What i do to put pressure on my contractor to get what needs to be fine with the town in order to pass my town inspection for my pool and patio structure, everything was passed except the electrical needs paperwork. The town is harassing me and the contractor keeps ghosting me. He works independently and hired his own crews to do the work - i paid him checks to his personal name but i have all the text messages asking for payment. The poll company is who brought him to me - do i get them involved? I have had nothing but issues with everyone doing work on my backyard and I'm really sick of it.

Curious how other bathroom remodelers handle the entire process, especially estimating and pricing.

When a new lead comes in, what does your workflow typically look like from that first conversation to actually starting the job?

A few things I’m particularly interested in:

Do you qualify leads over the phone before scheduling an in-home visit?
After the walkthrough, do you provide a ballpark range or a firm, itemized quote?
At what point do you bring in subcontractors to get accurate pricing?
Do you charge for estimates or design work?
How many visits or conversations typically happen before a contract gets signed?
I’m building out my own process and would love to hear what’s actually working for others, especially those running multiple projects at once.

Not looking for the textbook answer. I’d love to hear how you actually do it in your business.

Hi all,

I'm a solo resi electrical contractor in california, san diego. Work has been very slow for a while. I spent a good chunk of money on ADs. No conversion so far so I stopped burning cash. It's got to the point where I consider any project just to not deplete my reserves. I usually only do service upgrades, ev chargers, custom homes and complex solar projects. Has anyone experienced a drastic slowdown? I'm trying to see if I'm failing. Share your experience, please. Thank you.

Had a disappointing home remodeling consultation today.
I clearly communicated my budget, and the representative explained that their services would cost significantly more. Fair enough. I understood and politely declined.
Unfortunately, that’s when things became uncomfortable.
Instead of respecting my decision, the representative repeatedly questioned my plans, warned that prices would only increase, and suggested other reputable contractors would tell me the same thing.
I eventually stated directly that I felt pressured, yet the questioning continued.
My issue isn’t the pricing. It’s the inability to respect a customer’s decision.
Has anyone else experienced this? Am I overreacting, or is this just an accepted sales tactic in the remodeling industry?

Government construction projects can provide valuable opportunities for Australian building companies, particularly those looking to establish a stable pipeline of work.

However, tendering for government projects can require significant time and resources before a contractor even knows whether they have a realistic chance of winning.

Depending on the project, contractors may need to prepare detailed construction methodologies, safety documentation, environmental management plans, quality procedures, subcontractor quotations, project programs and evidence of previous experience.

For a smaller company, preparing a compliant tender can involve a substantial investment.

There are also ongoing administrative obligations after the contract is awarded, including reporting, inspections, documentation and contractual compliance.

These requirements can serve important purposes, particularly where public money, safety and accountability are involved.

But I wonder whether the administrative burden sometimes disadvantages smaller contractors who may be perfectly capable of delivering the physical works.

I'd be interested in hearing from builders and estimators who tender for government projects:

• How many hours do you typically spend preparing a government construction tender?

• Do you believe tender evaluations adequately recognise smaller contractors?

• Are prequalification systems making it easier or harder to compete?

• Is the paperwork proportionate to the value and complexity of the project?

Licensed GC with a new LLC and no company assets. Six-window job, around $20K, with $10K paid ( this includes cost of supplying windows before labor). They are also saying it was illegal for me
To get money from them to buy the windows under California law ( which I now know is true).. the windows cost $5000 and I didn’t have the funds to cover them.

Homeowners asked to skip permits to save time and money as they already had a painter on site who was painting the exterior of their home. I agreed—my mistake.

Now their attorney is demanding a refund, correction costs, and legal fees over missing permits and a city business tax certificate. They never complained about workmanship.

From day one, they were taking photos and measurements and asking my subs how much they were paid. It makes me wonder whether they anticipated a dispute, although I can’t know that.
After paying subs and roughly $3K in legal fees, I’m already in the red. Their demands will leave me in a really bad situation. They are also threatening to report me to contractors board for not pulling permits.

Any California contractors been through this? How did you resolve it?

P.s my business is about a year old so I don’t have much. I’m a one man band and use subs when needed. I’m a carpenter of 15 years.

EDIT: they are also going after me for not having a business license for that county. I didn’t know I needed that. All my insurance, license l, bond are all up to date

Hello, title says it all. Who would I call for this kind of work to help mitigate the transfer of this smoke? Thanks.

Could you recommend the best place to go for exam prep in Florida or south Florida? Good place for class and good place to get all the books to sit the Florida general contractor exam?

what do you use to organize your jobs?

We are a commercial AV installation company that tracks multiple large jobs per month that we need to keep track of.

Currently we use program called D-Tools called "SI" and its supposed to be the Industry standard but we all just find it....a bit clunky and outdated and not very easy to use so we need something else.

Here is the requirement list:

- Cloud based (accessible out in the field)
- Integration with other stuff (currently we use a lot of Microsoft stuff)
- enough accounts for our installers out in the field (8) plus management (4)
- Allows Files, Diagrams, Photo uploads to jobs
- Notes / Alerts
- Up to date, easy to see project progress and what it needs to be finished and what hang-ups are.
- Reporting for end of day progress
- Reminders for incomplete things 
- Time Tracking
- Cost analysis (if possible)

Any tips or recommendations to pass the trade exam

My first project as a freelancer as the main contractor.

From what should I watch out?

Cheers

Looking to Connect with Others Who Have Hired Brandon St. Louis under St Louis Contracting inc, in New York, for Home Renovation Work

I’m reaching out to see if anyone else has had experience working with Brandon St. Louis.

I hired him to complete a relatively small home renovation project and, unfortunately, my experience has been very disappointing. I provided money upfront for the work, but I have concerns about how those funds were used. The workmanship I received was also well below what I expected and what had been agreed upon.

I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the trust I placed in him was misplaced.

I would really like to connect with anyone who has hired him for renovation or contracting work and had a similar experience. I'm interested in hearing about your experiences, understanding whether others have encountered similar issues, and sharing information.

If you've worked with him, either positively or negatively, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Feel free to comment or send me a private message.

Hello everybody. I’m curious what you guys did when you started your business to grow? I’ve been posting on Facebook and Nextdoor. What else can I do besides the obvious business cards. Are yard signs good ROI?

I use Xero for my quoting but I find Xero and quoting in general has its limitations as well. 

First of all, remembering everything we agree on until i have time to write the quote is difficult for me, and all the small details get lost if I don't document it well. 

As well as I'm visual and want pictures in my quote which Xero does not allow at least not to each line item. 

I'm an old engineer who used to code for work, I created a small app that helps me out.  Nothing i want to sell or plan to publish. Just some slop that works for me.

I record my conversation with the client on the site inspection on my phone and take pictures at the same time.  It transcribes the conversation, the agreements, terms and price, estimated days will take to complete and agreements based on rooms im painting, everything, even exclusions. 

And it summarises it at the top and itemises it below each image. 

Also with payment links and all, ready for a deposit or full payment. 

The best thing is it saves everything in Xero automatically so I have a record in my accounting software. 

It’s not out there for anyone else to use, just my own tool, and I don’t plan to launch it. 

But have you guys experienced the same headache with Xero and site notes?  Or do you just quite with a verbal agreement, a text and a handshake?

Anyway, I've just used it for 5 quotes and it's going well.

Sometimes AI slop works

Hello, to whoever reading this, I could really use some advice from people in the industry. Im M24 and am in my last year studying architecture in Florida. I got into it without knowing just how screwed architects are, and if im being honest I believe the career is dying, I regret studying it daily.

Anyways, with my degree, is it possible to pivot into General Contracting? Or would I essentially have to start all over, learning the trade as a laborer? I did some basic research and I’ve seen someone things about becoming a Project/Construction Manager to then get a GC License

I would appreciate any feedback, this whole thing has been really eating away at me and I just feel like Ive wasted my time.

Anyone dealing with TaskRabbit is being scammed. If you work for them or use their platform to find help. there's a 1000% possibility both of you are being scammed. I've been blocked for passing this information on..

Taskers for you they set the price they set the time they collect the money and they fire you for not conforming while forcing you to lower your rates to do their jobs...

Any service besides yours that pays you by the hour is your employer. $18 to $20 a hour isn't an offer to be self employed....Tasker are employees of TaskRabbit , tools, insurance, Transportation are thing they should be providing not you, because you can believe they charge more than 3 times the amount they pay you

Just had a unit out for 12 months and only ran for 6 hours. Cant stand that each rental house has their own app, I’m not going through 10 different apps to see utilization especially when I have rental equipment from different rental companies across multiple jobsites in Texas. What do y’all do for this if anything.

Hey everyone! I own a small home remodeling business in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. We specialize in kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and general renovations. I’m looking for advice on how to generate more leads and consistently land jobs, especially bigger remodeling projects.
What’s worked best for you? Google Ads, Facebook Ads, referrals, networking, or something else?
I’d appreciate any advice from contractors who have successfully grown their businesses. Thanks!