c-36 experience

[westcoastplumber]

Hey guys,

I'm Robert's wife.He had his c-36 test this am.He just called me and told me he passed law and the trade.He will tell you how it was when he gets home.Rick and all other who gave him advice for his first original post about c-36 thank you.He absorbs all the tips and knowledge that is offered/given to him
thanks one more time

[ToUtahNow]

Congratulation Robert and welcome to our secret society.

Mark :cool:

[All Clear Sewer]

Congratulation on your testing!

[Crappy days]

Good for you . Congratulations

[apf]

Congratulations , I know it's a load off your mind:)

[Aaron91]

Good job bro.

[westcoastplumber]

Thanks again guy's:) Now, the test was the easy part, the hard part is to start and run a successful business ;) Glad the test part is over, I hate testing, I was shaking the whole way through:D This afternoon I went to my insurance company to get some quotes on my insurance, and then to my accountant afterwards, question rick, mark and crappy days, all the taxes and workers comp stuff, did you understand it all right away?? I understand a large part of it, but still am worried I will do something wrong!! Don't want Uncle Sam knocking on my door with the repo truck..............hahahaha any good books or advice from the pro's?? I can be a great tradesman, but if business is my weak point, I will never succeed.

[ToUtahNow]

Robert,

The day (27 years ago) I got the letter saying I had passed my test I owned two plumbing trucks full of tools & materials and I had $10,000 in the bank. The next day after I paid all of my fees and got some insurance I was wondering if I would have groceries for my family for the next week. You seem like a smart guy and I am sure you will make it if you understand and control your costs.

It is very astute of you realizing being a good tradesman does not always equate to being a good businessman. There are a lot of owners who are great business men and lousy tradesman as there are great plumbers who are lousy businessman.

Try to make some association with other owners through groups like PHCC and put together a 5-year plan before you do anything. Many times a new owner will make more money than they have ever seen before and not put any away for the long haul. Your business plan needs to include the bad times as well as the good times.

Mark

[westcoastplumber]

Robert,

The day (27 years ago) I got the letter saying I had passed my test I owned two plumbing trucks full of tools & materials and I had $10,000 in the bank. The next day after I paid all of my fees and got some insurance I was wondering if I would have groceries for my family for the next week. You seem like a smart guy and I am sure you will make it if you understand and control your costs.

It is very astute of you realizing being a good tradesman does not always equate to being a good businessman. There are a lot of owners who are great business men and lousy tradesman as there are great plumbers who are lousy businessman.

Try to make some association with other owners through groups like PHCC and put together a 5-year plan before you do anything. Many times a new owner will make more money than they have ever seen before and not put any away for the long haul. Your business plan needs to include the bad times as well as the good times.

Mark

Thank You Mark, for the advice and your story. I have started on a business plan, it is a work in process, but I understand that when completed, it will keep me on track to reach my goal. The plumbing business is feast or famine, you are very right when you point out cost control. Thanks again for the info, I look forward to exchanging thoughts for a very long time to come:D

[drtyhands]

Congradulations Robert,I wish you well on a very common venture us tradesmen take.
As I am sure you and the others know not everyone has a good time with running their own buisiness.

It appears to me to this point that you do care about integrety(sp),this quality is getting harder to find in companies.

I would like to see you succeed and enjoy the rewards of your efforts.

Don't let mold get you,C.Y.A.:p
OOPS,I mean "Organic Growth"

ADAM:):)

[PLUMBER RICK]

robert, now that you are legal:eek: you can join us for golf and be able to write off the green fees and lunch:D

not sure if josh will be in town too soon, but i'm sure adam and i and hopefully mark can get a chance to play with you;)

i think the saying is more big deals are signed on a golf course than anywhere else:confused:

you have nothing to worry about. if you can play mini golf, you can hang with us:D josh plays big boy golf:eek:

i would be curious if the crash study course was a big help?

shop around for insurance and ask questions. a policy can be difficult to interpret and the policy might not cover the operations you plan on doing. especially if it's condo association work.

please track us down if you make the show. josh knows how to find us.

rick.

[Crappy days]

Congratulations again , I would ask some of the other plumbers in your area who you respect what insurance firms they are using. Set up a business account as soon as you can. Take a course for Quick books or what ever accounting software you will be using. Admit to yourself right away where your strong and where you are weak I do not care for paper work. I found a local independent book keeper to handle and train me in how to keep proper books. If you have a good accountant he should be able to help you with how much to put aside for uncle sam. My first year I did not pay quarterlies, I saved about 20 percent off the top for taxes. Depending on your right offs this will very. The most important thing, in your first year is to just get out of bed each day and work a full day even if you do not have jobs. Talk with people, find accounts, just do something at least five days a week pertaining to your business. If you do this you will be fine.

[westcoastplumber]

robert, now that you are legal:eek: you can join us for golf and be able to write off the green fees and lunch:D

not sure if josh will be in town too soon, but i'm sure adam and i and hopefully mark can get a chance to play with you;)

i think the saying is more big deals are signed on a golf course than anywhere else:confused:

you have nothing to worry about. if you can play mini golf, you can hang with us:D josh plays big boy golf:eek:

i would be curious if the crash study course was a big help?

shop around for insurance and ask questions. a policy can be difficult to interpret and the policy might not cover the operations you plan on doing. especially if it's condo association work.

please track us down if you make the show. josh knows how to find us.

rick.

hmmmmm, me and golf, never played before:eek: this should be interesting:D I will be at the show tomarrow in long beach..........I will email josh tonight. Thanks for making me feel like part of the team. Crash course......it was ok, it mentally prepared me, but none of the questions matched:mad: well, maybe 3 at the most! It's ok, I studied alot, both law and trade, crash course helped me become mentally aware of the questions the state will ask. I hope to meet up with you all.....Thanks Again......Robert

[westcoastplumber]

Congratulations again , I would ask some of the other plumbers in your area who you respect what insurance firms they are using. Set up a business account as soon as you can. Take a course for Quick books or what ever accounting software you will be using. Admit to yourself right away where your strong and where you are weak I do not care for paper work. I found a local independent book keeper to handle and train me in how to keep proper books. If you have a good accountant he should be able to help you with how much to put aside for uncle sam. My first year I did not pay quarterlies, I saved about 20 percent off the top for taxes. Depending on your right offs this will very. The most important thing, in your first year is to just get out of bed each day and work a full day even if you do not have jobs. Talk with people, find accounts, just do something at least five days a week pertaining to your business. If you do this you will be fine.

Crappy Days, I feel good about your message. I have Quickbooks Pro Contractor 2007,a bookkeeper that is training me, plus, answering all my questions and tending to my worries:eek: Really only have you guy's to talk to in regards to running a plumbing company, I kinda left everyone else behind, I feel I am in good hands though...;) I have the business account and business license, just waiting on my quotes for workers comp and general liability. I just need to make the transition from employee to employer:eek: build a strong foundation:D Thanks for your post and advice, very much appreciated

[gear junkie]

I have nothing useful to add; only that this is a great topic to be discussing. Just like westcoast said; we know plumbing, it's the other stuff that hurts the business. Maybe this topic should get its own forum?

[Crappy days]

West coast, Also if you do not have it yet get your tax ID number from the board of equalization as you will need it to purchase from wholesalers. You may need to wait for your contractors number to be issued , its bean a while so I cant remember.

[westcoastplumber]

West coast, Also if you do not have it yet get your tax ID number from the board of equalization as you will need it to purchase from wholesalers. You may need to wait for your contractors number to be issued , its bean a while so I cant remember.


Yeah, takes 4-6 weeks for my license number, not a big deal, just greatful to have it!! My bookeeper is setting the tax id # and Federal EIN #. Thanks Crappy for the info

[westcoastplumber]

I have nothing useful to add; only that this is a great topic to be discussing. Just like westcoast said; we know plumbing, it's the other stuff that hurts the business. Maybe this topic should get its own forum?



I was not sure if this fit the forum, I am glad you made this point. Thanks Gear Junkie:)

[Bogart]

westcoastplumber,
check out thefatplumber.com. It's a site for pro plumbers and has a lot of flat rate guys. I am not one yet, but thinking.

[westcoastplumber]

westcoastplumber,
check out thefatplumber.com. It's a site for pro plumbers and has a lot of flat rate guys. I am not one yet, but thinking.

tried thefatplumber.com, unable to pull anything up??????:eek:

[ToUtahNow]

Westcoast,

When I first started plumbing in the early 70’s I was leaving HVAC and was hired to run the Plumbing and HVAC division of a large Construction Company. This Company specialized in fire-restoration, apartment/condo projects and celebrity homes. We did not do any service work or regular new construction but the owner would ask me to take care of his friends on my own after hours.

At some point the boss decided it would be a good idea if all of the division heads had our own Contractor Licenses so he did not have to pay taxes and Worker’s Comp on us. I had already started the process of getting my C-36 so it was just a matter of time until I got a test date. I had also met the owner of a Property Management Company with 8,000 units who used me for all of his trouble calls and offered me more when I was ready.

As it turned out I was the only one to get my License and the first bill I gave to my former employer was my last. I guess he never figured I was going to add my business costs to my hourly rate (go figure). I did not want to do the fire-reconstruction has it involved too many kick-backs. I did one condo project but that was when the new wave of cheap labor had just moved in and there was no money to make in production work. My real passion was for the big million dollar ten and twelve bath homes but what do you do between projects?

What I decided to do was work the big celebrity homes when there was work and do service and repair work when there wasn’t. The great part about service and repair is I could always rely on it to keep us busy between the big custom homes. That worked out pretty well until the number of plumbers started increasing in our valley.

Because electronic leak detection was just taking off we became the only shop to do locating and a lot of the plumbers called us to locate for them. It was pretty much the same thing with sewer cameras and locating. Before long we were the only shop which was Certified in Backflow Testing so the other plumbers referred all their Backflow work to us. When other plumbers started testing Backflows I ended up the only shop to work on assemblies over 4” in size.

My point is my passion was always in doing the big million dollar homes but they could not pay the bills and keep my guys busy so I improvised. As we got more competition in service and repair work I looked for a niche that no one else was doing and got real good at it. To this day I try to keep up on the latest and the greatest and always keep my options open. You need to try and keep your business where you can move with the trends and keep your options open. The work that pays your bills today may not 10-years from now.

Mark

[Bogart]

Sorry, try this. www.FatPlumbers.com.

[PLUMBER RICK]

117 users and 218 post?

i wouldn't necessarily consider this a hot forum:rolleyes:

i'll stick with ridgid:D

rick.

[westcoastplumber]

117 users and 218 post?

i wouldn't necessarily consider this a hot forum:rolleyes:

i'll stick with ridgid:D

rick.


Yeah, I agree Rick, Bogart was just saying that fatplumber.com was flat rate plumbers mostly:)