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Good day folks. Heres some background.
I was a painting contractor for about 8 years & wanted to get into new home construction so I did a 4 year carpentry apprenticeship. I will licienced next year. I would have been licienced 2 years ago but have been putting off the last 8 weeks of trade school for financial reasons. Before I started my apprenticship I went to college & took Business Administration & Information Systems for 2 years.
I have the classic business education as well as 8 years experience running my own firm & now for the past 2 years I have been doing the “side-job joe” routine & have built up a pretty good clientelle. I plan to go totally self employeed as soon as Im licienced. Its not necessary to BE licienced in Ontario Canada as a carpenter but I feel its important & it buys me a little credibility.
Anyways.. What I was wondering is this.
I get a lot of calls from a small ad I have been running the the local paper. I get mabey 10 calls a week.. far too much work for me to do on the side & it varies from painting & constructoin to the odd Amway guy calling me to see if I want to join the group. My problem is that I dont seem to be getting as many calls for Finish Carpentry which is what Ive decided I really want to do.
How would you suggest I start out? Is it the name? Currently I just use Ted Rowell Custom Carpentry & Painting. Should I go with something else? What sort of advertising should I go with? The little classified ad is doing wonders for me but its mabey not specific enough. I understand you have to take what comes a long when you first start out & I dont mind I mean hey.. Moneys money right? I would like to approach some of the builders in my area to sub their finsih carpentry out but Im not even sure how to do that. Painting I know. I can get all the painting jobs I want but my passion is finish carpentry. I dont even really want to get into whole house building anymore.
I dont really know (just because of lack of balls mabey) if theres a market for just finish carpenters. Im sure there is but Im just trained in painting (My father was a painting contractor for 20ish years) & I grew up pretty much with a paintbrush so its hard to get out of it. He was VERy succesfull in business & I would like to be the same in the finish carpentry area.
I could use pretty much any advise you could give me. Thanks.
Ted
ps. Just bought myself a nice spiffy new Makita 10″ siding Compound Miter saw.. Should be here in 5 days.. Cant WAIT! Might make the wife jealous though.. I will be touching it more then her. 🙂
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Refrences are important so I would get all the work you can with photos and phone numbers. Contact archetectual molding companies in your area for leads. Phone book ads, newspaper ads and join your local Building Association. In New York one of them is N.A.R.I (national association for the remodeling industry) Through these organizations and their 'contractor directory" that homeowners call many jobs can be aquired this way not to mention at the meetings you can network with other builders in needof your services. Home builders that sub work out should all be sent literature about your company so a small news letter abut yourself and what your all about might be good.
Good luck
*one other thing.That MAkita saw is great. I've been using one for years except the dust bag does zilch...anyone else find that problem. How can they sell something that does absolutly nothing??
*Keep the saw petting to a small pratter, you'll need your wife a lot more in the coming months and not for petting........Any time you do a well executed joint or job, photograph it. Start a book now. Any time someone saws, "nice job" ask them to put it in writing...and put it in the book.You can survive working finish for builders but you have to hustle, shave some corners and not dwell on lack of perfection.If your want to work your passion, seek out people with equal passion. Find high end decorators.Yes, they can be prima-donna and general pains, but they want the best. Go to them and say, "I'm the best, you want me to do your work, I'll make you look good, give me a chance."Be on time, Clean body and breath, Clean, pressed shirt. Dropcloths, (clean, no paint) Wipe your feet, Be clean, work clean, leave damp mop clean, every nite.Forget the fancy names. Use yours. It's forever.You are now selling not only a product but also a sevice. You must sell you.......There are a lot of guys who can trim out a room, you want to do it with class and make the whole job a pleasure for the owner.Passion? Show it.......You'll do better than your father..Luck
*Ted I would change the ad to be more specific. Seeing as how you've already been in business for awhile as a painter,I'm sure you already know the basics listed above. I kind of envy you in a way. Your doing what I would love to do but don't have the nerve too. P.S. I love my Makita too but like everyone else I can't figure the dust bag thing out at all. It seems like the waste of a perfectly good bag if all it's going to do is let the dust go bye.
*Mark's right about how you'll be needing your wife in the days to come. You need her to hold down a job with steady pay and health insurance.
*amen to that , brother lonecat !
*Since I'm getting older I've mostly given up the home building and do finish work on my own. I don't work for other builders (most of the time) as I prefer to deal directly with homeowners or office building owners. I have a web site to direct potentials to, but found adds in the paper to be a waste of time. If I do run an add I put in my URL. Sometimes you gotta hustle, but if you charge enough money and don't live too high on the hog, the down times the best part. I use my own name cause like the guy said before, your selling yourself. One other thing is doing the summer art shows. I make furniture to display, set up a tent and BS with the crowd, probably get more work that way than a hundred paper adds. This is how I do it, but of course it's all trial and error until you get a name for yourself, then you just have to answer the phone.
*You get the kind of work that you do.You most important marketing process is word of mouth and the work that you do is what people will talk about and hear about. Of course you need to earn a living but don't fill up your schedule with things that you don't really want to do. Leave openings for the jobs that you want. Raise your prices (a lot)on anything that does not excite you and lower them (a little) on the jobs you really want. The other thing that you can do is use your overall carpentry skills and your painting to get work that requires a more complete project instead of just finish work. If the project is nice it will move you in the direction you want to go. Unless you are working as a subcontractor, this is probably the only way that you will get to do the best finish work which is often not in a new house but in a remodeled place.
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Good day folks. Heres some background.
I was a painting contractor for about 8 years & wanted to get into new home construction so I did a 4 year carpentry apprenticeship. I will licienced next year. I would have been licienced 2 years ago but have been putting off the last 8 weeks of trade school for financial reasons. Before I started my apprenticship I went to college & took Business Administration & Information Systems for 2 years.
I have the classic business education as well as 8 years experience running my own firm & now for the past 2 years I have been doing the "side-job joe" routine & have built up a pretty good clientelle. I plan to go totally self employeed as soon as Im licienced. Its not necessary to BE licienced in Ontario Canada as a carpenter but I feel its important & it buys me a little credibility.
Anyways.. What I was wondering is this.
I get a lot of calls from a small ad I have been running the the local paper. I get mabey 10 calls a week.. far too much work for me to do on the side & it varies from painting & constructoin to the odd Amway guy calling me to see if I want to join the group. My problem is that I dont seem to be getting as many calls for Finish Carpentry which is what Ive decided I really want to do.
How would you suggest I start out? Is it the name? Currently I just use Ted Rowell Custom Carpentry & Painting. Should I go with something else? What sort of advertising should I go with? The little classified ad is doing wonders for me but its mabey not specific enough. I understand you have to take what comes a long when you first start out & I dont mind I mean hey.. Moneys money right? I would like to approach some of the builders in my area to sub their finsih carpentry out but Im not even sure how to do that. Painting I know. I can get all the painting jobs I want but my passion is finish carpentry. I dont even really want to get into whole house building anymore.
I dont really know (just because of lack of balls mabey) if theres a market for just finish carpenters. Im sure there is but Im just trained in painting (My father was a painting contractor for 20ish years) & I grew up pretty much with a paintbrush so its hard to get out of it. He was VERy succesfull in business & I would like to be the same in the finish carpentry area.
I could use pretty much any advise you could give me. Thanks.
Ted
ps. Just bought myself a nice spiffy new Makita 10" siding Compound Miter saw.. Should be here in 5 days.. Cant WAIT! Might make the wife jealous though.. I will be touching it more then her. :)