# Starting a Sub Contracting business on the side. What do you think?



## A.J (Jun 12, 2011)

Hi Guys, it's been a while since I have been on here. Some of you may have seen my posts, but I did about 1 year in Drywall and I decided I should just go back to school.

So I'm en route to completing my bachelors of business degree within the next 2 years. Plan on getting into Real estate and commercial land development.

Anyways, I have a good friend who has a long list of close immediate family members and friends who have been in the trades from 10 to 15+ years.

With careful consideration, me and him have decided to strategically and slowly move forward with a sub contracting company on the side as we finish our studies.

Knowing many skilled tradespersons from drywall, electric, plumbing, cabinets/tile, renovations...I am confident we can combine that with our marketing backgrounds to get a succesful side business running as a contractor. Most work will be done throughout the weekends due to the simple fact that most of our future team members have M to Friday jobs.



I beleive this is a good time for me and my good friend to venture with this as it is achievable, and also we do not have much to lose. We are fulltime students and we live at home, with limited expenses.
Please provide insight as to what you think, what I should expect, and what you recommend I do if you guys have similar experience/situation.

Thanks alot guys.


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## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

Are you thinking of starting a sub contracting business or a contracting business?


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## A.J (Jun 12, 2011)

Plan on starting out as a sub contractor then eventually it will be a contracting business once the work/volume increases.


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## TheItalian204 (Jun 1, 2011)

Sub-contracting business usually involves you/your employees getting the work done,not you hiring someone out to do the work for you while you are sub-contractor.

If you going to do what you think,those guys you know would become sub-contractors of sub-contractor(you) which is not acceptable by most of the companies(at least around here).
Some contracts prohibit you from sub-contracting the work to someone else.

Its not simply enough to have business degree,its important to have some sort of real trades background.(and not to knock you down,but one year in drywall business is not what it takes).

You need to know that knowing someone in trades and being certain in them being good in their trade its not a same thing. You have to consider that it will be YOUR NAME going on it and if those guys fck something up and **** hits the fan,it won't help you whether or not you have no/little expenses because you live with your parents.

You gotta remember that there are two types of young contractors/sub-contractors out there that have their emloyee's/emlpyer's respect:

1) Those who have actual trades experience and good at what they do

2) Those who handle their business with care.

Since you lack first and I highly doubt second,I do not advice you to proceed with it.

Contracting business,just like any other; is high-pace, time-consuming,energy-draining (and sometimes even soul crushing) business.
You either won't be able to concentrate on your school or on your business.
I don't really think you would want to lose the either one.

Again I am not trying to knock you down,I am also young and I am in business,doing quiet ok for myself,I do have multiple emloyees and still learning,but I can't EVER find time to do a single course in business to upgrade my knowledge,though its been almost 2 years I have been on my own.
Does that tell you anything?

Besides all the facts I brought up,you have to remember that expenses are always there...whether you live with your parents or you won lottery.(though second option would probably make your live much easier).

There is money to go into business (license,insurance,workers comp,tools,administrative,gas,overhead,wages etc) that if you pay for your school(and even if you don't) you won't be able to handle (Unless you are prepared).

You say you don't have much to lose, but I have a feeling this is one of those situations where you lose your pants 99 times out of 100.

I am not entirely sure what careful consideration you are talking about but if you asked the above mentioned question and did not think about everything I described in my post,you clearly have not considered enough.

Leaving all my thoughts at that,I wish you best of luck in your ventures.


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## newhavencounty (Dec 19, 2011)

*know what you are getting into*

italian, great response.

I have a simple answer to the original post, you cant sub contract unless you have a particular skill which you will be performing for a general contractor or private party. So, what you and your friend are really looking to do is start a general contracting business and sub out the work to friends of yours who are in the trades.

I agree with italian that its a very different thing to know people who work in the various trades, planning on using them for jobs, and wanting to put your name and financial well being on the line trusting them to do a job correctly. The amount of liability you will be taking on is enormous, and the cost of you actually doing business will be prohibitive, as you will be acting as a middleman and just increasing the labor costs to your clients. 

I have been working in construction ever since i was old enough to hold a hammer. My father was a general contractor (still is to a degree), now project manager and MBA Construction Management, not to mention Master Carpenter. Ive spent my lifetime (I'm 30) learning the trade from him, and I have a Bachelors in Business to boot. Ive been grinding out small jobs with him as the GC for the past 8 years, along with the experience of working directly with him from my youth, and only now have the skills necessary to truly strike out on my own. Even with all that experience, I am still constantly encountering situations that require the advice and experience of someone like my father, and im damm glad to have him on hand to help me out of sticky situations. 

I like italian am not trying to discourage you at all, just trying to warn you of the myriad of challenges that await you, not to mention financial liability. If you really want to get into the industry, spend some time working for someone who can teach you the skills before you try to do it by the seat of your pants. In a lot of jobs you can get by with bull****ting your way through, but not this one. You need to know exactly what you are doing because if not someone will end up getting hurt due to your negligence. 

So as someone who has been in a position not too dissimilar from yours, let me give you this advice; don't rush into things, learn and prepare thoroughly, its worth the wait. Construction can be very lucrative and always rewarding, but its not just something you can jump into unprepared.


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## Splinter hands (Aug 31, 2011)

OH BOY not this again:no:


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

I see doom. Do your friends want to go from having M-F jobs to working 7 days a week? That is great if you are the one making the money, but it is really hard to get guys to show up on the weekends if they are getting the scraps. Are they actually contractors now? If so, they would probably be better served if you just were salesmen for them.

It really doesn't work when you want to make the money and they do the work (in their spare time). How does one become a subcontractor when they don't have the skills needed to do the job at a professional level. Then how do you get the Generals to give you the respect you need when you don't have any time in the trades.

If it were as easy as you think it is, everyone would be doing it. 

Sheesh, 20 years in this business and I still get my hat handed to me every once in a while. Looking back to when I had a year in? No way was I ready. 

However, with a degree you can probably skip most of the steps. :whistling


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## RS Sam (Feb 9, 2009)

A.J said:


> With careful consideration, me and him have decided to strategically and slowly move forward with a sub contracting company on the side...
> 
> Most work will be done throughout the weekends due to the simple fact that most of our future team members have M to Friday jobs.
> 
> ...





newhavencounty said:


> italian, great response.


And you too _New Haven_ - 1st post and it's full of wisdom. Hope the OP is reading with an open mind.

So AJ, what they said, plus you can see that I have highlighted your comments that most of your work will be done on weekends and that you don't have much to lose – well as you are not starting a catering business but rather a _remodeling?_ business I think that your clients will have a great deal to lose from guys/gals, who may very well be very talented, but are only available to work weekends while the rest of their time is dedicated to pursuits far removed from the needs of your clients. This has all the makings of a catastrophe for all involved.
My insight? Sit on this idea until you are ready to make a commitment.


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## knucklehead (Mar 2, 2009)

A.J said:


> Hi Guys, it's been a while since I have been on here. Some of you may have seen my posts, but I did about 1 year in Drywall and I decided I should just go back to school.
> 
> So I'm en route to completing my bachelors of business degree within the next 2 years. Plan on getting into Real estate and commercial land development.
> 
> ...


Let me be perfectly honest. I don't like guys like you who think they can be contractors part-time. You give the rest of us a bad name


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## Rich D. (Oct 14, 2011)

Working only on the weekends is a disaster waiting to happen alone. 

For small minor things it will work but what if you get a large project like a reno? 

Most clients won't be very happy with a couple of guys showing up here and there just on a weekend barely getting work done... 

You have to be dedicated 100% to do the work and run the Job. 

I worked for a contractor for a short time that had a Monday through Friday job. He was never there, proper materials weren't ever there, not the proper tools... It was a disaster, the clients hated this guy and this job ruined any chance of a recomendation. 

I only worked for that contractor for 2 days... And now that homeowner calls ME when he needs things done...

See what I mean?


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

With my GC hat on I will respond, I *NEVER* allow my subs to do work after normal working hours or on weekends except for the very exceptional case where they need to finish up AFTER working during normal work hours. (And it must have MY OK as well as the Clients OK) In fact that is even in my standard contract. 

Working odd hours smacks of someone doing this part time without a full commitment to what they are doing.

My money is spent on full time trades ONLY. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I'm not opposed to start ups by any means, but to make a little extra cash second to your "target vocation" at the expense of those of us who are committed to it full time. No way.

There are better ways to break into the business, but it takes 100% commitment to be taken seriously.


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## knucklehead (Mar 2, 2009)

A.J said:


> Hi Guys, it's been a while since I have been on here. Some of you may have seen my posts, but I did about 1 year in Drywall and I decided I should just go back to school.
> 
> So I'm en route to completing my bachelors of business degree within the next 2 years. Plan on getting into Real estate and commercial land development.
> 
> ...


What is your regular job?


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