Community Discussions
Explore the latest discussions and community conversations related to this domain.
How do I start my construction LLC?
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Hi all, I’m based in Philadelphia as of right now and plan to get my contractor’s license soon. I have a few questions that I hope fellow Philadelphia contractors can help me to clear up. 1. For the mailing address, since I won’t have a storefront or anything, would it be advisable to use my home address or should I use a Commercial Registered Office Provider? (CROP) 2. How do you guys set up your operating agreements? Is there a specific template that you would recommend? 3. For registered agent, should I just put that as myself, a family, or should I hire a registered agent? I know any one of those options is fine, but want to know how other fellow contractors usually do it. 4. I know the amount of insurance I should be getting, but how much do you guys usually pay for the insurance? 5. So I notice there is the Home Improvement Contractor Registration where we need to register with the Attorney General’s Office if we do more than $5,000 of work. In my situation, I’m estimating that I’ll probably get my license by the end of the year of 2024 (November or December). Which most likely means I won’t be making $5,000 this year. Would I still need to register, or more precisely, do I re-register every year? 6. I recently moved into a new house and plan to do some repairs on it after I get my license. How do you guys usually handle such situations?Would I still report on material, cost and labors for my own projects onto my business and its taxes? 7. In all honesty, when should I pull for permits on jobs. I’ve read what a contractor can and cannot do without permits, and honestly, most of the work I would be doing in the future don’t even need permits since I won’t be changing the overall structure or anything of houses. I usually just do the cosmetics stuff such as drywall, papering, painting, tiles, flooring, cabinets and works of that nature for residential projects. For those who also do similar works, what situations have you pulled permits for residential projects. Sorry for the long post and if these are stupid questions. Really appreciate some advice from experienced contractors in Philly. Thank you in advance.
Top Comment: Registered agent is only useful if you are incorporating out of state where you don't have a presence. Fine to use yourself for that. I registered to my home address for my business and HIC license (NJ here). Tried to keep it simple and keep costs low. My liability coverage is for $1M and costs me $1500 a year. Use an insurance broker, they will shop around for best rate for you. Also interested to hear other opinions on permits. I also mostly do work not needing permits. Finally, I've been using Wave for estimates, invoicing and bookkeeping. Free package is great.
Spent Over $7k on Marketing My Construction Business with No Results—Should I Hire a Marketing Agency?
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Hey Reddit,
I’m feeling pretty defeated right now. I run a construction services business, and I’ve spent over $7,000 on marketing over the past few months without landing a single job. I’ve tried different strategies—online ads, flyers, and even word-of-mouth—but nothing seems to be working.
At this point, I’m wondering if I should bite the bullet and hire a marketing agency to handle things for me. Before I do that, I wanted to ask:
• Has anyone had success marketing their construction business on their own? If so, what worked for you? • Are marketing agencies worth it, or do they just drain your budget even more? • Any specific marketing strategies or platforms that are more effective for construction services?I don’t want to keep wasting money, but I also don’t want to give up. I really need to start getting jobs. Any advice or experiences you can share would be super helpful. Thanks!
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Do you support the construction of my hydro stations in NZ?
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Have asked mods to fix title 😊
I have a strong view that energy, and specifically electricity, is somewhat the gold of the coming century. With everything (and I mean everything) moving towards electrification, any country able to sustainably produce electricity as cheaply as possible will have a big advantage economically, as well as socially.
We're lucky in NZ as far as natural resources go, and so whilst I don't have any objection to nuclear power, we don't need it at all so that isn't a political issue we need to deal with. I support subsidies and policies that encourage people to be efficient with their energy use, and to embrace their own generation, i.e. solar at home etc.
I believe that we should be aiming to produce and deliver electricity at a cost+ model, i.e. as cheap as feasible, as that would give us a tremendous economic advantage for the future, as well as socially and environmentally.
I believe we should be building a couple of hydro stations at present, both in the North Island, at least one in Northland (subject to technical feasibility).
Whenever I've mentioned this to people, most of them either agree but claim it would never happen because of NIMBY and "The Greens", or indeed state that they disagree because of the potential harm to whatever area is chosen.
What do you think? Do you think we should just concentrate on reducing energy usage, and not worry about increasing supply? Do you support more production, but not hydro? Do you think the impacts of hydro outweigh the benefits?
Please try not to turn this into "electricity is too expensive/Rio Tinto/Comalco" etc, because that's a somewhat different topic
Top Comment:
It isn't easy to get large-scale hydro projects off the ground these days. What tends to happen is efficiency upgrades of existing stations gaining a few MWs each time. Also, suitable hydro locations are not exactly everywhere. I'm not aware of any suitable locations in Northland. There is only the 5MW Wairua Falls(1916) station and a 25 MW Geothermal plant
The future of NZ's large-scale electricity generation is from offshore wind. In fact, just this week BlueFloat announced a 900MW offshore wind farm in South Taranaki
Wind complements hydro quite nicely in that when it's windy you can scale back the hydro generation and save water. The NZ Battery project is looking into pumped hydro at lake Onslow which will help in this regard.
My First Job On My Own. 6,000 square feet of Porcelain Pavers on Bison Pedestals. : Construction
Main Post: My First Job On My Own. 6,000 square feet of Porcelain Pavers on Bison Pedestals. : Construction
What can my parents do to keep melting snow from draining off the roof and freezing on the steps and walkway beneath? : Construction
Main Post: What can my parents do to keep melting snow from draining off the roof and freezing on the steps and walkway beneath? : Construction
Why is my construction so expensive? how do i make it cheaper? : victoria3
Main Post: Why is my construction so expensive? how do i make it cheaper? : victoria3
Construction Managers
Main Post: Construction Managers
(KA) How can i increase my max construction? : r/Kairosoft
Main Post: (KA) How can i increase my max construction? : r/Kairosoft
r/Construction
Main Post: r/Construction
Anyone like construction and their job/job duties, but hate the industry and culture?
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Growing up I felt I was always a great fit for construction just because I loved building and creating things. I also loved solving problems and managing money, so I felt that made me a good fit for a PE/PM type of role. And while I enjoy construction and my job duties, I don't like everything else that comes along with the industry.
- I don't like the culture of construction. The rough around the edges, juvenile humor (gay jokes on this forum), rude, tough guy mentality where being a jerk is acceptable. Many people just seem mean and miserable. I worked a "normal" office job before and everyone was so pleasant and nice. It felt more likely a "family" atmosphere.
- I don't like that it's male dominated. Yes it gets old working around construction men all the time.
- I don't like the potential for a lot of travel and no work from home.
- I don't like that we have to manage people that don't report to us.
- I feel like there is a lack of upward mobility. While we can make a good upper middle class living in many cities, your job duties pretty much stay the same your whole career and it's hard to really make a lot of money like a traditional corporate job would offer. You can become a PM by 30, but then what for the next 35 years of your career?
- Depending on who you talk to and where you live there is a stigma associated with working in the industry. Although I find most people respect what I do for a living.
Top Comment: I like my job and my employer a lot....but some of the subs are....disappointing.
Homebuilding
Main Post: Homebuilding