Whihc Construction Trade Best For Small Biz

[jyl]

Suppose a young man is going into the construction trades now, with the ambition to learn the trade and open his own business.

Which trades are most and least suitable for this? Electrical? HVAC? Plumbing? Framing? Roofing? Flooring? Painting? Cabinetry?

I imagine there's some trades where starting and growing a business is especially difficult - high capital requirement, low margins, seasonal/intermittent business, heavy competition, unstable or expensive or scarce labor, union issues, customers do it inhouse, all commercial customers who avoid new startups?

Or would general contractor be the better route? Design-build?

[wdfifteen]

I would say Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, or Cabinetry. The others are relatively low skilled and so are open to more competition. The trade with the most new innovations as far as I know is HVAC and that would have the least competition. Starting out as a general doesn't sound like a good idea to me. It would take a lot more schooling and he/she would be starting out with no experience working in the trades.

[berettafan]

HVAC means you're laying out big $$ for systems sometimes before being paid.

Roofing and framing require crews of immigrants and severely high workers comp costs.

Custom cabinetry if you are building from scratch can put you in some very nice homes with nice markup BUT you better be a darned good craftsman. Reselling cabinets is high inventory cost and can be very low profit.

In all cases i'd recommend strongly to avoid working too much for builders.

I think there is a strong market for small shop electricians and plumbers who charge reasonable prices as the trend seems to be for small companies to adopt high $$ marketing tools (lead generators) and the resulting massive increase in price and high pressure chase of recurring revenue via service contracts requires large amounts of capital and a comfort level selling people things they don't need.


With all of that said if i knew how to build a house and could manage effective QC amongst the trades on the job i'd be looking to eventually build a few specs a year as a side gig.

[jhynesrockmtn]

The plumber I use works much of his time as a sub for a friend who is a high end remodeling contractor who mostly works on historic late 1800s/early 1900s homes. He does schedule other work around his sub commitments. He's a one man show and seems to have done well.

My buddy has a roughly 7 man crew. A tile guy, a woodworker (he built our bathroom vanity) a mason (a lot of the historic homes here have rock foundations), two painters and a general laborer. All of the skilled guys are also good general carpenters. His main two guys are in their 60s and close to retirement. There is nobody to take their place. He subs out roofing, glass work like shower doors, electrical and plumbing. He keeps talking about retiring and selling his company, but other than a customer list, there isn't much to sell. All that to say there are not enough guys/gals who want to enter the trades. Someone who is skilled and honest can make a good living.

I'd say plumbing or electrical if a specialty is what he wants. If he wants to be a GC at some point, join a crew as a laborer/framer and work your way up.

[vash]

I think Electrician is the way to go. no sewer stuff.

I met two sub-30 year old journeymen recently that are killing it. fit, thin, and they can scurry into crawl spaces so fast.

[greglepore]

Electrician or plumber. If doing commercial, add welder to the mix.

[GH85Carrera]

If one can get past sewer stink, plumber is a great profession.

Electrical is about a wash, unless you can get into commercial level electrical work working with higher and more dangerous voltages.

Both are professions AI will not be replacing humans. Both are difficult professions that will never run out of work.

[911boost]

Originally Posted by vash

I think Electrician is the way to go. no sewer stuff.

I met two sub-30 year old journeymen recently that are killing it. fit, thin, and they can scurry into crawl spaces so fast.

The sewer is why you get to charge $$$$.

I worked for a mechanical contractor for a year after college as a plumber apprentice. They really wanted to me to stay on the path to Journeyman. They are days I wished I had, but then when I get out of bed and can move I am glad I did not.

I know a plumber who has a small business and he is killing it too.

As long as the young man is not scared of work, I think this is a great path (either electrician or plumber).

[rfuerst911sc]

How about general handyman ? You need to grow a vast knowledge base but there are a lot of folks that pay for stuff to be done . Can be as simple as hanging ceiling fans to pouring a sidewalk .

A good handyman the word of mouth advertising spreads fast . Once a customer base is established just keep up the good work and you will be very busy . Just a thought .

[berettafan]

i have a septic systems client.

i wouldn't turn down an equity share in the company that's for sure.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

How about general handyman ? You need to grow a vast knowledge base but there are a lot of folks that pay for stuff to be done . Can be as simple as hanging ceiling fans to pouring a sidewalk .

A good handyman the word of mouth advertising spreads fast . Once a customer base is established just keep up the good work and you will be very busy . Just a thought .

General handymen can make a good living. I've known a few that just work for real estate agents who end up listing a house and have a punch list from an inspection or work for property managers keeping up investment properties. The guys who bid for jobs like a bathroom remodel need to have more project management, estimating and sales skills. All need to be good at "light" plumbing and electrical. Things that don't need a permit or inspection like changing out lights/outlets, placing toilets and fixtures. They need to be really good at drywall finishing, framing, tiling, painting. Think freshening a bathroom, new flooring, fixing walls and painting them, etc. Those skills have to come from somewhere, so starting as a laborer on a smaller remodeling crew is good experience.

[Zeke]

I think you guys missed on cabinets and welding. I have empirical knowledge that good money is hard to find in those trades. To become an electrical contractor in CA anymore plan on about 6 years getting the hours required. You could theoretically do it in 4, but you'd have to work all week, every week, documented.


"You need to pass an exam, but to TAKE the exam, you must document 8000 hours for a "general" electrician, 4800 hours for "residential". You have to document the hours with the SSA, so if someone paid you "under the table", it doesn't count. The work has to include a certain minimum number of hours in at least two different task categories from a table. So for example if you might qualify under "industrial wiring", you can only count 6000 hours, so you need another 2000 doing something else."

A plumber's license is not far behind. I once told a kid that was working with me and not getting very many hours and not much money. He had a chance to get into carpet laying and I told him to go for it. He could work anywhere in the world. Always. And if expanded into other flooring, he's be set for his working life.

That's the other thing, how long you can physically handle a job like that. I have worked as an electrician on commercial and it is hard ass work. I have all my plumbing tools and now I hire a plumber. You have to be a contortionist.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Become an Electronic Electrician.
Ya gotta learn Digital/Analog Electronics, Boolean logic and PWM closed loop servo drives for starters, add PLC/SQL programming and you are now a one man show
I started as an CNC technician taking care of giant gantry spar mills at Northrop. I ended my career up @ Raytheon servicing nine axis robots that stood 30 ft tall.
Just doing the CNC parameter configurations and laser alignment for a new machine install got me nice steady clean work using my mind instead of my back. And I guarantee this job won't be replaced by AI any time soon.
Go to community college and learn electronics and SQL coding it will all flow from there.
I worked second shift and the Navy had a electronics school on site and I studied the curriculum on the sly nightly. Passed an Electronics test @ Rockwell and worked for 30 years and then 10 more as a private controls contractor to get the money for my two Porsches, one that I raced W2W

[Tidybuoy]

Considering all of the projects that I have done, I would stay away from plumbing. For me, every time I work on a plumbing project, I break something.

[Alan A]

HVAC seems to be the hot ticket up here.

Many people will change an outlet or a faucet without blinking.
Even they pick up the phone for no heat or cool.

[jyl]

Thanks for the ideas, keep 'em coming.

It feels to me that it you have a painting, roofing, flooring company, you can get price-shopped to death. Because the projects are usually not urgent and/or discretionary, consumers will bring in company after company to bid. That's based just on my own limited residential consumer experience. I had like seven painters come bid my house. Also with two of those, seems you don't have work for a big part of the year, at least in the PNW.

The toll on your body is, I think and am hearing from you all, a big thing. Presumably if your company gets to a certain point, you're not personally squeezing into crawlspaces anymore.

Yeah I'm astonished how much HVAC companies get for what I now know to be not terribly skiiled work. And I don't think there is that much training/work experience required, compared to electricians.

[id10t]

I would say low voltage (network) and fiber optic wiring

I know we pay $250 per network drop for ethernet cable additions to our contractors, and a buddy has been making bank doing fiber connections for massive rollouts

[billybek]

HVAC/Refrigeration is a huge and growing industry.
It is primarily a service based trade although there are construction/install aspects of it.
Pros:
Work by yourself and get along with everyone...
Satisfying work. Stuff is broken when you arrive and running when you leave.
Limited amount of tools to purchase to survive in the industry.
Very rarely is a mechanic/technician in the same location two days in a row.
Very different areas in the industry from heavy industrial refrigeration/ammonia, large commercial centrifugal/screw chillers, commercial HVAC, commercial refrigeration/grocery stores, restaurant walk in boxes and residential heating/cooling.
Pay! For guys spinning wrenches, they make pretty good coin.
Cons
On call for emergency repairs/customer service.
Working in very cold conditions (outside for roof top heating applications and inside for refrigeration)
Working in very hot conditions (roof top applications and out door condensing coils/units.)
Stuff is heavy. Compressors/rigging/charging cylinders/recovery equipment/vacuum pumps.
Lots of opportunity to be injured or killed by many different things!

[LWJ]

I worked with small contractors for a large part of my career.

Opinion:

HVAC- far more tools and training and same $$$ as other trades.

Plumbing- far more $$$ for similar commitment.

Electrical- not as much of a "dirty job" as plumbing. Low voltage is largely inside and in heated buildings (often) and thus more pleasant.

Consider other blue collar gigs. I am a big fan of unions for this. Add a union and then you have cool stuff like high purity piping for wafer fabs. Nice environment. Pays great. Not sure long term viability? Crane operator. Again. Great wages.

Framing? Have a childhood friend who does this. Low barrier to entry and you live and die by new construction.

I prefer service and remodel work. Better $$$ and lower risk.

Roofing? This trade attracts scumbags. I think there is a huge vaccum for a professional roofing firm. I have a large and well known one as a client currently. Great margins. Lots of repeat work.


Flooring? No idea.
Painting? I know many. Super low barrier to entry. Boom in summer with home exteriors. Not really a fan. But, I know some well run painters that do well.

Cabinetry? I hired perhaps the best cabinet shop in the Portland metro area to redo much of my home. They made pennies. I told them to charge more. It is a high capital investment and doesn't seem to have margins unless you make crap for the warehouse stores in large large quantities. Not a fan.

Good luck. I told my 23 year old son when he was looking for work that AI was never going to unplug a toilet. Good choice, looking at the trades.

[jyl]

Thanks LWJ.

Thing is, he’ll want to have his own business at some point. Needn’t be big but big enough that when he’s older, employees are beating up their bodies and he’s making decent money. So, I think, that rules out some trades where you are always going to be an employee, unless you have lots of capital to start a business . . . what do several cranes cost, lots!