Rfitz 14 Report post Posted January 23, 2006 Unfortunately in this biz or any seasonal business, it is tough to survive on 7-8 months of business, I have realized that in order to survive you better have a damn good winter paying job like $75-$100 an hour job, or another biz that makes up for the 4-5 months a down time, not to mention the 2-3 slow months we all experience in the active months, july, august etc.. because some of us actually have insurance, yellow pages bills , etc.. that come every month regardless if you have business or not, so it doesnt suprise me much to learn that most if not all of my competetion, doesnt carry liability insurance, yellow page advertising, automobile insurance, work comp etc.. so when they are out there doing bids against real companies like mine, they dont have to include in their bids the overhead that I carry all year, it is at no suprise why they can undercut my prices by 25-40%, when maybe next year they may be doing roofing, or grass cutting, or landscaping because they dont want to go back and fix 50% of the wood restoration jobs they screwed up the year before, and are getting alll those wonderful call backs, and the customer that rejected your bid and went with the low baller finds out how much more it now is to fix his deck the part timer screwed up, and now blames you and says why should I pay you double what I had it done 6 months ago for..? But now looks like sh$%#@&^%$# Ahhh, the wonderful biz of pressure washing, wood restoration, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Larry B 55 Report post Posted January 23, 2006 I have actually found 3 different companies around here this year that have their name on the side of truck/trailer and when I searched there name in the state database, I find that they let their name expire years ago. This means they have no insurance and an invalid contractors license #. The part that really gets me is the companies that hire them to do the work don't even check them out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John T 744 Report post Posted January 23, 2006 Larry, Maybe in your case you should drop a dime on them and notify Consumers affairs in your area. Something like this I would have no problem turning them in because its what there doing which is hurting guys like us and Rfitz and many many more. The reclaiming issue as far as reporting on someone that isn't reclaiming I can honestly say I just don't know enough about to make any kind of stand on it but here you must have a Lic/Ins. and there is no mistaking that....at least not in my neck of the woods. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beth n Rod 1,279 Report post Posted January 23, 2006 We usually take aside money for winter bill accounts in case the weather gets so bad that we cant wash for a few weeks out of the winter months. Having a nest egg for these kinds of situations has been helpful in the past when we got snowed in and could wash because of the below freezing temps. Cabin fever sure sucks though and no money can solve that syndrome unless you are planning a tropical vacation during the worst months. :island: Rod!~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
