What do you NOT like about being a business owner?
 

Our latest electric bill just reminded me of something that really irks me about running a small business: staying on top of things that you shouldn't have to. Seems our service has been sold to the highest bidder a few times over the years and our current electric bill proves it. $302 of actual usage and $385 of "delivery", that is the cost to send us electricity. 5 years ago our total bill was $422, now $687. Because deregulation I guess. Our new "electric company" is in Oklahoma which makes perfect sense.

Can prolly run a diesel generator for cheaper....

I am fairly certain a solar array on the roof will pay for itself in 2 years and be profitable after that. Really have to look into one.

Partners...

When a client didn't go along with my design concepts. I realize it's their property but some of these people were their own worst enemy.

Trust me, I was very good about explaining in detail the purposes and reasoning behind my designs. Fortunately, most were smart enough to let me do my thing......

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law makers and changes in regulations without asking YOU.

As a contractor, i realize people are totally clueless what things cost and how long it takes.

Employees

If they are paying for it, then you are ripping them off.

Retiring from it.

What do you mean? I watched an entire episode of flip or flop where they completely remodeled a home in one episode then sold it for huge profit! Why can't every contractor get something done in 1 hour?

Hint...they have a special guy that comes in does the really hard stuff during the two minute commercials.

About the only thing I can think of is working late at night or on holidays to get a project finished. Getting up at 2:30 AM to check the computer ready to go to the next project to meet a crazy deadline.

Everything else is great. Especially depositing large checks and watching our company checking account go up is fun.

Slow paying customers is likely the worst thing.

I am working on a project today that my partner flew yesterday. We have all we can do finished, but the surveyor client has yet to get us the precise location of the ground control targets. Until he sends us a text file with the precise X,Y & Z locations we can't finish. Of course as usual he is in a hurry to get a final orthophoto.

Without a doubt ... EMPLOYEES
Clueless customers I can and do deal with, but clueless employees who don't give a sht about losing and breaking things, quality of their work and timekeeping just wind me up.

1.) Staff/employees, although some are great but the bad ones really make it bad.
2.) You are never really "off" until you retire/sell.

Everything else isn't that bad.

Absolutely. I am working today finishing a proposal that is due Monday by noon. I "sprint and drift" on proposal writing and I am almost done. My wife will review it in an hour or so then I'll sent it to my partner by 1400.

Pretty neat concept: A submarine launched UAS that goes flying. While the proposal isn't classified, there are requirements that are.

Should be a hoot.

3) cell phones. On call 24/7.

4) Partners. Even with partnership agreement, a disgruntled deadbeat partner can make life hell for years. (my ex-sister's husband)

Often takes me longer to get a permit released than they do an entire remodel. I haven't seen an inspection/local official on one of those shows yet.

We are currently 12 weeks for kitchen cabinets, used to be a week, and 3 weeks for countertops from template, used to be days.

Agree about not getting a day off now and again. So hard to find techs who can do this work. Until another magically appears, Sunday fun, at least weather sucked so that's good. Now off to dinner and movies.

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DAMMIT! Now you've ruined it for me.

It's next to impossible to take any kind of extended break from work, especially in the last 18 or so months, and I'm finding in the COVID-era, I have to follow up with vendors and service providers 3 and 4 times to ensure everyone is doing their job which has been a huge, frustrating waste of time.

Yep. As soon as a customer starts with " well I saw them do this on HGTV/DIY Network"... I cringe. I'm like, ok so it begins.....


.

Its ridiculous how bad the back log is. I'm just finishing up a kitchen. 3 1/2 weeks for quartz counter top. Which came in wrong...... Now to start from scratch again. Said they would put rush on it. 2 additional weeks... which puts everything else on hold.
At least customer is semi-understanding, but still puts me not getting paid for a long time....:mad:

That's the reason I haven't quit making cabinets yet. I only fab them for my own clients now, no more selling them to other contractors and designers. Well, maybe one designer.

I am waiting for 4 slabs of Cesar Stone. Its going on for 7 weeks now, and its no where to be found, heard or ETA from them.

I have been dealing with Facetime inspection for the past few times. Very easy and the inspectors have all been very lazy due to covid so they sit on their fat asses.

To stay on topic, my employees all want more money due to uptick in labor and covid. My subs have tacked on 20% on most jobs. Customers aren't really willing to pay the differences. 20% on a bigger dollar job isn't exactly cheap so everyone is screaming except I do it inside my car with windows closed.

If I can take this opportunity to really gripe about my job.
The one problem, that I have never been able to fix , after all the years I have been in business is, that I cannot stop the constant flow of people in and out of my space in a days time . In the last 20 years, I rarely get a chance to replace brake pads, eat a sandwich, make a phone call, or use the facilites without being interrupted .
It has made me an angry middle aged man riddled with stress and anxiety .
No matter what I am doing , I will never finis------never mind, someone just walked in...fk

All Business is a quadratic equation in reality.

Supply & demand versus profit & risk

Corporations have teams of people to quantify the numbers for each variable on a constant basis.

I'm just a one man show with a laptop & MS Office

Better to be on your end of the spectrum than mine right now. My phone used to light up with people calling me wanting to sell me their used inventory. Now... not so much. I haven't bought a piece of equipment since February and have no real prospects in the coming weeks/months since used equipment is selling like crazy. I'm bored off my ass but I'm finding stuff to do to kill time.

Agree 100% , and very thankful for where we are at right at now.
However, a good description of most of my days would be : manic.
Trying to put a water pump in a Honda, , but on the phone, and someone walking in the door every 20 minutes, all at the same time .
Im pretty over it . Id love to complete a job , from start to finish, in solitude, and full concentration . That has not happened in years here .
I look forward to quiet peaceful days when I finally hang it up . Im 51, and going to try to make it to 60, then I will be a wal mart greeter

I have a real world business..... stress is what I would love to eliminate.....

I oompartmentalize stress, goals, and and risk. It's paying off. The real bummer is probably government intrusion and then an occasional employee causing drama. I eliminate those pretty quickly so that we can move on to important things.

Other than that, I think just being organized allows you to focus on the big picture and maintain high standards.

Fred, have you ever thought about what interruptions cost you both in time (real money) and aggravation (quality of life)?

PA minimum wage is $7.25/hour or $15K per year. It seems to me you could probably bill $30K more per year just having someone receive people, take calls, etc. They just have to be the right person.

And QoL is priceless. I'd spend $15K a year in a heartbeat not to be a "angry middle aged man riddled with stress and anxiety."

My $.02

My wife came on board 3 years ago when her company got bought out, She does a really good job of gate keeping and running the back side of it all, but man, there are still days .
I am directly involved with providing a service to the general public, it has its moments
Are people getting pushier and needier , or am I just getting older and grumpier ?
Thanks for the reply, and totally agree with you about qol, we both agreed that we are going to dial it back over the next few years, I have been really working hard for a long long time now . I said the same basic thing, Id give up some money to have a more peaceful existence,

yes... and yes.. :D

We are going to set base cabinets early next week prior to painting, for a template wednesday, or we can't get another appointment for 2 weeks.

I just got a customer text at 10:30 PM, response to a service visit 3 days ago confirming there was no problem.