907plumber

I'm about ready to take the plunge here. There is not alot of work going on up here. What jobs are out there, I need to do them on my own so I can get the money all to myself.

I have 16 thousand dollars to invest, I already have a work truck.

Bonding and insurance are going to run me 3000.00 right there.

so now Im whittled down to 13K

I need to buy a few tools, wich I think will total 1500.00

Fortunately I dont have much debt. I owe my Mortgage, a small car payment and the normal utilities. My wife makes pretty good money. I only need to bring in about 3-4 hundred a week for us to get by and pay all our bills. actually if I take my kid out of day care I can cut that by half. Im thinking I might pull her out of day care for now, and bring her there on a day basis if I have a job or not.

Given this amount of money and situation, would you take the plunge?

Where and how would you invest the money?

ckoch407

Make a very detailed P&L type budget, starting with ALL of your expenses. Once you have your actual expenses real and potential, including your own W-2 wages, add in the desired amount of profit your company should make. Now divide that by how many jobs you can possibly secure and perform. That is your selling price per job. If 16K will float that P&L long enough to become profitable AND pay the 16K back in a reasonable time without a doubt, do it. If not.... do something else with your money.

P.S. If you look at it as taking a plunge that might be an indicator that you are leaving a lot to chance. Plan and calculate every step and scenario before you make a move. This is no time to leave anything to chance.
Also you appear to be minimizing/justifying your own personal cash needs. BAD, BAD, BAD!!! The whole point of going in business is to make more, not just get by. Even if you are just trying to imagine a worst case scenario, it is bad. Think and act with the end result in mind every step of the way.

Just my two cents. You asked. LOL

M5Plumb

How many other plumbing company's out there in the same boat, laying people off, slow work etc??? What has your market research turned up?

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M5 Plumbing Services llc
Serving the Portland Vancouver area
360 624 8376
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Bollinger plumber

I started mine on a hope and a prayer and A1 credit. First thing is get some good clients set up. Don't rely on friends to be clients they will back off when you go do a job for them and you don't give them a discount. Next is have sumplumb send you a pm on how he got his business going again. He has some good tips for you as long as you are not in an area to compete with him. My personal opinion wait till this economy gets better. People are just not wanting to spend money right now.

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affordabledrain

I am going to say get your insurance started now. This will help. The longer you have the policy with out a claim the better rate you might get. Also look in to marketing. You have to get your name and number out there.

grandpa

People have started with less and made out OK. I would give two pieces of advice, for what it is worth:

Be prepared to weather periods of NOT very much work. Until you have a list of regulars, you will be lucky to stay busy.

Don't bid on any jobs that will require a large outlay on materials in advance. You can't afford to get burned, or even to wait 6 to 10 weeks to get paid. Look for a lot of smaller jobs. Don't do any subcontracting for a builder or remodeler who will be a slow pay.

907plumber

Well thanks for the tips guys. Good news on my end here, at least as far as getting my name out there. The company I work for now, a bathroom remodel company, said they don't care if I leave a card at the homeowners houses. As long as I don't try to get their bathroom remodel jobs. They said things like Hose bibs, Boilers, Leaks, gas pipe ect. are fine. Just no bathtub replacements and such. kitchen remodels are fine for me to do though. So cool. I do a good job at the customers house, they get to know me, I drop a card and tell them to give me a call for any other service or repair work.

Now I just got to get some business cards made up. How do I do that, just go to office max or something?

what a great way to market my business, while making money.

Redwood

Sounds like you have a pretty good deal with your present boss...
Thats excellent that you can have that arrangement while starting up your business!

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M5Plumb

Before you get the cards made up, you need to look into the legal requirements of advertising. Specifically, the info required of you to put on biz cards or any other form of advertising. One wrong move now can easily set you back for a couple of years.

__________________
M5 Plumbing Services llc
Serving the Portland Vancouver area
360 624 8376
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

dankman

I went on my own in late Oct.; the day I left my last job I bought (financed) a truck, a sewer machine and, insurance with less than what you have. So far I'm doing OK financially but I already had work lined up with people I've known for years which is really helping me get on my feet. My biggest issue so far has been the paperwork end of things; it isn't that it's difficult, it's that paperwork is about as much fun for me as having teeth pulled.


If you decide to venture out on your own I hope you do well.

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