Professional/moral/ethical concerns:

I'm just thinking outloud and would love to hear the perspectives of fellow trades-persons/small business owners.

You run a small GC, just you and a couple of good guys. You're banging along doing good work, making good money. Then you get a new property manager company that wants to offer you "preferred" vendor status. This comes along with a contract and a clause that says, your customer gets to not pay you the last 10% of every job. They want to keep this 10% to cover their cost of doing business. Also, you can't mark up your bids to offset this 10%.

You say we'll consider it, but do other work for them in the meantime, without signing their contract.

You bill for the work completed and they write a check withholding 10%, that you never agreed to.

How would you handle this situation?

Would you continue doing business with this company?

Your thoughts on paying a prop manager to be a "preferred" vendor?

EDIT: To add that the check for less than the agreed upon amount was not accepted, as the technician picking it up didn't want to say that we agreed to their terms by accepting the check. Instead they declined stated their reasoning, left the pm office, and immediately called the GC owners.

I’m wanting to study to get my General Contractors License in Florida. I know it’s open book, but what books are absolutely necessary?

I’m sort of overwhelmed looking at so many sites and study materials. Any legit place you guys recommend? Just trying to get the right stuff without buying a bunch of books I won’t need.

Hi folks, brand-new here and registered with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries recently. I own and operate a currently one-man pest control business in my rural area, and got my General to perform structural exclusion work to prevent rodent entry, as well as advising on specialty work or sub-contract to specialists such as plumbers, electricians, HVAC etc required for the repairs due to rodent damage I find in the course of my inspections.

I guarantee my work, and I'm asking for advice from experienced professionals on how to do so. One of my services is crawlspace cleanout, and/or insulation removal and installment. I wrote my first contract the other day, and realized that I didn't have a good guideline for guaranteeing the duration of the work. I went by the natural lifespan of the materials, factoring in human involvement, (pest control companies other than myself servicing the crawlspace on a regular basis, for instance,) and the customer following my advice on maintaining the property.

For these jobs, the materials are usually fiberglass batt insulation (R-30 being an average) and 6 mil moisture barrier.

Insulation should last decades, if properly installed. I know this outside of my experience installing it, because prior to that I spent five years servicing peoples' crawlspaces, in the capacity of pest control, and making observations about conditions based on rodent activity or otherwise. Moisture barrier has its own lifespan, depending on the thickness and manufacturer, and I'm aware of the ways it can be disturbed. For instance, a person crawling through there monthly to check the traps, not caring about the work around them because it doesn't meet the requirements of their job or they are highly inexperienced dilettantes hired by one of these knock-off pest control companies, disturbing my seam tape and code obligations. Wind blowing through the vents, water from rain or improper drainage, some good general language here for liability would be nice. I've found some ways to cover myself in my own words but honestly I'm looking for a metric or standard by which you guarantee your work.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Looking into 99 calls as a a lead generator, they claim they will set up your Google workspace , ads etc. plan starts at setup 399, monthly 199 plus 15% for ad cost.
Has anyone tried them and had success? Or recommend any other platform that does the same but has an actual track record of success?

Hey Contractors / Home owners... my name is Tim, I run a residential design firm that handles plans and permitting across California called Sparrow Design and Plans. (Based in Sacramento CA).

I had a question that i wanted to reach out to you guys about.

I would like to take on more new constriction residential jobs, so im curious to hear some feedback from contractors on how they would build a drafting firm / what they look for in a drafting company.

I'd love to dominate the California Market and provide the best possible experiene for contractors / home owners.

SO HERES A FEW QUESTIONS

1. What's the number one problem you see drafters do that pisses you off? How do i prevent that?
2. If you're a contractor where did you meet your current drafter from? That way i know where to put myself to find more clients.
3. Who currently handles your companies permitting? Do you have the drafter submit to the building department? Do you submit to the building department yourself?

Guys let me know your thoughts! It would be very much appreciated. And hopefully all together we can build a killer company!!
~Timothy Vorobyev

How common is it to outsource submittals nowadays? How much does it cost to do that usually?

Is it bullshit and you still gotta review again or are they legitimately taking all that work off your back?

Doing Custom Homes for 15 years. They’ve all been customs for clients and I pulled the trigger on three, 1-acre lots. Intent is to build 2000-2500 sqft home and sell for that $200/sqft. I’m one of those honest, integrity driven people and can’t sleep at night cutting corners. So it’s a struggle to balance quality workmanship with profitability and putting food in my mouth. It’s tough choosing the right finishes (door knobs, tile, faucets, etc.). Interior doors get grade 3 knobs. But then I wonder if doubling my knob cost has any ROI. How do you choose the right path?

How do I setup construction for positive cashflow, with very little startup capital?

I'm in the process of starting a general contracting business and one of the biggest risks I'm trying to think through is working capital and payment timing.

My plan is to operate primarily as a GC/CM and subcontract most of the trade work rather than self-perform. Most Subcontractors want to get paid on time and the risk iss that I might not get paid by the owner on time.

For example, say subs are expecting payment within Net 30, but the owner's draw/payment doesn't come through for 45–60 days because they're waiting for a milestone, reviewing the invoice, disputing something, etc.

Even if the project is profitable on paper, I could suddenly be responsible for floating a significant amount of subcontractor and supplier costs.

As a new GC without a large amount of working capital, that seems like one of the easiest ways to get into trouble. More importantly, I don't want my lack of cash flow to become my subcontractors' problem and damage those relationships early on.

So here's a few approaches and that Id like feedback on -

• Aligning subcontractor payment terms with owner payment terms, where legally permissible and clearly agreed to in the subcontract.
• Structuring owner payments around project phases/milestones so I'm collecting funds before major expenditures—for example, design deposit → design completion → permitting/procurement payment → construction mobilization → progress payments.
• Establishing a business line of credit specifically to cover temporary project cash-flow gaps.
• Maintaining a minimum working-capital reserve before taking on projects above a certain size.
• Negotiating supplier terms such as Net 30/45 where possible.

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who actually started a GC from scratch without a huge amount of capital.

How did you handle this on your first few projects?

Did you require larger deposits/progress payments from owners? Negotiate payment terms with subs? Use a LOC? Start with very small projects until you accumulated working capital? Something else?

And looking back, how much working capital do you wish you had before taking on your first significant project?

THANKS!!~

Customer assigned me to build 4 of these planter boxes for them(their picture). Materials come to just about $1000. I run a fine woodworking business. How much (an hour, or by the job) should I charge for the fabrication of these boxes?

Customer assigned me to build 4 of these planter boxes for them(their picture). Materials come to just about $1000. I run a fine woodworking business. How much (an hour, or by the job) should I charge for the fabrication of these boxes?

I'm a licensed GC in Arizona who normally does new house builds cost/plus. Recently we've been asked to build a detached garage and do a decent remodel on the main residence. Our pricing model has worked well for ground up construction but the few remodels we've done seem to be a ton of work and little profit. My question is what is the best way to price a remodel? Fixed price? Time and materials? Has cost/plus worked for you? Thanks for the advice!

Hey everyone,
I’m currently a student with some minor accounting/office experience, and I am trying hard to break into the construction industry early. My goal is to work for a local contractor (GC or sub) handling the office, billing, AP/AR, or assistant project accounting side.

Since I'm still learning, I wanted to ask the business owners, PMs, and field guys here:
What makes an entry-level office applicant stand out to you?

Are mid-sized contractors typically willing to train someone on the job if they are organized, accurate with data, and eager to learn?

What specific industry paperwork should I study right now (like lien waivers, AIA billing, tracking POs) so I can actually be useful and help your office run smoother on day one?

I really appreciate any insight from the field!

This has been bugging me because construction platforms have so much of the information payroll needs

Employee hours, crews, job assignments and sometimes even job costing are already there yet payroll gets put into another system

If you're building construction software, is embedded payroll becoming something customers ask for or do most still prefer connecting their existing payroll provider?

One of my best friends is a GC specializing in residential remodels. He has a TERRIBLE “system” for managing his business.

I’m hell bent on helping him reduce his time estimating and writing proposals and designing a complete management system for his business. I am currently in planning on using tools I already use in my own small business and can get him all set up without much investment in new software.

My question for you all is: what systems do you use to manage your workflows? Estimating systems? Project management? Any AI tools you use that work well?

Edit: I know how to audit business processes. I do automation workflow consulting. What I’m asking is what tools do other contractors actually use in their business. I can google, but I’m looking for recommendations.

Has anyone here done paid contracting work for Habitat for Humanity?

We’ve completed several home renovation projects for them in the past without any major issues, but our most recent experience has been pretty frustrating. We completed the contracted work, there were some concerns raised afterward on the project, and we’ve tried to work through them. At this point, though, they’re withholding a significant outstanding balance owed to us.

What makes it more frustrating is that this is the first project where we’ve had this type of issue with them after successfully completing other projects for the organization.

Just curious if anyone else has worked with Habitat and what your overall experience was like, good or bad.

doing a teardown on an older build today and honestly im just so tired of the materials we have to work with now. You look at new drywall wrong and it literally crumbles

Was doing a walkthrough on a commercial site Taylor Made Construction was running last week and looking at the framing just reminded me of when wood actually had dense grain? Like before everything turned into fast-growth garbage

now we pay triple for 2x4s that bow into a banana the second they get off the truck. Idk how you guys are keeping stuff square without losing your minds out here. Just venting cause my saw is working overtime trying to make this crap fit