourself with people that know and understands those processes better than you.
The other thought (as previously noted) is to know, understand, and perform all the skills necessary to accomplish any and all services that you want to offer. OK! Can you run a “business” if you’re the one/one of several performing the work? Then there’s the mental and psychological effect(s)- you can’t work the field all day, and work the “business” all night- everybody needs time away from work. And unfortunately almost everybody doesn’t get away enough. So, if you’re better at the service and want to turn it into a “business”, hire someone who has the skill set I mentioned previously. You can set the standard of service, know and understand what makes a good carpenter, framer, roofer, etc. and hire those people. Essentially you’re kinda the COO. But you need a CEO to “run the business”.
My path to my home building business started in HS with a good sense of design in drafting classes. College started with an architecture degree, ended with a business finance/marketing minor degree. After working a few years in an employment service company, I had an offer to start working as a superintendent, and progressed through the ranks. Though I understood basic building principles, I asked a lot of questions to sub’s, and observed how they went about their trade/skill. Over a decade later, I was back doing what I was taught in college- running a business- or at least one aspect of it. But, I now had an understanding of what happens- and how it’s performed in the field. I eventually went out on my own- I had good capital, an eye for good field talent, and a good rapport with many sub’s.
What I’m conveying is do one or the other- either “run a business” or be a part of a business; not both. But do the one you do best- if you don’t your business will fail.
And I certainly wouldn’t start that type of business in a place/area that you have no previous business dealings, knowledge of business saturation, and or contacts- regardless of the business’ owner status.
I'm not assuming anything that you haven't implied.
Start the Q and idea over by describing what you DO know...
what skills you've accumulated, what you've already been paid well to do...
and maybe even why you want to turn your back on this productive background.
Point being that if you had meaningful experience in anything even remotely related to "Home Remodeling"
you shouldn't need to ask such basic and broad questions about operating that business
in a general interest forum (vs an audience of established contractors in one of THOSE forums)
You would already have a base of experience to draw on and be "refining" that knowledge with pointed Q's.
eg: how to identify some of those "quality tradesmen" and filter through the drunks and bums.
I am in CA where I moved for career advancement working for Navy Public Works. I was recently "forced" to retire, though I'm eternally grateful I had that option, rather than take the jab for something my body has antibodies for.
I have a select couple of tradesmen friends who will potentially lose their jobs soon.
We're interested in possibly banding together as a matter of survival.
I lived in TN (Memphis) from '88-2012 and have family there still.
Because I've been in the facility management side of PW, GC may not be the correct path. Taking business classes is kind of a no-brainer which, not surprisingly, my brain didn't consider.
I'm not absolutely counting on their involvement but would like to be a viable option if they need a safe place to relocate their families. <><
Way to assume I don't have basic competence. Thanks for the input.
I did some internet searches but was looking for opinions. Thanks for the suggestion anyway, Dave.
You're the one who led with that.
Having just finished a renovation (And a pretty extensive one at that) with a contractor we really like, we didn't give a rip one way or another about it being woman-owned or minority-owned or anything else like that. You seem intent on using that as leverage when it's sheer competence and reputation that gets you the business. Nothing else.
It shouldn't even come up in the conversation. It's kind of like tradesmen who talk about their Christian faith while writing out the estimate. Hey, I'm a professing Christian, too, but that has bupkis to do with the job I need done.
It boils down to the following:
1) Do you have the people, skills, and experience to do the job?
2) Do you show up when you say you're going to be there, return phone calls or messages promptly, and stay close to the budget and timetable?
You manage to do those two and you won't be able to keep the customers away. But if you're yapping on about women-owned or whatever, then you're talking about things that important to you, not the customer.
IMO (certainly not an expert in that field) the only reason why defining this business as "minority/woman" owned might provide much benefit is in order to get some targeted start up financing. Can't really see it making too much difference to enough customers to matter. I'd suspect most people looking to hire those sorts of services need to shop for price/reputation/demonstrated expertise. They probably don't have the option to virtue signal or make some social justice statement.
Last edited by Parnassia; 11-22-2021 at 10:21 AM..
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