So, first we see contractors try to lower their operating costs (whether they intended to reduce the invoicing of the GC is another topic) by finding cheaper labor. This helped to a point until all of their competition did the same, and then that cheap labor started their own businesses and undercut them all.
Now, what are the contractors gonna do is the price of gasoline and diesel jumps to and stays in the $4-5 per gallon region? At which point does a contractor give-up? I’ve met several decent contractors that use to perform quite of bit of the largish renovations and storm-damage repair work and having a +20 years in the owned business, but even he finds his redneck competitors no longer the concern.
The new breed of independent contractors willing to do the job for dang near minimum wage has us both wondering if the forces of labor matched with the forces of petroleum will serve to put a lot of the contractors out of business. And with this thought in mind, how much can you guys burden before calling it quits and taking a paddy-flipping job?
While I am not in the business, I do see competition in my line of work, and I am also directly-impacted in the price I pay for gasoline. No, my employer only cares about the top 0.1% of the workers (actually closer to 0.01%, but that is because the company is ~300K obese).
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What's the price of gas got to do with it? Business will go on regardless of the price of a gallon of gas and we'll all absorb it like we already do. My customers ultimately pay my gas bill anyway.
we have this contractor in town that refuse to lower his price, in fact he quite high 5 times higher than the closes bid. but he has all the work. people wait on him. why. He comes in on time, on budget and very small punch list. He has enough money in the bid to hire extra people or if material goes up. It got where when you call him you dont ask how much but when can you start. He will work 24/7 to come in on time.
The guy owns his own concrete pump boom truck, thats a million dollars there.
Edited 3/6/2007 7:48 am by brownbagg
Over in Georgia, were you apparently are, I would expect things to bad. I have relatives in Georgia, and they say that illegal immigrants are everywhere. They can afford to work for much less, because our money is worth more in Mexico, where things are already less expensive anyway. However, inexpensive, and unskilled labor only produces poor quality work. The only companies that tolerate low quality work are those that are motivated by greed. Eventually these companies get a reputation and go out of business.
If your company only cares about the top 0.1% of its employees, then it’s probably being run in a “lead and pool†format. This means that instead of employing a constant lead man and crew (“lead and crewâ€), it only constantly employs leads. Leads work together on small jobs during slow periods, and then when the company acquires the work they’re hoping for, they create a “pool†of workers under them. As soon as work is slow, the pool is laid off like an “obsolete piece of machinery,†to use an expression from the book “Running a Successful Construction Company.â€
In my opinion, “lead and pool†businesses are another form of company greed. The company just can’t stop dreaming of revenue that comes from the amount of work they simply can’t handle. This is at the expense of a less efficient business, which in turn make less of a profit, though greedy people can’t see that.
If you’re working for a lead and pool company, you have three options:
1. Become a lead
2. Quit and work for a lead and crew company.
3. Start your own company.
On the bright side, there’s nothing better than owning your own business in regards to gasoline prices. Your expenses now become your customer’s expenses. Since gasoline prices affect all businesses, they will all have to raise their prices. If they don’t, expenses will exceed income, and they won’t be in business for long.
-T
nuke.... mostly what i see over and over again... are contractors designating the people who are actually doing the work as
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
this is all wink, wink , nudge, nudge
i was just looking thru my Business Plan ( what else is hiding from the cold in your office good for ? )
and i came across this post from Pertz to Mr. Micro about those who risk everything to avoid Workmen's Compensation Insurance...
here's the link
we should repost this piece every year.. it is so right-on !
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=29642.22
The UBC currently has a video about these "independant contractors" in the upper left hand corner of its home page.
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This misclassification is also the cover story of the April/June 2006 issue of The Carpenter magazine.
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