slapiton

I keep hearing people talking about not making money on new consruction.I don't understand. I have been doing new consruction for a while and would rather do it than repaints and I have had great success.My wife and I paint together so all of the money goes into the same pot,That may help.

NuView Painting

But thats not what were talking about...
look at this way...if your gonna do work for a GC he needs to make money..thats his job to make money on top of your head..
if you get a person thats self contracting your more likely to make a more money because there in the business of getting their house painted not making money on top your head...and as far as re-paints same thing the customer is looking to spend money not make money.. makes sense

Rich

exactly

as soon as I got sick of my boss making money off of me...I started on my own and have never looked back

ie...a gc is:
a)getting the work
b)giving you the job
c)paying you part of what he makes

.....hmmm, sounds like a boss to me

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Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night. Marian Wright Edelman

Tmrrptr

I disagree with Rich.
A GC is just another client.
You can choose not to work for him on his projects.
A GC serves a valuable function.
r

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straight_lines

I have found nothing but headaches and poor profit margins with new construction. I still don't understand why people are so willing to spend so much money every other aspect of building a new house, but the one thing (the finish) they want to get cheap.

Maybe they are running low on money by then, or they don't feel it's important.

I do custom work, and leave the slop slinging for someone else. Once you go into a good neighborhood, and have a satisfied client at the end of the job, your quality work will bring referrals.

Rich

Yeah, imagine if they had to pay for the paint job up front before the house was built...no more issues towards the end....ah, that would be nice

I totally agree with this, it's unfortunate that after all the 'hassle' of building a house, all these folks want to do is move in...they start caring about the paint a couple years later

__________________
Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night. Marian Wright Edelman

Rich

I was more referring to the painters who 'rely' on or always get fed work from a specific GC...

we all differ in what we do...if 75% of guys always say that dealing with GC's is not a good gig...something must be true about the statement

__________________
Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night. Marian Wright Edelman

Dave Mac

everybody needs to find their niche, seems you have found yours.

I have done huge and i mean huge amounts of both types, and my profit margins are always higher in repaints, so thats all I do now.

RCP

There was a good thread about this over on CT a while ago. I can see both sides, we did blow and go new construction in California years ago. Low Quality, fast pace is the norm. Here in Utah we work for a few GC's that build nicer townhomes, duplexes and homes a few at a time. We also get all their custom homes and referals. We don't have to advertise, do estimates or deal with homeowners. They pay regular and we all make money. We have work booked thru spring. I do have to say that our states strict licensing requirements help a lot. No competition from jacklegs, if you are not licensed, insured,WC you don't work!

bikerboy

We did new construction in the eighties and after needing $50.00 more per unit the builder put the job up for bids. The best price she got was the same as ours with no semi gloss, everthing flat (we did kitchen, bath and trim in semi). So she came back to us but we had already commited to a property management company for repaints on 400 rentals they had. Made more money, got paid faster, and never looked back.
As a whole our area builders want it done as cheap as possible. The guys getting the work come on the job with a van load of illegals that get paid little, and get paid under the table (saves taxes, ins, workmans comp, ect). It really had depressed wages for painters doing new work.
That said, repaints in partcular and comercial in general are not dependant on a "housing boom" or slow down significantly when the "bubble bursts" and we get better money, some up front, never have to carry the balance for 30-60 or 90 days and homeowners refer us to thier social network.
Can you make money in new constuction? Absolutely! Is the work somewhat easier? Yes, but we make more in residential repaints. (higher profit margins)
Our long term goal is to actually have some of all that business and keep great employees busy all the time.
Here is the best advice I can give you for building a residential client base. If you only work for one builder (you and your wife right?), and that builder runs out of work or cuts your throat for a lower price, where do you turn? You didn't build up a client base by staying on his work for months/years did you? So you eaither have to beat the lower price or slep around begging for work.
The painters with a large and diverse client base may get slow at certain times, but his work is not dependant on the whims of a builder doing new construction.
Not a knock against builders, do work for some custom guys, just don't hang my success around thier necks.