Would You Pay for This Service?

Do it. People are always calling my husband (a Carpenter) over to take a look and how something should be done. If he were to get pd. for all these "consultations" I could stop working. Sounds like a great idea to me. I'd have a flat rate for a consultation, and then if they need additional instructions charge 1/2 what a UNION carpenter would charge.

I'm an interior designer, and worked with people all the time going over bids. Yes, I think this is a great consultation business. Helps people compare apples to the oranges.

You know, my husband and I set up our company about 6 yrs ago because my husband was in sales working with very specific formulas, etc for plastics and raw materials. He's been in the industry 25 yrs. brokering with different companies. At the time we set up the LLC, customers were calling him for advice, etc and then some would send him a "commission" or consulting fee for helping them figure out how to process things, where to get specific material, etc.

He set up the LLC to protect us because we were being paid by these companies and had to make sure everything was on the up and up with the IRS. We never took a salary or anything from it, we just deposited checks whenever they came in. We went through legal counsel and a good tax accountant to make sure everything was done correctly.

My husband is an excellent salesguy but he is very knowledgable on the products and knows where to find them, get the right formula, even make formulas that are currently patented.

Here it is 6 yrs later, and for the last almost 2 yrs he left his job and we are working on this little consulting/brokering company and last year (our first full year) we had sales over 3 Million. I jumped in with Quickbooks and got a tutor to help me and we are living quite nicely, saving very well, and both making a decent salary from this little start up that began with customers asking my husband questions.

So to answer your question...........YES, you are on to something. YES... I would pay a qualified construction person to head my project because I do not know all the ins and outs of construction. I don't know how you would determine fees. What level is his expertise?

As for us, we are in a very niche market, self funded and deal with specific types of companies. We sell plastic by the truckloads so we price accordingly to weight, freight costs, etc.

Get a good business model, good legal and tax counsel... start slowly and you never know what can happen!

Good luck!

k

You mean like Mike Holmes on HGTV? HELL YEAH I'd pay a couple hundred to have him inspect the plans and the work. Great idea!

:)

I think people probably call your husband, because they don't have to pay him and get the consultation. Why not a blog/webpage he can still give the advice, but his revenue could more likely come from advertisements. Good luck, I don't want to discourage your idea.

You could try it, but I would not hire someone for it because their is no reason to think your hubby is anymore honest than anyone else.

usually a company will offer a free estimate for whatever the profect, home, yard, car.... maybe something more like an interior designer, where you araange & deal with all the separate contractors.

I think many good businesses are born because people realize how popular their product is when it is free and realize that they could get paid for providing that same product. I think a key element here would be transparency of business dealings. For example, Consumer Reports is respected as an independent judge of product quality because they make it very, very clear--in writing--that they do not receive any kind of kickbacks or compensation. Your husband would have to be scrupulously honest, and put it in writing. He would also have to deal with possibly losing money because he would have to tell contractors no, he cannot take any compensation for recommending their services, he gets paid by the homeowner ONLY and can only give 100% objective recommendations. He must be above reproach or else people won't trust him. Anyway, I would have no need to utilize this service but I know people who would. For an initial consulation, to look over bids and make suggestions (say, three hours of face-to-face time, plus the time for him to look over the bids at home), $250 seems reasonable to me. Then, for ongoing check-ins during the course of the project--once a week consults to see how it's going--maybe $30 an hour? I haven't researched any of this so it's kind of off the cuff. Oh, and also your husband would have to be careful to not step on anyone's toes, the general contractor or any of the subs, so it would help if he had a friendly personality that wouldn't alienate people. It would have to be made very clear to the homeowner what the job description entails--you don't want to necessarily get phone calls at weird hours of day and night to complain about every little thing. So I think it's an idea worth considering but a lot of details would have to be ironed out first.

I just might, because I hate all the bazillion little decisions for a project. I'm more of a *big picture* person so if someone could manage the small stuff for me....
BUT isn't this kind of what a lead contractor does?

Isn't that basically what the contractor should be doing? When I have people in to do work I'm always surprised how different they quote on the same job. So having another person come in and give me his opinion would not necessarily be of value, unless of course, that person comes in and gives me his opinion for free, like your husband does.

The only time I could see myself hiring someone just for their expertise would be if I had water problems that need to be solved, mold issues or maybe for finding ways to make the house more energy efficient. Maybe your husband could specialize into a niche market, depending on his field of expertise.

But if he is good at what he is doing, he could start as a general contractor and do pretty much what you describe but instead of just consulting he puts in a bid on the project and oversees the execution of it. I worked for a contractor and we charged a 21% contractor's fee for our services of scoping the project, estimating it, overseeing the project and getting all the subs paid. That was in the 90's and in Canada. I'm not sure how different it is here and now.

Hope this helps and good luck!

No, because now you can work with a "design build" firm that has contractors on payroll (or the person is an architect/builder). And the idea of bringing more people in to a complicated process just sounds overwhelming.

But I also think that your husband should feel free to say "no" to those people who are asking him to do it for free if it's time consuming and he doesn't enjoy it.

I would not pay. Both my husband and I do a lot of research on the bigger projects so feel confident in the company we choose. We also look into what permits are needed for the project, ask tons of questions, and really put a lot of thought into it.

I would think that some may really like that idea and willing to pay. They do not want to put the time into researching what is being done or simple prefer paying an expert to help them.

No only because no such service is needed for myself/hubby he does all the work,& his dad well he has built 2 houses from the ground up.They have a network of people they already trust to go to for advice planning quotes or supplies if needed.
People are always looking for help when they get stuck in a bind if he advertises,honest, trustworty,& goes out of his way to do the best for his customers I say go for it.

I think this is a good idea. In fact, I wish there was someone in my area that offered such a service, as I am trying to plan a kitchen renovation and finding it a little overwhelming! I would probably pay $500 for a consultation, but if you stayed from the beginning to the end of the process, obviously you could charge alot more - depends on the scope of work I guess. Good luck with it!

Does not sound like a business that could support a family. Guess some people would utilize the service. Why would they trust your husband over a contractor. You know what I mean?

I would have paid 5000 on a 370000 for someone who KNOWS what he is doing to supervise our builder and catch any mistakes. I paid an inspector to come out three times for $400 total. I would NOT do it for free as it is time away from family.

Hum, I don't think I would pay for a construction consultant. But I would pay for a "Handy Man". Kind of like what you are saying, but the person would actually do a lot of the work, and help you figure out the best deals. For example, my mom is remodeling her kitchen. She hired this out of work "handy man" he hooked her up with a tile guy, counter top guy and helped her figure out the best thing to do. They worked together to get quotes and find the best prices. She bought all the materials and now he is doing the work.

Yes and No
Yes because as a concept I love it and I would pay for someone to educate me quickly on the process and offer ideas, suggestions and beware of pitfalls learned through experience but No because as a cynic I would be sceptical that the people doing the referral would be recommending contractors who they get a kick back from so it would be biased recommodations .
Why not print a few business cards, put ad's in the paper, supply stores etc and charge a really low rate as a starte and see how it goes. Since your husband is doing it for fee now anyway. Just explain he would be happy to come out but he charges $35/hr. Your time is valuable. It's great to help people but your not a free info service ( so been there done that and learnt the hard way in another field). If it's working out double it and then work up to the rate you feel comfortable with. Good luck

Not if the purp0se of your business is to direct people to your husband's business. That is not quite ethical. Any startup business is a lot of money. If you opted to do this as a paid employee of your husband's business,and he charged people a consultation fee, that's one thing, but again, if the purpose is to direct people toward his business rather than a competitor's, then, no.

First, I would not post the idea if it so happen to be a valid one, secondly, I thought they call those people general contractors. Either way, I would pay for someone like that, because I too would like to start my own business and I would want someone like you to tell me how to get started in finding the right contractor, etc