Brilliant
Random Jabber Jibber thread
- Thread starter mr sunshine
- Start date
neosapien
Well-Known Member
I've been saying for years that a tv show could be loosely based on my life. Arrested Development meets The Office.
That's part of the fucked up thing too. There's 3 of us service guys. Me, my piece of shit younger brother and my mentor, who does like to take shortcuts but has a heart of gold and has been with the company for 25 years. He's really my best friend. The mentor and I get paid the same, even though he's been there 9 years longer. He lost his health insurance too. So he's unhappy too. We are all unhappy. We all do the work of 2 crews too boot. We are way overbooked at certain times of the season and turn down jobs left and right. If even one of us decided to leave it would be disastrous. And we would be fucking each other. So it might be a domino effect. My uncles and my cousins dont like my brother but he is kind of a piece of shit flaky hippy. They've wanted to fire him for years but can't for numerous reasons. Mainly because he rents an apartment off of me and his firing would directly affect me. It's all fucked.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Those are some healthy looking deer, no? TG555 has a sack of this in the garage, I'll bet...
neosapien
Well-Known Member
That's one thing we've all talked about is splitting the business in 2 but then they would win again by making me pay for something that I should by right already have. They didn't have to pay for shit. My cousins were just handed a business that I helped build before they even got there. On pride alone I couldn't do that.
Neither uncle would ever let that happen. They're in cahoots. I actually have looked into minority loans a little bit.
I would talk to the 25 year veteran and your brother and go for their throats. You have not signed a non-compete so compete
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
You need to open a competing business and eat their lunch out from under their entitled asses. That, as the Klingons say, is a dish best served cold.
neosapien
Well-Known Member
Thats the weird thing too. To most customers we probably look like an awesome badass tight knit family business and they just assume everything is fair and equal. Our customers are extremely loyal to us as a company. But if I would start a competing business I'm not sure the customers would break with the company.
shrxhky420
Well-Known Member
SH420
Yes it is a risk, that's true. I wonder what the company would think if you simply told the truth. It all breaks down to numbers. Have you run them? You know the numbers of accounts and overhead costs for your work etc.... honesty and transparency.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Do you have any legal paperwork, contracts that support this and/or your standing in the firm? Is the biz a LLC or corporation?
neosapien
Well-Known Member
Yeah to a point. It's hard to go indepth with the numbers on service because each job is so varied and there are so many more variables with each job as compared to construction. Chemicals, parts etc. They pay me 22/hr and pretty much charge 85-95/hr per weekly service and standard service call plus chemicals and parts. Whereas construction is more the pool costs us 23k, the customer is paying 39k etc. The whole construction vs service side income has always been a contested issue too. I'm under the belief that they don't make nearly as much per new pool as they think they do after factoring in the labor and time related weather issues.
Which brings me to something I've been thinking about for years. The weekly service customers, who are the bread and butter, actually have no idea how much their bill is going to be from month to month because of the additional cost of chemicals and parts. They know it costs 85-95 a week depending on the size of their pool but have no idea how many chemicals they'll use. So if I would start a competing business, a niche or an advantage I think would be to work the chemicals into the price of the service so that way I could say hey "service is going to cost you xx amount for month. Opening is xx amount. Closing is xx amount. Your pool will cost you xx this season." People really like clear cut numbers. And I could go a step farther and offer a discount if paid in full etc.
neosapien
Well-Known Member
Nope, not really. Just w-4s really. We're pretty old school. Which is one reason our customers are so loyal. We didn't even start using computer financing until 2008 lol. Pen and paper until then. It's an s corp.
lokie
Well-Known Member
That would help if it could be simplified to $$ per gal of pool. Small variances for irregular shapes and personal hot tub massages,
you know there is always the up sale to consider.
neosapien
Well-Known Member
For the brief couple semesters that I attended the local community college after high school... that is exactly what I did my small business management mockup bank submitted business plan on. A swimming pool service company that offered the clients massages while their pool was being cleaned. Got an A- I believe. Probably still have that paper somewhere.That would help if it could be simplified to $$ per gal of pool. Small variances for irregular shapes and personal hot tub massages,
you know there is always the up sale to consider.
The sound of silence echoes off the walls of my Fortress of Solitude once again.
The Mrs. has gone on a girls overnight shopping trip.
Evan Williams will be keeping me company tonight.
We will be doing inventory and planning our next grow.
shrxhky420
Well-Known Member
Neo, if you decide to move to China to teach English, I might be able to help. I moved to Mexico after high school. I was a teacher for 3 years. It was 20+ years ago but I'm sure I can remember a lot of it. Wonder if I still have course materials boxed up somewhere...
SH420
SH420
Singlemalt
Well-Known Member
Maybe not initially, but you'd be strict service not construction. Since you are the present service wing, the company would have to hire new service employees with all the negs(salaries, bennies, etc). Customer loyalty fades fast without good service. It's worth seriously thinking about
neosapien
Well-Known Member
True that. One of the fears has always been … can I stay afloat in a seasonal market whilst building the brand??
If you take the 25 year guy with you they have to rebuild from scratch and SOMEONE has to train. You guys are the known service face with built in confidence. If you are simply honest and matter of fact about why you had to break I can't imagine your customers would care to pay to carry the people who did you wrong.