# Interesting Question....



## MKamis (Nov 17, 2006)

farrellpainting said:


> Capitalism at it's best!Democracy??? Capitalism and globalization are ultimately going to drive this world right back to communism!What's the saying "history repeats itself"?The land of opportunity will eventually be depleted by capitalism.The only thing that you can do about is, take the money that you've banked doing your "small time" contracting and invest it in shares of the big box/corp companies.It's sad but true, not much you can do about it.Just look at the sectors in the stock market,the only companies that stand a fighting chance in our world/nation are that of innovators, and no not the Internet, surprisingly the Internet is pretty much peaked.Our feild of work will too eventually be taken over by corporate companies.The "new world" of contracting will require us to go into outer space to design condo's in a satellite, I'm not kiddin, Branson is already embarking on this concept.The same guy that invested almost everything he had into cell phones before they evolved into what they are now!The long term of this evolution is actually sickening!
> 
> It's a little late and I'm not exactly qualified to accurately make these presumptions, but it's not to had to get the general idea that capitalism; sadly, rules mankind!
> 
> ...



I could not go through life with this kind of outlook! There are plenty of oppritunities for all of us, but if you believe what you are saying, why do you even get out of bed in the morning? Don't put a ceiling on how much you can accomplish, you'll accomplish less.


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## fez-head (Mar 15, 2005)

bill r said:


> Question is how can I bring about an equivalent feeling of security when I don't even have an office? Just a guy and a work truck.


Market your ass off  and create a BUZZ about yourself. Perception is the reality; but you have to be able to back it up. If they don't know who you are or what your all about they can not hire you to solve their problems.


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## bill r (Feb 19, 2007)

Mr Kirchhoff, I do so _*admire your spirit*_. Its pretty clear what makes your operation run: your energy and personality! My quote was a cumbersome attempt at agreeing with you. I presume you've heard of Kirchhoff's Law, by the way? (It's a fundamental electrical engineering law having to do with circuits.http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000spring/PHY232/lectures/kirchhoff/kirchhoff.html)

And I know you have the right, best answer for the whole thread. Some of us have more of what you've got than others. I wish I had more than I have!


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## bill r (Feb 19, 2007)

*The United States Independent Tradesman’s Guild*

Mission:
Provide consumer with the security of dealing with a well-funded, well-recognized organization for their home-maintenance needs. Guarantee the performance of its member tradesmen. Provide a “storefront” for use by consumers and tradesmen, both electronic and bricks-and-mortar. Screen consumers to identify deadbeats. Interfere only to the minimum degree necessary to accomplish mission.

Organization:
Non-profit. Completely owned, managed, organized, and funded by independent tradesmen who are current, active tradesman/contractors. All trades. Organized into state- and township-level chapters.

Operations:
Prime contracts.
Allow consumer to select tradesmen from among members as they do currently, or distribute leads uniformly to members.
Ensure customer satisfaction by providing boilerplate and reviewing custom negotiations.
Fund through surcharge on contracts. A customer can buy the “insurance” by priming with the guild or continue working with his favorite people as always.
Solve any satisfaction problems through funding and member work contributions as necessary.
Well Jeez, Mr. Cole. I didn't mean to kill your entire thread. It was just an idle thought. Take the post away if you wish. It is a really useful thread. bill


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## fez-head (Mar 15, 2005)

bill r said:


> Mr Kirchhoff, I do so _*admire your spirit*_. Its pretty clear what makes your operation run: your energy and personality! My quote was a cumbersome attempt at agreeing with you. I presume you've heard of Kirchhoff's Law, by the way? (It's a fundamental electrical engineering law having to do with circuits.http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000spring/PHY232/lectures/kirchhoff/kirchhoff.html)
> 
> And I know you have the right, best answer for the whole thread. Some of us have more of what you've got than others. I wish I had more than I have!


Well Thank You Bill. 

I have heard of Kirchhoffs Law but am not smart enough to understand the concept.


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## J87513 (Jan 15, 2007)

first of all, Home Depot/Lowes are retaillers. They are not contractors. I think that there is a limit to how large a construction firm can grow. The independent contracting business will never be like a huge conglomerate like McDonalds or AT&T. The construction industry just isn't like that.


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## dirt diggler (May 14, 2006)

J87513 said:


> first of all, Home Depot/Lowes are retaillers. They are not contractors. I think that there is a limit to how large a construction firm can grow. The independent contracting business will never be like a huge conglomerate like McDonalds or AT&T. The construction industry just isn't like that.


um ...

what about Ant*on* & Syl*an

or Blu* Ha*e*


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## POOLMANinCT (Oct 7, 2006)

2 points...
1.
read the "brand you" writings by tom peters,
(geared toward suits, but 
very good insights)

2. dirt those are excellent 
outfits, bad mouthed by every poolguy. I own stock in a&s, shhhhhhhh

ray


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## ruskent (Jun 20, 2005)

dirt diggler said:


> um ...
> 
> what about Ant*on* & Syl*an
> 
> or Blu* Ha*e*


Sylvan was public and than went back to being a private company. if my memory is correct, i belive their gross sales was around 275 million.

Now in the grand skeme of things, thats not all that big for a large corportation.


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## Second Look (Jan 13, 2007)

ruskent said:


> Sylvan was public and than went back to being a private company. if my memory is correct, i belive their gross sales was around 275 million.
> 
> Now in the grand skeme of things, thats not all that big for a large corportation.


Halliburton, for example, had total revenues last year of 22.576 billion, or around 82 times the $275 million number. Halliburton profits for the same year were 3.87 billion.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Second Look said:


> Halliburton, for example, had total revenues last year of 22.576 billion, or around 82 times the $275 million number. Halliburton profits for the same year were 3.87 billion.


How many Haliburtons are there out there though? I mean aren't we talking about a different animal here. Don't they do a lot, if not most, of reconstruction for war torn areas? Aren't there usually several politicians or former politicians involved with them? With that kind of money, you know there is, but I mean in high positions. Seems like I heard years ago that Lady Bird Johnson owned or had a big interest in them. Didn't they do a lot of work in Nam? And didn't Cheney have a high position with them? How much of a presence do you think they may have in the middle east? If I am correct, am I seeing connections that are not there? :whistling


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## woodmagman (Feb 17, 2007)

dirt diggler said:


> that's another thing ...
> 
> why the grey doomsday skies guys??
> 
> ...


What......were you reading the more the big boys come out and play the more my phone rings.


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## Second Look (Jan 13, 2007)

boman47k said:


> How many Haliburtons are there out there though? I mean aren't we talking about a different animal here. Don't they do a lot, if not most, of reconstruction for war torn areas? Aren't there usually several politicians or former politicians involved with them? With that kind of money, you know there is, but I mean in high positions. Seems like I heard years ago that Lady Bird Johnson owned or had a big interest in them. Didn't they do a lot of work in Nam? And didn't Cheney have a high position with them? How much of a presence do you think they may have in the middle east? If I am correct, am I seeing connections that are not there? :whistling


One could consider DR Horton (DHI) instead, their revenue is "only" about 15 billion with about a billion and a quarter in shareholder profits. I don't know why I even chose a construction business, I was simply agreeing with Ruskent's comment that a quarter of a billion give or take in revenues isn't exactly big business.

I don't know too much about Halliburton except that they seem to have a few rather large construction jobs going lately.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

Paul Davis Is a total joke they are worthless they are incompatant fools they never seem to measure or plan anything the worst part of it is they cant figure out why they keep losing good subs My 3 yearold daughter and my clueless fiance could do a better job of estimating and putting together a materials list I.E. 12 new doors all too tall because of built up flooring 3 days to cut down and hang not even case btw hollow core luan doors 2 of which had to be narrowed 1000sq/ft of enginered flooring 5/8" thick instsalled before trim, doors and casing they deliver 1/4" thick flooring door jambs and casing 3/8" off finished floor think they would go get the right flooring? no they used 2 pallets of liquid floor leveler I did get 2g for removing base cabinets re installing and removing old flooring damn cant ***** too much nah I can they are loosers


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

A period is your friend.


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## Jason Whipple (Dec 22, 2007)

GeewizzIdidntnoticeanythingwrongwiththatpostatall:blink:


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## orson (Nov 23, 2007)

Stone Mountain said:


> Francising is the wave of the future. Look at McDonalds, Burger King, The Gap, Honda, GM, Taco Bell, every motorcycle or car dealership, nearly every food chain,. Go to your local mall, and most of the stores are franchises.


What do you see between every successful franchise? I'm going to use the restaurant industry as an example because it was my trade before carpentry. Despite the overwhelming number of restaurant franchises of all stripes and colors new and innovative independant operators open and thrive(and fail as well) constantly. Also old established nonfranchise restaurants remain and thrive, sometimes only until the key person or driving force behind them retires/expires.

The moral of my paragraph is that franchises are by their very nature consistent, mostly consistent mediocrity. A few franchises measure up to the standard of consistently above average, but only very few. To compete with a franchise you can do 1 or 2 of 2 things: run your own business like it is a franchise(Gerber's E-Myth) and/or produce a great product, because people can't get great products at most franchises. Set your product apart from the mediocre products, and compete only with the other high quality/high service/uniquely designed etc. products and you will always have a market, albeit perhaps not as big a market once the big brands sweep through.

www.rubycon.us
Ruby Construction LLC 
Lancaster Kitchen Remodeling
Lancaster Bathroom Remodeling


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## A W Smith (Oct 14, 2007)

But is the market share of the box stores in the industry still growing? I noticed this thread is almost a year old. Is the installation sector for these boxes as lucrative as the retail sales themselves? Will they shed more of their less profitable divisions to show better earnings?


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## Standstrong (Apr 18, 2006)

Radio Folks thought TV would destroy them. 
Nope just another avenue
less market share
TV thought internet would destroy them
Nope just another avenue
less market share
Satellite radio....same thing.

Truth is, there probably is too many of us.
There are too many people who "know just enough to be dangerous"
I heard that here once and think about it often.

It will inevitably be a part of our world. Adapt.
Ma and Pop burger joints adapted to Mc D's 
Probably made them make a bettter burger, or switch to gyro's.
American business is cut-throat and adaptive, stay on top or sink.


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

I owned a kitchen refacing franchise and let it go last year. I have been a licensed GC since 1988. The franchise worked ok, but not better than I could do myself. The money in franchising goes to the franchiser, not the franchisee.
Systems work for a lot of things, but they work better for food than anything else. Something simple. Franchises fail at a much higher rate than franchisers let on. I'm not worried about franchises, they are simply another business and not as sharp as a lot of us guys . You will always have an edge on a franchise.
You can be better, faster to change, offer unique things. A franchise is good for someone who needs the help to get going.
Franchises cost for marketing and royalties are high, and supplies may be mediocre and cost you more. And the big thing is---You ARE NOT the boss, you are a franchise, or independent employee.


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