Questions from a General Contractor

[Thomas Shanley]

Hi all,

I think this is the right forum for this question. My father runs a  general contracting company mainly focused on commercial properties but has done a lot of residential as well, from renovations to build outs. 

I was wondering what do you think are some good ways to market our services to investors. Working with homeowners I believe is harder than investors due to the fact that with homeowners decisions are driven more by emotional than numbers.

Looking to expand our services to individuals that fix and flip as well as larger commercial investors.

Wondering what do you like to see with a general contractor. 

-Thanks,

Tom 

[Manolo D.]

I am exposed to all industries, and the cheapest is investors, it's because every dollar they spend, comes from their pocket, when dealing with homeowners, they tend to invest more on making their house pretty, even if changing their mind, at least they pay for it. Investors might not have the same take, they want every change free, get the cheapest price, and expect you to eat the changes on your price. I am not very familiar with apartment complexes, but I have the same expectations from it. I had one bid for apartment that wants to reno almost all of the interior except wall, for $3,500 labor only, and when I asked the reason why he was asking for bids when he already has a ceiling price, he simply answered, because it's what the others are charging me. On my end, I wouldn't touch it for less than $5,500, it was a 2 bed 1 bath apartment. Their whole budget was 12-15k for 2/1 up to 3/2 labor and materials.