Da Big Job

In a previous post I said that I hadn't heard back from "The Contracting Company" about the latest bid we submitted for them.

Well, thanks to poor communication I just didn't KNOW they wanted us to do the job. Seems that instead of calling me to say, "hey, we want to use you on the 14th street job." They simply faxed back their response. The onus falls to me on this one because while people normally call, I can't assume that they will. This particular contractor employed by this company is a project manager who has been with them for some time and so he uses office administration for some of his communication.

I am used to over the phone convo's with project managers themselves, but an office person decided to fax. Humpf.

Well, for whatever reason I never saw the fax from the contractor, so I was completely oblivious.

The guy finally called me last week to see if I'd received the fax he'd sent to me a week and a half ago and I'm like..."No. I assumed you had decided to go with someone else."

"No we want you guys to do it and we need you to start next week." says Mr. Entrenched Project Manager. (who is actually very nice)

I calmly say, "Let me check my schedule and see if I can shift things around." as if I'm all kinds of busy. Then I quickly call mentor/expert/boyfriend to see if there is ANY way his crews can do this work. I wasn't sure they'd be able to because they've had their own money-making fish to fry.

But, ever the capitalist, M/E/B (hmmm, maybe that will be his abbreviation from now on) said "we can do it." (He's awesome that way)

Now we have five, count 'em FIVE guys over at this big house in a nice neighborhood slammin' and jammin' on some wood floor, Baby. It's a big, old house that is getting a beautiful remodeling job. I want to go see it when they're finished.

That's the house up there.

I'll be taking pics of those finished floors!

Our goal is to have the floors finished by a week from Friday. Alas, we are ready to put down stain and the homeowner is dragging his or her feet on calling us to tell us what color they want. If the guys (crew) call me to say, "we've sanded as much as we can sand and are ready to stain." and the people STILL haven't called me, I'll let the crew go home for the day. We aren't going to pay employees to sit around twiddling their thumbs.

On another note, I may have made another contact with another contracting company!

When I went to the job site to scope things out on day one of this current project I pulled up behind a man who was with a different contracting company doing work in the house across the street. He waved at me when I got out of the car thinking I was there for his project. And, of course, I thought he was Mr. Entrenched Project Manger because I've never met Mr. Entrenched Project Manager face to face. Well, we had a good laugh over the mistaken identity thing and then he asked for my card. I obliged and he gave me his, so...you never know. I might have another contracting company to do some work for.

This makes me very happy.

I'm a Rainy Day Drip

Okay...I'm completely uninspired today.

Blame it on the rain or the fact that I've been staying up until the ungodly hour of 11:30 before going to sleep lately. (At my age, 11:30 IS ungodly)

All Wood Flooring is in a hibernation period right now. We finished our fourth job a couple of weeks ago and haven't heard a peep from our new love "The Contracting Company". *heavy sigh*

But just because we aren't rockin' and rollin' on some hard wood floors doesn't mean we aren't taking care of business.

I have hired a graphic designer to develop a company logo. I just saw the first drafts yesterday and while the color palette is a bit blah, the graphic ideas were wonderful. Love them! I emailed back the changes I'd like to see..."mas color, por favor". I'm excited to see the refined product.

I have also checked out the cost on getting a graphics wrap for a vehicle. That will be $2,800.00. However, the young man who gave me that quote has a primary business of his own that has nothing to do with vehicle graphics. After getting involved with his friend's graphics biz he decided to wrap HIS company's vehicles. Here is a link: http://monster-graphx.com/

He said he was blown away by the response. He said it was a blow out compared to the response he's received from a Yellow Pages ad that costs him between 3 and 4 thousand dollars EACH YEAR! So, while $2,800 sounds like a lot, it might be a good investment.

I still have my sights set on my expert/mentor/boyfriend's van, but we have to get a truck for him first. Apparently he enjoys having transportation. (So selfish)

We have a plan to scrape together some money...checking under couch cushions and in the dryer, so we can afford a Toyota Tundra Quad Cab. (They're beautiful inside) He MUST have quad cab because we have some little munchkins to cart around town sometimes. They like to sneak away with their grandpa and have ice cream every once in awhile. *wink* But he/we need a truck because we're forever buying furniture (we don't really need) on ebay. The furniture is ALWAYS in Texas. (sad that there is no furniture in OKC) and so it is not uncommon for us to drive down to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to pick up couches or glass tables or just...whatever. We usually rent a uhaul for these excursions, but if we had a truck.....oh baby! *que Sanford & Son Theme song*

I'm anxious to get logo, website, vehicle wrapped, but I know it will all happen in due time. First we need a truck and a good logo, then we can move forward on the other goals.

This day continues to drag. It's only 3:15pm. I have 2 hours left....

ugh.

Do You Know How Much to Set Aside? Do you???

Whatever my concerns were before about doing work for a contracting company, let me tell you now that they are quickly vanishing.

I hope to develop a great partnership with these people. Sure, it could have something to do with the fact that they paid me for TWO jobs this week. One of the jobs wasn't supposed to pay out until next week, but they went ahead and cut me one...nice, big, fat check.



My "mentor"/resident expert/boyfriend was pleased, but then started asking me if I knew how much money to set aside to pay for taxes and for liability premiums.

I already file a monthly report and payment for worker's comp coverage, so I know I'm current with that.

When I set up liability insurance the agent had me "guesstimate" how much I'd pay out in salary my first year. (I did this while on a ski trip over Spring Break with my sweety and his kiddos. The photo above is from that excursion.) Based on my "guesstimate" we came up with a premium which I paid in two installments.

but, because my "mentor"/resident expert/boyfriend was so, um...how shall I say this..."concerned" over the weekend. I called my agent this morning to make sure I didn't have to pay anything.

She said that based on what I've paid out in salary so far, I would not be audited, nor would I owe anything. They would simply renew my policy at the beginning of the year and send me a bill. Personally, I think I WAY over-guesstimated my payroll and they might owe me! I'll bet it doesn't work that way. Maybe I should DEMAND an audit. lol

Oh...and I called my accountant to find out how much I should be setting aside for taxes. He told me to tally up my net profits and he'd come up with a percentage for me.

I don't take any money out of my business account. Well, let me amend, I paid myself once, but the rest of it, I leave in there just because...well, it's a new company and I still have start up costs looming. For instance, I'm meeting with a graphic designer this week to see if she can come up with a logo for me. I need to get a logo ASAP. Once I have that in hand, I'll be ordering forms, stationary and getting a work van all gussied up. (hopefully...first I have to GET a work van)

For the record...(in case any of you are going to audit me)...I have completed four jobs. Alas, my latest bid to the contracting company has not been snatched up. It was a large job that would require careful work as the floors are very old, which means the wood is quite thin. My "mentor"/resident expert/boyfriend saw splintering and told me to charge more per square foot because it would be trickier work.

I supposed the contractor found someone cheaper and that's okay, I guess. But I do know you get what you pay for and if they went cheap, they may just cause more problems for themselves.....or....maybe that's just my wishful thinking. LOL J/K...

Sort of.