Unemployed People Everywhere I Go......

[Provincial]

You guys are describing California contracting. My point exactly. Those guys couldn't survive up here, but they put up houses year round in the California climate. That is a lot of houses, and people keep moving there!

Really big money pours into California because of all that housing action. Sometimes those finances focus on the NW, but never for long. I believe that it is much harder to make easy money here, and that scares them off.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I have a credit card too but I don't buy coffee lol I buy guns and ammo

And pay them off quickly. We use them in emergencies only.

 

[etrain16]

And pay them off quickly. We use them in emergencies only.

We use our one credit card for everything - bills, gas, groceries, travel - everything we can. We pay the card off every single month - haven't paid credit card interest in probably 10 years. We use a card that pays cash back and make good use of it - the bank is even impressed with how we use it.

 

[etrain16]

In the construction business it is about billable hours and how efficient your crews and subs are, and how good a project manager you are. I spent 5 years doing turn around's on poorly managed construction business's who could not get 8 billable hours of work done in a 10 hour day.

In weather sensitive business's, mostly excavation / dirt based business's need to make their money in a 9.5 month period. We assumed that we were done working the first of December and would get started again around mid February to March 1st. You base all your overhead recovery on the available hours you have to work in those other months, make sure you have all your direct costs covered and project manage very tight and you will make a net profit. If you are lucky enough to get some other work in the off months, then it is pretty much pure profit outside of direct costs.

I figured out ways to move materials in horrible conditions efficiently. I worn out hundreds of sets of rain gear. A couple feet of snow will shut you down no matter how good you are though.But with money in the bank and the bills paid, it did not bother me in the least. The snow looked fine out my shop window.

Most contractors are horribly inefficient. I hired a siding company to put new siding on my 1400 square foot house in mid October. They screwed up ordering the windows twice. They took 2 hours lunch's to get hot lunch and smoke a bowl or two. It took 3 guys over 6 weeks to do the job. Of course they tried to get a bunch of change order work on it, but I told them to pound sand. Their quote was for $ 6,000 in labor. They were not working any other jobs. They did not make sh*t and this is pretty much the norm on some of these scab subs these days.

Working in commercial/industrial contracting, we tend to get some good subs and good workers, but what you describe regarding inefficiencies among contractors is very true. I see it in my own company as well, but to be fair, my company invests a lot in training PM's, foremen, etc. on how to manage their time, how to make sure they are on top of orders, vendors and subcontractors. In a low margin business, efficiency is the best way to find lost profit.

 

[CoastRange57]

my company invests a lot in training PM's, foremen, etc. on how to manage their time, how to make sure they are on top of orders, vendors and subcontractors. In a low margin business, efficiency is the best way to find lost profit.

Exactly. Project management, project management and project management. I had a process where we managed our jobs so closely that at any given time on any given day we knew if we were on schedule, if not, why not and what could be done to get it back on schedule.

My foremen called me at noon every day to update me, e mailed their time reports at the end of the day compared back against estimate to make sure we were on track.

If you hire a tradesman for 8 hours a day, you better be getting 8 hours of production work out of them,not windshield time, not smoke and joke at the 7-11. The minute you go over project estimates you are cutting into your net profit big time. Somebody has to pay for that over run and it will be the company, not the craft. One hour of loss time per craftsman per day with 15 tradesmen on the job becomes very much a problem over a week.

 

[Flymph]

It's Californian/East of the Rockies Trust Fund Kids... usually loser wannabe "socialists" that believe in legalizing weed because getting high is all they care about. They say they're looking for a job, you tell them exactly where to find one and they either fail the drug test or just don't want to work.
They aren't "communist" or "socialist" they're just mooches. Look into it and you'll see what I mean.

I'll second the working from home as an additional factor. It's not just trust fund kids, but there are way too many to ignore. Supposedly we're an awesome tourist destination as well... I can't say I blame them, I always spend my vacation someplace in the PNW.

I mean, my "weekend" is on weekdays, but that's because I need to work weekends. I thought it would be great, I'd have the town to myself. I WAS WRONG AND I'M BITTER ABOUT IT! Still makes me happy tho.

I will agree that purging the scenester trust fund kids is on my list of approval.

 

[CoastRange57]

And pay them off quickly. We use them in emergencies only.

Dedicated cash "emergency fund" equal to 3 months wages or income in a liquid savings account. Outside of investments, outside of anything else, car savings, anything. Just straight up cash.

 

[CoastRange57]

Im curious as to how all these young kids have so much time to travel while still taking weekend trips.. It just doesnt add up.. Unless the parents are footing the bill.

Because they do not give a damn about paid vacations, or anything that interfers with what THEY want to do. I pre screened some job applications and set up a round of 6 interviews for the execs on a job opening. 1 was late, 2 were horrible interviews, and 2 were so so and one was acceptable. Note I said acceptable, which means he was the best of the 6, but by no means outstanding.

The execs picked him and told me to make the offer and get the details organized. I called him up, made the offer and said your training will start on Monday xxxx. You will be in training for two weeks then out to job shadow for 2 weeks after that. So he then tells me, well I can be at training for the first 3 days,and then I will be off for 2 days and I will also need to be off the following Monday, since I cannot drive back from Seattle that night, but I have a pre arranged vacation to Las Vegas, that I already paid for and I have to go.


WTF !!!! I was a bit pissed, since I now had to go back to the execs with this choice bit of information, no skin off my azz, I am just a contract exec myself. I decided to f with him a bit, and said well that is a hell of a twist to throw in here at this stage of the game, I need to see if that is going to fly with them. Well, let me know he said. You smart azz punk azz botch. I went to the execs and they were a bit pissed, but it was getting time sensitive on this position, and they did not want to do another cycle of interviews. So they agreed to it. WTF ???

So he comes in, we do all the paper work, he is there 3 days off 2 days, the weekend and that Monday. Comes in on Tuesday looking like he had just spent 4 days in Vegas. I just shook my head, I am glad I am at the end of my working career. If I had tried that at any of the jobs I worked, they all would have just told me to get the f out of there we will find somebody else. I guess working a year to get a paid vacation means nothing anymore, just take the time off and do what you want. I could not have afforded to take unpaid time off in my days.

Get off my lawn..I am just an old man.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Because they do not give a damn about paid vacations, or anything that interfers with what THEY want to do. I pre screened some job applications and set up a round of 6 interviews for the execs on a job opening. 1 was late, 2 were horrible interviews, and 2 were so so and one was acceptable. Note I said acceptable, which means he was the best of the 6, but by no means outstanding.

The execs picked him and told me to make the offer and get the details organized. I called him up, made the offer and said your training will start on Monday xxxx. You will be in training for two weeks then out to job shadow for 2 weeks after that. So he then tells me, well I can be at training for the first 3 days,and then I will be off for 2 days and I will also need to be off the following Monday, since I cannot drive back from Seattle that night, but I have a pre arranged vacation to Las Vegas, that I already paid for and I have to go.


WTF !!!! I was a bit pissed, since I now had to go back to the execs with this choice bit of information, no skin off my azz, I am just a contract exec myself. I decided to f with him a bit, and said well that is a hell of a twist to throw in here at this stage of the game, I need to see if that is going to fly with them. Well, let me know he said. You smart azz punk azz botch. I went to the execs and they were a bit pissed, but it was getting time sensitive on this position, and they did not want to do another cycle of interviews. So they agreed to it. WTF ???

So he comes in, we do all the paper work, he is there 3 days off 2 days, the weekend and that Monday. Comes in on Tuesday looking like he had just spent 4 days in Vegas. I just shook my head, I am glad I am at the end of my working career. If I had tried that at any of the jobs I worked, they all would have just told me to get the f out of there we will find somebody else. I guess working a year to get a paid vacation means nothing anymore, just take the time off and do what you want. I could not have afforded to take unpaid time off in my days.

Get off my lawn..I am just an old man.

Gah.. So many things there I could never do.. Who on earth shows up late for an interview? Ive known foolish folks who applied for jobs knowing they had a vacation they already squared away ahead of time. Ive known mostly women to do that, my ex being one of them. She was notorious for that in fact.

Is the guy still working there with you?

 

[CoastRange57]

Is the guy still working there with you?

I was in for a media project and he was still around. Nothing spectacular for sure. I will be in on the 90 day review in a couple months, so we will see. It was a 40K a year job, so not expecting a long term thing there.

 

[308]

Exactly. Project management, project management and project management. I had a process where we managed our jobs so closely that at any given time on any given day we knew if we were on schedule, if not, why not and what could be done to get it back on schedule.

My foremen called me at noon every day to update me, e mailed their time reports at the end of the day compared back against estimate to make sure we were on track.

If you hire a tradesman for 8 hours a day, you better be getting 8 hours of production work out of them,not windshield time, not smoke and joke at the 7-11. The minute you go over project estimates you are cutting into your net profit big time. Somebody has to pay for that over run and it will be the company, not the craft. One hour of loss time per craftsman per day with 15 tradesmen on the job becomes very much a problem over a week.

Another inefficiency is being a subcontractor and having the GC call and say 'everything is ready' and when asking probing questions to that comment of 'everything is ready' one is told, yes, we checked with the mechanical and the controls contractor...they said it's a go...we need you onsite NOW!!

Show up and they are doing generator testing...or the flooring guys have glue, or hardwood going down in 50% of the area. So we get creative and decide to work that area...over there, but that is where everyone else is working. Then the power goes down and the mechanical equipment restarts in the middle of our testing...and then we find the controls don't work. Call the controls contractor and ask why? He says he was called off to another jobsite...in Medford, and who told you we were done with controls anyway? That's not scheduled to be done for another week...we told the GC about that yesterday?

Mobilize and demobilize...I just lost 5-hrs of my budget and where should I get the other 3-hrs to round off the day when I would take 2-hrs to drive to the next project site.

Do this over and over and see what happens to my budget, and I am not the one creating the problem.

 

[Ironbar]

Speaking only for myself, I work very odd hours every week. I don't have set days off. Sometimes I start work at 10am. Other days I start at 2:30pm. If you see me out & about during a weekday, I either have that day off or I haven't started my shift yet.

Just sayin'.

 

[CoastRange57]

Mobilize and demobilize...I just lost 5-hrs of my budget and where should I get the other 3-hrs to round off the day when I would take 2-hrs to drive to the next project site.

Do this over and over and see what happens to my budget, and I am not the one creating the problem.

Sounds like those GC's have piss poor project managers.

I grew tired of this kind of treatment from the GC's and made some changes over to a more specialized type of work that only about 3 companies in 3 states were able to do. I also started doing a lot of DB prevailing wage work and working for better general contractors. I had specific contracts that we used in non GC situations and I also used these with some GC's so that they understood when I moved 3 semi loads of equipment on to that job, that the job was ready, and for us to work and we were going to work until we were finished, and we were getting paid within 5 days of punch list completion and approvals.

In the event anybody or anything beyond our control stopped our work for any reason, we were entitled to being paid at a rate equal to the value of all equipment and manpower on that job. On the flip side of that, we also were subject to late penalties if we did not complete the job in the agreed upon amount of time. We never incurred those penalties, and we never had to enforce that hinderance clause with a GC. We had to enforce it with a couple of public agencies who felt they could stop our job for their changes not approved by the engineers or architects, and they soon found out that paying$ 10,000 a day for us to not work was not a good thing.

When I moved that much equipment and assets to Medford from the west metro area, I damn sure was not waiting for them to decide that the irrigation lines needed to be moved 50 feet. I would then have to moved the equipment and support operations to Boise from Medford, then to Yakima, then to Bend for jobs so you had to stay on schedule. I would have the heavier equipment rented locally, and I was paying on that if it worked or not, so nobody was going to delay us.

Hopefully you are able to bake some flake azz type of money in there for your trouble. After making those changes to my business, it became very profitable and we became a sought after plenty of work sub contractor.

 

[308]

What I described is common and ongoing. 30 something PMs enthusiastic about climbing the ladder of success typically only see those horizontal lines on thier project timeline sheet...the blue bar says it should be done, so get those subs here today.

 

[etrain16]

What I described is common and ongoing. 30 something PMs enthusiastic about climbing the ladder of success typically only see those horizontal lines on thier project timeline sheet...the blue bar says it should be done, so get those subs here today.

Wait, you're not suggesting they actually walk the site and look to see if the work is reallly done, do you??

I think the biggest problem with PM's, something I've stated before, is they have little to no training in their jobs. There really aren't any "PM" schools so to speak (well, some colleges offer that kind of training but it appears once they come to the job, their lack of real world experience quickly shows), they are just learning on the job - making lots of mistakes that cost their company, and others, money. That's what happened when I became a PM, came straight out of the field and into the office with no additional training given. If I made a mistake, I was asked why I did that? Yeah, that's helpful. Years have passed and I'm no longer a PM (glad to leave that job behind), but I learned a lot in the process and if I choose to return as a PM some day, I will have much more experience to bring to the position.

 

[Bushman]

I work from home, so do many of my neighbors. I too found it odd that so many people are home during the day all the time, how on Earth are they affording these 750K homes? Then again, I work from home, so they are probably wondering the same thing about me too.

Also, realize many of your neighbors are section 8 losers. At one of my rentals the tenant is home 24/7 and has BBQ's and volleyball parties on the front lawn with 30 + other presumably illegal immigrants. I used to watch them on my surveillance cameras when I went into the office. Glad to know I pay 70K a year in taxes for them to have a good time...

 

[CoastRange57]

W they are just learning on the job - making lots of mistakes that cost their company, and others, money.

The best training in the world has a project manager / general contractor is to run jobs where your own money is on the line. You become real good real fast, and you only make costly mistakes one time. You also become a very good cash flow manager.

I had a friend who was working as an estimator at a concrete construction company in Las Vegas a few years back. I was working winters down there PMing golf course construction, and we hung out a lot. He was working for a company that was pretty f up, and got them to cut him in on some of the net profit. He made them about 4 million more in net than they expected and he picked up 250K for himself. He got another similar deal and took 1.3 million in net profit for himself the next year, 1.8 the next year and then they parted ways. Mission accomplished for him though.

 

[TriggerDude15]