The Contractor's Corner

Customers will ask for discounts for all types of reasons. This is a toss up. You don't go to the grocery store, load up your cart with groceries and then ask for a discount when you check out. Veterans, law enforcement officers, senior citizens, are the most common requested discounts. Keep in mind that some senior citizens have a ton of money stashed away in the bank. Retired engineers, retired NASA employees, retired financial brokers, you name it. Even a veteran who

I have never offered customer financing. Well, let me take that back. I did help out a very few select customers in the past. I let them pay me back over time as they got paid from their work. One was a single mom raising two teenagers. Super human being. It was a real pleasure to help her out. If you are wealthy, you can offer your own financing. You can charge interest too. Make sure you do some background checks on the customer first. You would be surprised at how

This is a tricky one. I don't really ask for any money up front. This includes very expensive jobs. There are many ways to look at it. First, you ask for money when you haven't done any work. Many customers have been taken advantage of because of this. What I like to do is set up a payment schedule. If it is a three week job then divide the payments up by three. The customer can pay at the end of each week. At least this way, they are getting work completed before pa

If you think you get enough of spam email already, brace yourself.  You will get dozens of unsolicited emails every single day for bids, take offs, estimating services, SEO management, and lending.  It’s just down right annoying.  You can block every email but they just keep coming.  Never once have I engaged in these services. Why in the hell do I need someone to do my job? You can reply and ask to be removed from their email distribution list all you want.  They will just e

I bet you didn’t know it but you can get audited by the state. It was a very uncomfortable process.  I am one of those meticulous guys that pays attention to detail and has to have all of his ducks in a row.  So, if you’re not a detail-oriented person, you better become one or hire someone who is.  This will go a long way in covering your ass in down the road.  Keep detailed records on your estimates, work orders, invoices, materials receipts, profits, w-9s, and more.   Havin

There is a lot to learn so my best advice is to find an accountant who knows the industry that you want to work in.  Yes, there is a difference between an accountant whose primary customers are hospitals and healthcare versus one who’s primary customers are construction companies.  There is so much to learn.    For instance, when I created my company, I set up my LLC and I established my EIN.  Now I didn’t open doors and start my business that year.  It was the beginning of t