Business owners

jt4

WKR
Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Messages
513
For those that own your own business and are your own boss.

What do you do?
What type of business do you own/operate?
 

def90

WKR
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
1,613
Location
Colorado
Commercial low voltage.. I hate what I do but I've been doing it for 29 years and am good at it and make decent money. In the process of hiring employees at the moment because I'm so busy. WTF am I getting myself in to?
 

grfox92

WKR
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
2,556
Location
NW WY
General Contractor. Although right now I basically work as a sub for another GC building custom homes. He pays me too well to juat show up with just my tool bags for me to want to deal with customers and bids.

I still have all the benefits of owning my own business and still do some jobs for myself. Mainly small jobs or bigger tile jobs.

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grfox92

WKR
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
2,556
Location
NW WY
One man custom carpentry.

Trim and hardware heavy. Weird beams. Odd specs from architects and designers.

I do what other carpenters say can't be done.

We were talking about guys like you yesterday. To me, you are a "Carpenter". A lot of people who call themselves Carpenters are just guys who know how to build stuff.

We were wondering what we should call ourselves and just came up with general contractors. We build customnhomes, barns, shop houses, ect. Start to finish, frame, dry in, side, interior finish, windows, doors and trim.

We also remodel things.

The complexity of some carpentry tasks would be above us. We can do them, we just don't know exactly how to start and will have to figure it out along the way, lots of trial and error and lots of mis cuts and wasted material. For anything very complex like what you are describing, we bring in an experienced finish carpenter.

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Joined
Feb 12, 2022
Messages
1,769
We were talking about guys like you yesterday. To me, you are a "Carpenter". A lot of people who call themselves Carpenters are just guys who know how to build stuff.

We were wondering what we should call ourselves and just came up with general contractors. We build customnhomes, barns, shop houses, ect. Start to finish, frame, dry in, side, interior finish, windows, doors and trim.

We also remodel things.

The complexity of some carpentry tasks would be above us. We can do them, we just don't know exactly how to start and will have to figure it out along the way, lots of trial and error and lots of mis cuts and wasted material. For anything very complex like what you are describing, we bring in an experienced finish carpenter.

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It's funny, guys like you get it.

I'm the inverse of y'all with bigger projects. I can, but it's out of my groove and niche. Takes a lot of thinking and planning that you wouldn't have to do.

Lots of people want to call me a contractor. BUT I DON'T CONTRACT STUFF! Lol
 

woods89

WKR
Joined
Sep 3, 2014
Messages
1,779
Location
Southern MO Ozarks
It's funny, guys like you get it.

I'm the inverse of y'all with bigger projects. I can, but it's out of my groove and niche. Takes a lot of thinking and planning that you wouldn't have to do.

Lots of people want to call me a contractor. BUT I DON'T CONTRACT STUFF! Lol

It gets complicated, doesn't it!

I call myself a remodeler. I'm just as likely to be finishing drywall, painting, or laying tile as actual carpentry work. But we can do fairly good finish carpentry when called upon.

To me a General Contractor is the guy between the customer and the subcontractors, and may or may not self perform work. I've dabbled in this on a small scale. It's a real art, and my line has always been that a good GC earns every penny he makes, even if he never puts a tool belt on. The guys who are liked by both their subs and their customers are rare and talented individuals.
 

grfox92

WKR
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
2,556
Location
NW WY
It gets complicated, doesn't it!

I call myself a remodeler. I'm just as likely to be finishing drywall, painting, or laying tile as actual carpentry work. But we can do fairly good finish carpentry when called upon.

To me a General Contractor is the guy between the customer and the subcontractors, and may or may not self perform work. I've dabbled in this on a small scale. It's a real art, and my line has always been that a good GC earns every penny he makes, even if he never puts a tool belt on. The guys who are liked by both their subs and their customers are rare and talented individuals.
Typically that is what a GC is, I just dont know what I should call myself when people ask what I do. Lately I've been saying "I build Custom homes.

I do tile, dry wall and paint. But usually we sub all that out to the pros who do it better and faster.

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