making first contact

[butterfingers]

hey all new to site think its a wealth of info condensed into one place so 5stars already, found out about certain machine problems and yeah there"s lots lol. but more to the point been plastering/rendering for more than 10 years now things have become pretty bleak last few years and reckon only way to do any better is take on my own contracts thats fine on private aka homer side of things but i know decent amount of spreads i could get on board and do good job but cut out the middle man or should i say middle middle man as companys i have been working for are obviously subies and i am sole trader. so here is the question how to make first contact with contractors without passing about brown envelopes lol on serious note have been searching internet on subject but obviously no one wants to tell you how to make money so all i have uncovered is tender ads. on another point understand everyone already cutting each others throat just now but even rough info from more clued up guys would be much appreciated. cheers

 

[keithuk]

I think to be honest ,if anyone knew on this site ...do you think they would tell you :RpS_unsure:

 

[flynnyman]

Go onto your local council planning site see who has put planning in for any houses and write to them or send them a cd with work and your details. Looka t what sites are going up and write to the contractor asking for the drawings so you can price that work.

 

[malc]

if i was a young chap at this time. i would not think about starting up a plastering business.
i would wait unto the next upturn, then start up a small domestic, with a few honest builders.
if you want to contract off major building comps . then tread very carefully, they only exist to rip sub contractors off

 

[SpankySouthport]

hey all new to site think its a wealth of info condensed into one place so 5stars already, found out about certain machine problems and yeah there"s lots lol. but more to the point been plastering/rendering for more than 10 years now things have become pretty bleak last few years and reckon only way to do any better is take on my own contracts thats fine on private aka homer side of things but i know decent amount of spreads i could get on board and do good job but cut out the middle man or should i say middle middle man as companys i have been working for are obviously subies and i am sole trader. so here is the question how to make first contact with contractors without passing about brown envelopes lol on serious note have been searching internet on subject but obviously no one wants to tell you how to make money so all i have uncovered is tender ads. on another point understand everyone already cutting each others throat just now but even rough info from more clued up guys would be much appreciated. cheers

Greasing there palms, taking them out for dinner the usual really nothing new.. Being a good spread hardly even comes in to it unfortunately...

BNI meeting is a great source of contacts from all walks of life, but you also need good contacts.

 

[butterfingers]

lol well we all got start somewhere.

 

[user_removed]

I have been in the game near 10 years now, I tried doing what you are talking about and wrote to several companies asking for future invitations to tender.

I got loads back and priced them at a very competitive price, I never heard a thing back from any of them, I think they work on max 90 day payment now so you basically have to fund the jobs yourself and hope they don't go bump while they owe you money.

My advice would be to hit the domestic market hard and learn how to give yourself an edge over rival plasterers/renderers its guaranteed cash at the end of the job and nowhere near as much hassle as running a site (from what I hear)

I think it's a case of who you know & how many arse's your willing to kiss, sadly I don't kiss arse so I stick to domestics and will continue to grow as a local domesticated plastering firm.

 

[stevo79]

some good points, main contractors WILL rip you off cos that how they make money and those mates mates who will come and work for you will soon stab you in the back when they think there is a few extra quid in it for them.
i'm not saying don't go for it mate just be careful