Every Last Dollar

As most of you know, I do home repairs. I used to do all the repairs myself but the last couple of years I have hired contractors to do a lot of the repairs. I've done this partly because there is more work than I can handle alone and partly because I cam getting lazy. The trouble is, that having other contractors do part of the work cuts down on the profit margin. Sometimes it even erases it.

It seems like other contractors don't put forth the same effort as I do when performing a job.... meaning that I may do a certain job in 4 hours while it takes my contractor 6 or 7. If I bid the job on the time it takes my contractors, I would not be awarded the job. But to expect my contractors to do the job in the same amount of time it takes me means that I don't have any contractors.

There have been several jobs where the contractors have used up every single dollar available for the job. One would think that they would appreciate their source of income, but that is hardly so. I do the advertising, get the contract, give out the work. In essence, I take all the risk.

So, in solving this problem I have decided I will focus on the smaller jobs that I can do alone. That is the difference between 70% profits on the job versus 10%. And there is a whole lot less risk. But there is a lot more physical tiredness. At any rate, a Starbuck Coffee should perk me up.