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View Full Version : I guess I have a story to tell.


giddonah
02-10-2005, 08:08 PM
My mother was remodeling ever since I could remember. She had some great houses that had lots of promise, but could never really make it work by herself while raising 4 kids. She got one house all rented out and it pretty much pays for itself and a little bit. Then there's another, my current project, that she thought she was going to have done by other people. I'm so damn cheap though, that I decided I would do some of the work. My sister is a fountain of knowledge (but busy with her own kids) but made it seem possible. My sister and brother-in-law do developments in Portland, OR. I always figure that if a human put it together, a human can fix it. I started reading and during the past year I became a remodeler. Every task has been hard work, but not difficult. I also have a good friend that knows a lot more than I do, but isn't organized. Between the two of us we can do anything (and if not for the licensing thing, we would).

I'm formulating a plan. It's not a HUGE plan :wink: , but it's pretty good. I guess I should introduce myself now. My name is Joshua Green, but my online alter ego is Gid. It looks like I'll be going into business in Orange County here real soon. At first it was just going to be for my own houses, but now it looks like the county needs me too. I'm thinking of four separate entities to handle everything (see attachment). One is just me (the Real Estate Holding), two are Me and my friend, and one is just him (I might be involved there too). He has formal training in HVAC and knows about nearly everything. My experience aside from the renovations from the last year is in editing/creating financial presentations with powerpoint for investment banks.

Anyway, my plan is to build a small (but respectable) real estate empire. I need to go sit down with my accountant and work out the particulars, but I think I can get this to work. I'll need a plumber and electrician to come in and sign off on stuff and do the final hook-ups (assuming I can get away with doing some of the rough installations for them) to make it ligit. I'm going on saturday to look at a property that looks like a good investment. We'll see how it goes.

Wait a min, no attachments? What's up with that?

Cole
02-10-2005, 08:15 PM
Welcome, Buddy.

Got a question for you, isnt Orange County Choppers located where you live?

giddonah
02-10-2005, 08:28 PM
lol, yeah, you must have missed it on C-R where someone asked me that. 20 min away. I've seen them walking through HD. I don't live there though. I live in the City. I live down here and work for a bank, and do my renovations on the weekends/holidays. I've been going full bore for the last 6 months. Projects seem to take a while with that kind of schedule.

Cole
02-10-2005, 08:37 PM
Yeah I bet, so are you going to write a business plan?

giddonah
02-10-2005, 11:06 PM
yeah, I guess so :? I'm not looking forward to that. I wasn't thinking of getting money to start, but that might be a good idea. I'll see what I need first. All I need to be legit is insurance. I have tons of tools already, and my friend isn't gainfully employed (part time job and just getting by).

Rich
02-11-2005, 12:33 AM
A business plan is worth more than just getting money from investors. You can use it to lay out exactly how your business is going to be run - and then gives a guideline to gauge goals aganst.

giddonah
02-11-2005, 01:11 PM
I talked with my friend last night for two hours. It seems that the county is more screwed up than I thought and it'll take longer to do what I want to do just because people there are insane.

Middletown will only accept apprenticeships for plumbing and electical that they feel qualifies. One guy was the plumber for a college for 30 years and they wouldn't accept that. They have a total lock on licensed people in the city of middletown. I'll have to call the towns around the area to see what their requirements are, but to do anything in the city would require me to be "in" with a plumber and an electrician. Even if I did manage to find some guys that would work with me, they're so crazy and do such bad work that I probably wouldn't want to work with them anyway. Games. They all play little girl games.

My friend worked on some of the crews in middletown and has seen what goes on. He wants to do what I'm talking about, but has a different plan for it. He wants to start out doing small handyman stuff until we build some relationships. In the mean time, he's got a HVAC company. He had to shut it down because he didn't have anyone to work with him. I'm going to read up on refrigeration and air conditioning and start with that, and move on to boilers in the winter. In the mean time, I have my houses to keep us busy, plus any small handyman jobs we can pick up. When things start to build, we can start to take on bigger projects. Eventually, we'll do everything and start building.

I would like to just go up there and hit the scene, but the environment is pretty messed up. It seems like there's a universe of incompetence that's gravitating towards orange county. I'm a little dissappointed, but I'm not deterred.

Cole
02-11-2005, 04:54 PM
I'm a little dissappointed, but I'm not deterred.

Good :D

giddonah
02-17-2005, 08:45 PM
New plan. Ganna do Refrigeration/AC with my friend this summer, then Heating in the winter and start out doing small handyman stuff. This will get me out of the city and up where I can get some work done when I'm not working. Even if I only make 75% of what I'm making now it will be progress (I should be making 300% though :wink: ). The book is waiting for me at my building. 1200 pages. I have to get through at least 1/4 of it before we can start. Hopefully by next year we can start taking on bigger and bigger projects without pissing off the old-boy network in orange county. I'm psyched. Got a cell phone arriving today too. Now I'll be able to call my friend when I'm standing in HD wondering what the hell he sent me there for :lol: . I get out of here in 15min. I think I'm going to be doing some reading tonight :wink: .



....14minutes :D