I would like to know if there are any of you contractors out there, who work in a rural area? I live in a rural area and I’ve been putting feelers out for potential work but have come up short. I am half way between two fair sized cities. One is about 40 miles away the other is 80 miles away. I am thinking about focusing my time at one city. Do any of you do this? Does it work well or would it be better to move to the big city? Thanks
Opie
Replies
I am also a rural contractor. If it were me I would cover about a 50 mile radius at first, which would include one of your close by cities. Gas isnt getting any cheaper after all.
How much work do you think you could get locally?
Most of the people around here do their own work. There is very little new construction or large additions around here. It's mostly small jobs which are fine with me. But it seems like there is always some friend or in-law who will do it for a case of beer. It's cheap labor even though the finished job turns out less than perfect. I've tried to help people for free just to show I can do quality work but that has not worked either. I like living in the country. I grew up on a cattle ranch so I like my space, but I think I should call it quits and move to a larger more prosperous community.
Have you tried becoming an installer for someone like lowes? It worked for me when I started out. It gets people to look at your work and you can sometimes pick up some side work.
1. Their customers are trained to pay for an estimate.
2. They dont mind paying for quality.
3. Lowes doesn't do stufdf like add ons or new trim.
My observation is that people in the country will just put stuff off longer or accept less than perfect quality quicker than people in the city.
You're right about doing things themselves, too.
Are you close enough to a city where you could keep your country place and still work everyday in the city; saving the country place for weekends.
Farms are good tax deductions, too.
"Tell me again, Mr. Ledbetter. What's a Mississippi Flush and how's it beat this hand?It's a small revolver and any five cards."
Most of my work is rural, but that's largely because in my area, most of the new construction is rural.
The upside is that most of the sites are somewhat secluded and there is limited looky-loo traffic by the jobsites. And having been a country bumpkin all my life, I'm a bit more familiar with some of the issues unique to rural living.
The downside, in this area, is code enforcement is much stricter than in town....there is more adherence to seismic codes, driveway structures, environmental issues (On the current house I'm building, had to get a sign-off from one of the local Native American tribes to ensure we didn't violate any potential artifacts).
As far as getting referred to jobs, I can't say for sure if I was just starting out. I've been doing this for a few years and can hardly keep up.
If I were in your shoes, I'd probably make myself known to local financial institutions (banks, Credit Unions, etc.), real estate people and get a good track record developed with a contractor rep at your local building supply (not one of the big boxes).
Good luck!
I do "very" rural... 70 miles from town... took a while but it's bee word of mouth for some time..
feelers aren't enough by any means...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
We have been in business for over twenty five years in a rural area. We try to do all of our business in five towns with a total year round population of 7000. We have a summer population of about twice this. It was five years before we built a new house in one of these towns. We did kitchens, baths, small additions, office remodels, roofs, decks and anything else people would pay us to do.
Do not knock these jobs. They establish your reputation for reliability and honesty and will teach you to avoid the pitfalls of those who preceded you, if you are willing to pay attention. They will also allow you to make business mistakes on a scale that will not bankrupt you.
We decided that we did not wish to spend our precious time travelling and instead chose to do the work that we wanted where we wanted. If there was some initial sacrifice in income (and there was), the long term result of establishing the business that met our personal needs has been well worth it. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.