All Forum Posts by: Aaron McGinnis

use a bank that doesn't do that to you. 

Or ACH. 

I may be able to help. Feel free to drop me a line. 

We use a staffing agency for day-work. They bring their own insurance and bill us a flat rate per hour.

Rule of thumb is: Don't trust them with anything more dangerous than a shovel and a wheelbarrow. We use this labor to dig holes, move materials, and haul debris to a dumpster... nothing more. Generally they need to be provided with PPE like gloves, dust masks, and whatever else. 

If you don't have a working toilet on your job site, you need to rethink that choice. OSHA regs are pretty clear on facilities and besides which... gross! Portapotties are way cheaper than dysentery. 

I spent about a year and a half using Home advisor. Spent well north of $15k on it. 

Now, I run a design build firm, so we look for a pretty rare customer. If you're, say, a roofer your results might be better.

We spent a lot of time tailoring our profile and on the phone with our rep zeroing in the zip codes we wanted. (Atlanta is heavily balkanized, so zeroing in zip codes was crucial)

Here's what we got -

* People calling from Homeadvisor are looking for bargain prices, period. They look at it almost like Craigslist.

* They always seem to come from the most marginal neighborhoods in the zip code

* They're usually ******* nuts

* We cycled through several hundred leads to get one or two that was worth talking to (Very bad static to signal ratio)

* Oftentimes leads would just be duds, disconnected numbers or people who were "just messing around on the internet and put their information into a form" - you will not get reimbursed by Homeadvisor for these leads.

* Once we started being very selective about what leads we accepted, Homeadvisor throttled back the number and quality of leads they sent us. Do not expect to be able to cherry pick what leads you take and get good leads.

* Do not use the instant connect feature (Where they call you with a 'live lead')... it's terrible and unpredictable, and you can't see how much the lead is going to cost before you pick up the phone.

Ultimately, I realized we were much better off paying for a good website and SEO/Google adwords than we were with Homeadvisor.

I love me some tear downs. Best kind of house to flip, in my opinion. As with any other flip, "Numbers gotta work"

That said, not sure I'd try it in Pittsburgh. Area is still pretty rough for new construction.

I went to a class at IBS in Orlando this year about the new silica OSHA regulations... drywallers are about to have to raise their prices. Along with everyone else. 

This is standard, normal, everyday stuff. If your plumber doesn't know how to do a standing water test, get a new plumber 'cuz this guy sucks. You shouldn't have to buy anything or pay extra for the trade to pass his code inspection.

If the house is build before about 1980, do an asbestos test as part of your due diligence.

Around here, it's very common to see asbestos in the drywall compound in houses build between 1950 and 1980... especially in nicer areas. 

If you're going to touch the walls in any way (Sanding, cutting... anything, really), and asbestos is present, you need to properly remediate. 

Asbestos positive materials I've run in to -

* Caulk around windows and doors

* HVAC duct work tape

* HVAC exhaust pipes

* Resilient flooring glue

* Resilient flooring

* Mortar in fireplaces

* Lining on underside of sinks

* Plaster

* Drywall

* Drywall mud

* Siding

* Insulation

Google "Asbestos in construction materials" and the results are staggering. Granddad put asbestos in virtually everything, leaving a huge toxic mess. (In his defense, he thought he was upgrading... and it has to be admitted, Asbestos is a great material - fireproof, long-lasting, durable... it just happens to be deadly.)

@Manolo D. - interesting idea, giving a 30,000 ft overview of the job. Did that work out for you long-term?

What we do is bring the client into our office and spend a couple of hours discussing their project - scope, objectives, schedule. I give them a design proposal saying, basically, "We're going to do plans and design work for a project that with this programme (X, Y, Z) with a total budget target of $xxx,xxx, the cost for the design will be $xx,xxx" .... either they sign and give us a payment, or hasta-la-vista, baby. 

When we deliver final plans and designs we also deliver a full blown construction budget (5-8 pages of detail). 9 times out of 10, our final budgets match our design engagement proposed budgets. 

The downside of this method, for me, is that it relies on my skill and experience as a estimator to be able to accurately hip-shoot a project's budget after a couple of hours of discussion. It's a hard method to pass on to an employee unless that employee happens to either be me, or have a similar level of skill....

Never give someone your internal numbers or break things down to the nth degree. I know it's more common in commercial to show an "Overhead and profit" line item, but in residential it's just an invitation to never-ending negotiating, bitterness, and anger that a contractor dares to make a profit that's "SO MUCH MONEY!!"

It is, however, super important to specify what materials you're using. For example, we're very clear with customers that they're paying extra for things like Truss construction, Advantech subfloor, maybe Premium studs... glued and screwed... etc. They need to know those things so they know what they're buying. 

What they don't need to know is that it's going to be 437 studs, 64 boards of subfloor, 8 boxes of nails.... etc.