Running the Business · Part 2
Where the first ten jobs actually come from
The first ten jobs do not come from advertising. They come from the people who already know you can do the work, from the plumbers who have too much of it, and from the two or three counters where you have bought parts for four years. This lesson lays out the six sources that produce the first ten jobs for almost every new C-36, in the order they produce, and the one thing each source needs from you before it will send work. It also names the two mistakes that turn a good first job into a bad first month.
What the full lesson covers
- The first ten jobs come, in order, from your former employer and the plumbers you know, the customers you served as a journeyman, the supply houses, the trades that touch plumbing (GCs, remodelers, electricians, HVAC), property managers, and only then from the public.
- Each source needs one thing before it sends work: the former employer needs to know you will not poach; the supply house needs a license number and an account; the GC needs a certificate of insurance; the property manager needs a W-9, a certificate, and a phone that gets answered.
- The license number goes on everything from day one, including the text message you send a referral, and "bonded" goes on nothing (B&P 7071.13).
- Take the small jobs. The $300 disposal swap is the audition for the $6,000 repipe from the same customer's neighbor.
- A helper on the first job without workers' compensation and payroll is an employee you have not set up for; do the first ten alone or with a licensed sub.
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More lessons in Getting Work
- 1Where the first ten jobs actually come fromYou are here
- 2Supply-house relationships and credit: the account, the terms, the personal guarantee, and the notice your supplier sends your customer
- 3Subbing to general contractors: how to get on the list, what they check, and the four clauses in the subcontract that matter
- 4Property managers, home-warranty companies, and realtors: volume vs. margin, and the paperwork each one lives on
- 5Google Business Profile, reviews, and referrals: the only marketing that matters in year one, and the two laws that govern reviews
- 6Advertising law for a licensed contractor: the number on every ad and the van, the word you can never use, and what a misleading ad costs
- 7Pricing models: hourly vs. a flat-rate price book, the service fee, and good/better/best, inside the rules for service calls
- 8Estimating as a method: takeoff, labor units, materials, overhead recovery, markup vs. margin, and contingency
- 9Estimate vs. quote vs. bid: the legal difference, and the moment a number becomes a contract
- 10Public works: DIR registration, prevailing wage, certified payroll, and apprentices. A separate world; know it before you bid
- 11Template: the estimate worksheet, blank and worked
- 12Template: the price-book starter. Forty service tasks, each with the line that builds its price
- 13Template: the first-90-days marketing plan. Thirteen weeks, one page, nothing paid