Man, if everyone around you is saying you're the cheapest, take the hint. Bump your overhead costs or upcharge more on material and labor. These VPs don't know any different and i can promise you the white collar mfs will screw you and not feel bad about it so screw them preemptively. Do right by the man but stick it to the corporation. Like i said before im just a stupid low volt cable puller but my PMs keep me in the loop and we have some high profile customers. I know the shady shit they try to pull on contractors.
I have been in the heat and air business for 17 years and big companies like to use their contracts to screw you watch for phase date deadlines they sneak in because when you get held up for another sub or for whatever reason the original contact is still what they want. Get paid In phases of completion. Any change orders for anything needs signed by someone able to authorize such. Like materials must be approved sometimes don’t just grab what will work when it’s specked. Man I have been screwed a couple times it is a expensive learning lesson. A solid contact is key it will get you paid just get everything signed. Congratulations on your business.
Brassman, you already know what to do. You're street smart. I appreciate you sharing your journey, and I like that you expose these critical thinking pivot points and share them with us. This channel is gold, and really brings to light the journey of a man taking his shot and growing a business. As another from the mud, I'm happy to see what you've achieved and the potential of where you can take things. With that said, I believe your buddy is right. A thing about growth (and I'm sure you know this), is maintaining momentum. Now... you know your environment beyond us viewers, you know where you stand in light of your competitors, in terms of pricing and delivering/capabilities etc. You know as well as I do, it's all a game. You've quickly evolved from a pawn. You're venturing out of the shallows bro. And as you start making some splashes, best believe your going to get some fkn attention. Predator or prey, you make the choice. Apply your wisdom and make the best decisions you can one day at a time. Make your mark bro
Fuck dude! That was one hell of a comment. Probably one of the best I’ve ever got on this channel. You really get it dude. I appreciate that my friend.
While "street smart" is a good thing, it only goes so far in the big leagues. Pay close attention to the attitudes/demeanor of other trades on the big jobs. Try to find out who, or who's places you are taking/who's toes you may be treading on, so you'd know them when they are coming. Now you need to develop a nose for moles. The bigger you get, the more intel you need. A lot of the moles show up as B/A's with big jobs for you. Keep it short and to the point with them, until they invite you to look at the plans or meet them on site during regular business hours, before you get too friendly/talkative or flattered by them. Big job's are great, until they're not. Getting taken advantage of here and there, is sometimes the "cost of doing business" . Getting fukked is a completely different animal.
Hey man listen to the Wisdom! Increase those prices and tread carefully. Most people don't value honesty and integrity like you. Get some sound legal advice! Protect yourself and your company. People depend on you!
was at a traveling job... i always wondered... do i let the crew leader make his mistakes... or do i constantly save him and get no credit bc we're working remotely and the boss cant see whos doing what. letting him mess up clears his spot out and gives me more work going back to fix it... or help him and hope they eventually maybe possibly notice stuff never goes wrong when in there.
The bigger the job the larger the risk, it might not be a bad idea to have an attorney on retainer and someone who understands these contracts more than you 👀
It won’t be hard to find someone who understands them more than me lol. I kind of go off my gut and that works with small time shit. These slick ricks in the corporate world can eat my lunch and I won’t realize until I’m 3 months and 50k into them.
Nothing to worry about when you get a friendly heads up from someone you trust. Even if you think you're above it, that's just human nature having your pride not want to hear advice that you assume you don't need. Take it for what it is, just someone who cares about your success. You can write that off as a blessing. And don't drop your guard around that crowd he's talking about, lol
Great your being talked about! Your buddy probably doesn't want to share you is my guess! Guess it's a job by job situation and hopefully you develop more relationships with new PM. I agree with you I uses to work at a blueprint company and when we did the contracts portion of the job I was like holy fuck you need to be a lawyer to understand what the hell they were even talking about. Basically builders covering their asses! Much success as always brother ! Bid on!
Lawyer up for those contracts with corporate lingo. You may not have a phd or a doctorates degree, but you can hire em. Don’t be scared, grab em by the balls
Seems like you are building reputation. Now everyone wants to use you with low reputation prices. If I were you. Keep the prices the same for old clients/small companies. For big jobs/new clients charge higher. Eventually you will be working with mostly big jobs and no time for old clients. Every business goes through stages. Your demand is growing. You are the supply. Which means one thing, you are worth more. Charge more.
That’s true mate. I am definitely way more expensive than most companies my size. When it comes to companies that are trusted with the medical and public jobs I get I’m definitely a lot cheaper according to a few big dogs. The thing is I’m pricing these jobs high as hell. Like on a two-man job I’ll figure it at $1400 a day in labor and that covers wages and van costs. Then I figure my materials and fixtures and I’ll take those two numbers and add them together and add 20% for miscellaneous and overages. Then I double the fucker. I guess I could just start figuring my labor at like two grand/day and then do all that other markup shit
@@brasshouse9822clearly you know what your doing. Clearly making great margins. I don’t see the problem your friend was talking about. Definitely ask around and find out how much those other “big dogs” charge. Wouldn’t hurt. I work in finance. If you ever wanna expand I can get you 7 figure business loans for 3-4%. My company loves give people like you money🤣 hope the best
Doesn't sound like he's bullshitting you brass man. When he says you're the cheapest bid for the work that company does, that's because you probably have lower overhead than the other companies bidding - so while your actual rates are pretty expensive in your mind, you're not also paying admin staff salaries with those rates too. How many office staff do you have? You got lawyers on retainer? Teams of account managers? That's who you're bidding against, companies who do, and that's why their rates are so much higher. And that's why you can possibly get screwed, is because they have teams dedicated to making sure their ass is covered no matter what. You said it yourself, you don't understand the contract side too well. No offense of course, only lawyers understand that shit, but not understanding it or not having someone you can access who understands it could get you seriously fucked one day. Seems like you're in the big boy league and there's a LOT of liability involved there.
That’s dead on dude. My office staff is my wife and mother in law lol. Jeremy is head of HR and he has a sexual harassment complaint from about 1/2 the guys in the field already. We’re definitely leaner than the other guys in my field lol. My competitors hate me but they probably know it’s a waiting game. I reckon you’re right about most of what you said. In all honesty, it was a really helpful warning from this guy because I didn’t think the other PMs were any different than him. To me was just the same company. Which honestly shows my ignorance . There’s probably gonna be some bumps and bruises along the way, but I’m lucky to have a friend like that dude for sure.
Man, if everyone around you is saying you're the cheapest, take the hint. Bump your overhead costs or upcharge more on material and labor. These VPs don't know any different and i can promise you the white collar mfs will screw you and not feel bad about it so screw them preemptively. Do right by the man but stick it to the corporation. Like i said before im just a stupid low volt cable puller but my PMs keep me in the loop and we have some high profile customers. I know the shady shit they try to pull on contractors.
I have been in the heat and air business for 17 years and big companies like to use their contracts to screw you watch for phase date deadlines they sneak in because when you get held up for another sub or for whatever reason the original contact is still what they want. Get paid In phases of completion. Any change orders for anything needs signed by someone able to authorize such. Like materials must be approved sometimes don’t just grab what will work when it’s specked. Man I have been screwed a couple times it is a expensive learning lesson. A solid contact is key it will get you paid just get everything signed. Congratulations on your business.
Brassman, you already know what to do. You're street smart. I appreciate you sharing your journey, and I like that you expose these critical thinking pivot points and share them with us. This channel is gold, and really brings to light the journey of a man taking his shot and growing a business. As another from the mud, I'm happy to see what you've achieved and the potential of where you can take things. With that said, I believe your buddy is right. A thing about growth (and I'm sure you know this), is maintaining momentum. Now... you know your environment beyond us viewers, you know where you stand in light of your competitors, in terms of pricing and delivering/capabilities etc. You know as well as I do, it's all a game. You've quickly evolved from a pawn. You're venturing out of the shallows bro. And as you start making some splashes, best believe your going to get some fkn attention. Predator or prey, you make the choice. Apply your wisdom and make the best decisions you can one day at a time. Make your mark bro
Fuck dude! That was one hell of a comment. Probably one of the best I’ve ever got on this channel. You really get it dude. I appreciate that my friend.
While "street smart" is a good thing, it only goes so far in the big leagues.
Pay close attention to the attitudes/demeanor of other trades on the big jobs.
Try to find out who, or who's places you are taking/who's toes you may be treading on, so you'd know them when they are coming.
Now you need to develop a nose for moles. The bigger you get, the more intel you need.
A lot of the moles show up as B/A's with big jobs for you. Keep it short and to the point with them, until they invite you to look at the plans or meet them on site during regular business hours, before you get too friendly/talkative or flattered by them.
Big job's are great, until they're not. Getting taken advantage of here and there, is sometimes the "cost of doing business" . Getting fukked is a completely different animal.
You're a better man than I am, I would add 10% just for all the Corporate billing and notary BS.
Hey man listen to the Wisdom! Increase those prices and tread carefully. Most people don't value honesty and integrity like you. Get some sound legal advice! Protect yourself and your company. People depend on you!
was at a traveling job... i always wondered... do i let the crew leader make his mistakes... or do i constantly save him and get no credit bc we're working remotely and the boss cant see whos doing what.
letting him mess up clears his spot out and gives me more work going back to fix it... or help him and hope they eventually maybe possibly notice stuff never goes wrong when in there.
The bigger the job the larger the risk, it might not be a bad idea to have an attorney on retainer and someone who understands these contracts more than you 👀
It won’t be hard to find someone who understands them more than me lol. I kind of go off my gut and that works with small time shit. These slick ricks in the corporate world can eat my lunch and I won’t realize until I’m 3 months and 50k into them.
💪
The brass man is a hot commodity!
lol
You said it at the end , raise the price and weed out all the bullshit. You got to keep them on there toes✌️
Nothing to worry about when you get a friendly heads up from someone you trust.
Even if you think you're above it, that's just human nature having your pride not want to hear advice that you assume you don't need.
Take it for what it is, just someone who cares about your success. You can write that off as a blessing.
And don't drop your guard around that crowd he's talking about, lol
Great your being talked about! Your buddy probably doesn't want to share you is my guess! Guess it's a job by job situation and hopefully you develop more relationships with new PM. I agree with you I uses to work at a blueprint company and when we did the contracts portion of the job I was like holy fuck you need to be a lawyer to understand what the hell they were even talking about. Basically builders covering their asses! Much success as always brother ! Bid on!
Lawyer up for those contracts with corporate lingo. You may not have a phd or a doctorates degree, but you can hire em. Don’t be scared, grab em by the balls
Nice video! 👋
👍👍
The more I watch your videos, the more I wanna come work for you. How can I apply for a job man?
You’d have to live in the Dallas area
@@brasshouse9822Does Alvarado work?
Does Alvarado work?
@@Connerson91 ahhhh, I’ve been meaning to call you.
That's funny 😂. I honestly just figured I'd be persistent. If I don't answer right away, shoot me a text!
Seems like you are building reputation. Now everyone wants to use you with low reputation prices. If I were you. Keep the prices the same for old clients/small companies. For big jobs/new clients charge higher. Eventually you will be working with mostly big jobs and no time for old clients. Every business goes through stages. Your demand is growing. You are the supply. Which means one thing, you are worth more. Charge more.
That’s true mate. I am definitely way more expensive than most companies my size. When it comes to companies that are trusted with the medical and public jobs I get I’m definitely a lot cheaper according to a few big dogs. The thing is I’m pricing these jobs high as hell. Like on a two-man job I’ll figure it at $1400 a day in labor and that covers wages and van costs. Then I figure my materials and fixtures and I’ll take those two numbers and add them together and add 20% for miscellaneous and overages. Then I double the fucker. I guess I could just start figuring my labor at like two grand/day and then do all that other markup shit
@@brasshouse9822clearly you know what your doing. Clearly making great margins. I don’t see the problem your friend was talking about. Definitely ask around and find out how much those other “big dogs” charge. Wouldn’t hurt. I work in finance. If you ever wanna expand I can get you 7 figure business loans for 3-4%. My company loves give people like you money🤣 hope the best
Doesn't sound like he's bullshitting you brass man. When he says you're the cheapest bid for the work that company does, that's because you probably have lower overhead than the other companies bidding - so while your actual rates are pretty expensive in your mind, you're not also paying admin staff salaries with those rates too. How many office staff do you have? You got lawyers on retainer? Teams of account managers? That's who you're bidding against, companies who do, and that's why their rates are so much higher. And that's why you can possibly get screwed, is because they have teams dedicated to making sure their ass is covered no matter what. You said it yourself, you don't understand the contract side too well. No offense of course, only lawyers understand that shit, but not understanding it or not having someone you can access who understands it could get you seriously fucked one day. Seems like you're in the big boy league and there's a LOT of liability involved there.
That’s dead on dude. My office staff is my wife and mother in law lol. Jeremy is head of HR and he has a sexual harassment complaint from about 1/2 the guys in the field already. We’re definitely leaner than the other guys in my field lol. My competitors hate me but they probably know it’s a waiting game. I reckon you’re right about most of what you said. In all honesty, it was a really helpful warning from this guy because I didn’t think the other PMs were any different than him. To me was just the same company. Which honestly shows my ignorance . There’s probably gonna be some bumps and bruises along the way, but I’m lucky to have a friend like that dude for sure.