# If you could start over again......



## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

SmallTownGuy said:


> OK. That's your what - what's your why?
> 
> 
> 
> My overactive imagination believes you are in a very dense market for the product you offer. So is it because of positive reviews, or just that demand for gutters is so high?




All of the above. My reviews from Angie's sell some nice jobs for sure. There are the big boys with hundreds of reviews and then many others with 10-15. I have 61. The reviews are sometimes paragraphs about me and my guys. 

After reading a few dozen you can tell what type of person I am and how I run my business. Angie's closing rate is very high but leads don't come in and fast as HA. 

HA changed big time after the Angie's purchase. Fake leads are non existent for me now. The leads come in like rapid fire. I control my spending so it dosnt get too crazy. Also once I reach my limit I still get sent some leads and it's up to me if I want to purchase. 

HA does an insane amount of TV advertising and it's free for homeowners so why wouldn't they give it a shot. Not everyone knows someone in the trades that can help them out. 

Lastly I thing the economy is on fire and we had a very damaging winter. Doing consistent numbers haven't done in years. 70% homeowner 30% sub so people are spending. 


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Nothing at all wrong with AL and HA, or billboards or magazine ads ect... If it gets a man work I'm glad for them and am pumped for them

But I agree with Griz for what I do. I like referrals and have never had success with any ads. Get calls but not sales. Someone trusting you with a lot of Jack and their home (whether remodel and you move all their stuff out and cut the thing and add on or build a new house its their home ) is more likely to ask around out here. 

As our company changes I am looking at doing some advertising on small scale. Have my SIL in the office do Facebook and she's already changed the website up. It keeps your name in front of people I guess if they look you up. I'd like to get more remodel work so I'm trying to figure out how to target that.

Also agreed guys see your name on kids soccer uniforms or yard signs and your guys company shirts and hats and truck signage It makes it easier to find guys when you are looking. Seems like most of the guys are not quite as good these days though LOL


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

I think I would have started a website for contractors, built it up for a few years, and then sold it to a big conglomerate.


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## asevereid (Jan 30, 2012)

Warren said:


> I think I would have started a website for contractors, built it up for a few years, and then sold it to a big conglomerate.



I see what you did there... 

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## fast fred (Sep 26, 2008)

griz said:


> Would you?
> 
> What would you do different?
> 
> ...


So much to say, I just love coming on here and ranting. It's my other outlet besides my shrink. 

The internet thinks they can corral, work as a middle man, and offer the lowest prices to the consumer. What a crock! I'm so sick of it. Screw the internet, computer people are so detached, because they think they can hit a button and make things happen. Unfortunately in construction there are more moving parts, problems, and people that it takes more than hitting enter to make something happen.

Had a customer contact me about a job recently, went to look, etc etc, they wanted referrals and a list of past customers they could contact. Guess what, I wasn't going to give them any, didn't want to. Told them I don't have any referrals. Ended up getting the job. Ugh.

My biggest take away from contractor talk is "raise your prices" yup. Trying to be the highest priced contractor in my area, almost there. Raising my prices 10% this week. I'm calling it congestion pricing, since I'm booked for the year, why not.

I now get irritated when I hear how cheap people will work. I know where I stand as a business, my costs my overhead, so I have no clue how some people can make it when they charge what they do.

Do I love doing paper work on weekends? Do I like making 100k a year? Do I like 10-12 hr days? Do I like texting a customer for over an hour on a friday night because they are not sure about buying a $5,000.00 slab of wood. What about a saturday night? I didn't respond but will start back this morning. This is the life you'll sign up for. You can blow it off, but then what, I remind myself I'm in the customer service business. Without the customer then I have no business. I have to consider myself lucky though, I rarely deal with "average people" I deal with a different segment of society who pay for me and my time. Time I have to provide at the drop of a hat. It actually doesn't matter who you deal with, you have to be on point and love your customer. Big time lawyers, bond brokers, commodity traders, bankers, federal judges, cia agents who write books on terrorism, silly tech money who pay 480 sq ft for a mud room, dentists, doctors, politicians, people who own boats (not motor boats, sail boats, or rafts, more like container ships), people who are at their fifth home in Morocco and are upset because I didn't do what I said I would and don't want to be bothered while they are on their two week sabbatical with limited internet all before they head off to Korea for a high stress work trip, some of the most demanding people you can imagine. They don't shop on the internet for contractors, I'm pretty sure. 

If I were to do anything else, I would smoke dope ride my mountain bike and ski every day. Oh-wait, I already do that. 



illbuildit.dd said:


> If i could start over, I'd be a "homeless" mountain man.


Did that all through my twenties. Was the greatest time in my life. Work was the last thing on my mind, then I thought I was smarter and better than everyone else, boy was I stupid and wrong. Now I'm in over my head, miserable most days, wondering when I can be "homeless" in the desert. Can't wait.


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