# Most profitable business?



## miraclem (Sep 23, 2019)

I know these area loaded questions, and it depends on a lot of things. 


But,


1.Generally what are the most profitable businesses to go in the construction industry?

2. What's the easiest to get into and make a butt load of money in?

3.What are some very specific unheard of trades that make good money?


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## cedarboarder (Mar 30, 2015)

Literally a butt load of money in septic tanks

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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

Snow removal. Tons of money and it is super easy work.


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## Fishindude (Aug 15, 2017)

To make a bunch of money in any type of contracting, in addition to profitable self perform labor, you need to run a butt load of expensive materials and subcontractors through your books getting markups on all of that stuff. 

Bigger, more difficult, challenging, high speed schedule, and out of the ordinary jobs tend to pay better also as you don't have near as much competition. It's a higher risk / higher reward thing.

You also need to complete your projects fast. Get in, get out, no call backs and get on to the next job. Jobs dragging out kill your profit potential.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Fishindude said:


> You also need to complete your projects fast. Get in, get out, no call backs and get on to the next job. Jobs dragging out kill your profit potential.



True story right here 




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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

miraclem;7620979
3.What are some very specific unheard of trades that make good money?[/QUOTE said:


> A painter that only does plumbing.


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## Mordekyle (May 20, 2014)

I like vapor barriers.

Easier with a helper, but I can do them by myself.

Doesn’t take long, materials are cheap, no callbacks.

In and out, no headaches with subs or supplies. 




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## NJ Contractor (Nov 12, 2016)

miraclem said:


> I know these area loaded questions, and it depends on a lot of things.
> 
> 
> But,
> ...



1. The most profitable subcontractor I deal with as a residential GC is one of my HVAC subs. It is a $40 million a year business. They have over 300 employees and also have both a plumbing and an electrical division. Their bread and butter is in AC installs and service. They can install AC in a big old house in 3 days. It is a 3rd generation business, so not sure this level of growth is doable in one persons lifetime. 

I also know my smaller 5-10 employee plumber subs are doing well but not any better than I do as a GC.

I think a hardworking mason who actually answers the phone can do well too.

2. Nothing comes easy in the construction industry, at least from what I've seen. You have to work smart and hard...

3. Beside the obvious HVAC, plumbing, electrical, masonry and framing. Some profitable niches that I've seen are spray foam insulation contractors, copper and metalwork specialists, stone masons, plasterers, tech integration, custom cabinetry & millwork, etc...


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Politics.


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

Home Inspectors. They rake in the dough.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

From what I can tell, gutters and decks.

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## mrcat (Jun 27, 2015)

NJ Contractor said:


> 1.
> I think a hardworking mason who actually answers the phone can do well too.


I would pay a butt load of money for a good mason that would answer his phone.


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## EricBrancard (Jun 8, 2012)

All of them can be profitable and all of them can be failures. The answer to your question was in your first sentence - “it depends.”


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## Easy Gibson (Dec 3, 2010)

Painting is amazing for how much you can make for how little the liability is.

I've seen what I believe to be the worst that can go wrong on a paint job, which is a spilled gallon. We got rags and buckets of water and cleaned it up. Work stopped for about an hour but there was no damage to the home. Viva latex paint.

If you're not scared of flooding houses, plumbing is dope. 
If you're not scared of burning them down, electrical work is a great money maker.

I have a feeling OP is grasping at straws here though. Go get a job as a helper with a large GC. You'll figure out what you've got a taste for. Ain't no paycheck in the world gonna get you up in the morning for something you despise for anything close to long enough to call a career or a retirement option. Might be able to fake it for a few years, but it'll break you.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

TxElectrician said:


> From what I can tell, gutters and decks.
> 
> Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk




Says the electrician 


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## Kowboy (May 7, 2009)

The sink replacement business pays lawyer rates. I wrote an essay about it a while ago.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

Most profitable jobs that bring good money, fast and without any callbacks are building PT decks. 
I'm not talking about the fancy cut-up deck, like multi-tiered, etc I'm talking about straight forward boxes let's say 20' x 16'. 

I never made more profit on anything in comparison to any other remodeling job taking into account the cost of material vs. profit and the amount of time it takes to build a deck. 

In the '80-'90s, before patios started to overtake the market when people wanted decks on every existing on a new house that was going up, we use to make a killing.
Today hardly anyone is doing decks, I drive by 200-300 house developments and you would see 5-10 decks, everything else is patios or a set of stairs that builder gives you.


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## Stunt Carpenter (Dec 31, 2011)

greg24k said:


> Most profitable jobs that bring good money, fast and without any callbacks are building PT decks.
> 
> I'm not talking about the fancy cut-up deck, like multi-tiered, etc I'm talking about straight forward boxes let's say 20' x 16'.
> 
> ...




Still my biggest money maker. Quick in and out. Building a 12’x20’ today 16” off grade


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Door and window repairs are my best jobs. Usually quick, and even with my standard minimum, it can be pretty nice.



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## daffysplumbing (Oct 16, 2017)

The most profitable trade that takes the least amount of brains and the least amount of materials is painting. 

The average price painters are getting to paint inside a 3-bebroom house in the Boise area is $5500 to $7500 and the materials cost less than $600 including essentials like drop cloths, masking tape, etc. In California, we get $3500 to $4500 to paint inside a 3-bedroom house.

I just painted a CVS drug store for $25,000. The paint and essentials was $1,200. I paid 2 painters a total of $500 per day and they completed the job in 3 days.

Repair plumbing is the 2nd highest paying and most-profitable trade. The materials for some repair plumbing jobs cost less that $15 and we get paid as much as $5,000 for jobs that take less than 6 hours.

Example: I own a single-family house in Las Vegas. A tree root crushed a 3 inch ABS (plastic) sewer pipe under the front concrete patio. Since I live in Los Angeles I called several plumbers and got 3 estimates to cut the concrete and replace 3 feet of ABS (plastic) sewer pipe. The lowest price I got was $3600 and the highest price was $6500. So, I drove the 280 miles to Las Vegas, cut a 14 inch x 3 foot hole in the concrete, dug 2 feet down, repaired the sewer, back-filled the trench and patched the concrete. Total time - 5 hours. Total Cost with pipe, 2 couplings and concrete - maybe $25. 

And...you don't need a lot of brains to be a repair plumber.


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