Hi,
I've been reading the site for a few years now, and figured this would be a good community to turn to for advice.
I'm considering starting a contracting/building business in upstate NY but the numbers seem discouraging to me.
A little background- I have strong carpentry skills and currently work for a top furniture designer. I'm also in the process of fixing up a cabin- which has involved lifting the whole thing 2', pouring a new foundation and all plumbing... to start. I have figured out and done all work myself. So while there are many areas that i lack experience in, I am confident I could figure out the technical aspects of the job.
I'm less confident about the financial aspects and would be interested in hearing success stories or just from any experienced contracting/ woodworking business operators. I saw a post where MMM describes making 80k a year from his contracting business and this is a bit hard for me to imagine.
Some very rough numbers... I would like to be able to pay myself min $25/ hour and enough to pay a partner the same. (or if not always a partner, maybe 2 low wage helpers. Then I can easily see shop overhead/misc expenses running 10% and say another 10% percent taxes (I haven't looked too much into these numbers, but imagine that if anything they are much higher).
So that puts me:
$400 a day labor
$80/expenses
round up to $500/day to make it work
or $2500/week in net needed.
so with material costs the business would need anywhere from ~$3k up ~5k week in billing to exist at even this very low level- nothing close to making 80k a year. This seems tough.
But maybe not? interested in hearing thoughts- or just good resources for preparing a viable business plan.
Thanks!