[Pondman Paul]

I just started my own landscape construction business last year and I have 2 of my best friends working with me as sub contractors.

I have basic insurance on my self "doing business as", and my guys have the same.

I know alot about design and construction, but very little about actually running the business end of things.

What are the first steps in becoming a real company?

Workmans comp, insurance, taxes. I would like to bring my guys "in from the cold" and be able to set them up as employees instead of sub contractors.

What am I looking at for costs to do this?

I'm trying to decide whether to do it this year or wait until next year and keep them as sub contractors for 1 more year.

I pay my guys $1,000.00 a week each for a 32+ hour "on the jobsite working" week, which is about $30.00 an hour.

What steps do I need to take to become a "real" company?

I know how to build just about anything but the business side of the business.

[mark m]

I pay my guys $1,000.00 a week each for a 32+ hour "on the jobsite working" week, which is about $30.00 an hour.

I'll let some of the members who are further along in business give more input. I would like to ask this:

If you are paying these 2 guys this much, tell us what exactly they do and what background and knowledge they have. How close of friends are they to you? If you are just starting out something sounds entirely out of balance here and maybe you can give more detail about these 2 folks.

Mark

[Pondman Paul]

Originally posted by mark m
I'll let some of the members who are further along in business give more input. I would like to ask this:

If you are paying these 2 guys this much, tell us what exactly they do and what background and knowledge they have. How close of friends are they to you? If you are just starting out something sounds entirely out of balance here and maybe you can give more detail about these 2 folks.

Mark

These are two of my best friends for the last 20 years. They are both extremely talented stone masons but are awesome at everything. I specialize in high end construction and building pond and waterfalls.

They both took a chance by leaving a big company to help me get started and they have no health insurance or other benifits and their worth it to my business. I would rather pay them $30 an hour than pay somebody half that. They are awesome at stone work and deserve to be paid well.

Take the $1,000 a week and factor in that they have to pay their taxes and its about $750 a week and they do awesome work and make it possible for me to get my business off the ground. I tried for a year to be a one man show and got nowhere.

Last year I had one of them work with me and we produced some awesome jobs and got recognized as a serious company even though there were only two of us. This year I have my best friend of 25 years join us. I have worked with these guys for years and they followed me from two different companies. I busted their backs for years as their foreman playing company man while we were all taken advantage of making the owners lots of money. I owe these guys a decent wage after years of breaking their backs as their foreman.

I couldn't get the owners of the other companies to take care of them or myself but I can change that now. Its not all about money with me. I want to work with people I like to be around. When we are working together its not like being at work, its fun. I love going to work and building things with these guys. We spend way to much time working throughout our lives so why not be happy while were doing it.

I remember making peanuts while the owner of the company became a multimillionaire from the work I did. I know I deserved way more than I ever got paid and always said I'd do it differently and thats what I'm doing. I can sleep at night knowing I'm fair to the guys that make it possible for me to grow my company.

I don't have the heart to take advantage of anybody. I remember all to well how it felt when it was done to me. I broke my back for 60 hours a week for 14 bucks an hour while creating masterpieces and making the owner rich. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because of the quality of jobs we had. I did work for a multi Billionaire and alot of super rich customers and built some incredible projects and that was fun for me.

For me the ART has always had priority over the money. Well these two friends of mine have made it possible for me to start my own business and get high end work that I love so I take care of them.

It may sound stupid business wise but I'm happy and I sleep good at night.

[Pondman Paul]

One more thing, I'm not cheap, I'm expensive. I build expensive projects. I get top dollar for our work and my prices just increased.

I get $22 a sq. ft. brickpaver for a minimum. I get $150 for a yard of mulch installed. I sell ponds for $20-50 grand. I make money being the best in the area. My guys aren't kids. They know what these jobs cost and what the numbers are. They help me to bid these jobs, we brainstorm the jobs to be sure we are where we should be on the numbers. I pay them for their years of experience and their loyalty, not to mention the back breaking labor they do.

Would I pay everybody as much? NO! I'd be fair but I wouldn't pay evrybody the amount I pay them. Like I said, their my best friends and have been for many years. I tortured these guys back 10 years ago. I made their lives a living hell to hit the numbers for the boss. We'd work 12 hour days with one timed to the minute half hour lunch as I yelled and screamed to work harder, we got to get this done today!

I was a nightmare to work for back in the days of playing company man, its a miracle they still like me. Well I';ve mellowed over time and I don't break their backs to bad anymore but I do pay them, for their labor, loyalty, experience, craftmanship and artistry. My guys are the best and I've worked with a couple hundred guys over the past 22 years and these guys are the ones I wanted to work with.

[mark m]

These are two of my best friends for the last 20 years. They are both extremely talented stone masons but are awesome at everything. I specialize in high end construction and building pond and waterfalls...
It may sound stupid business wise but I'm happy and I sleep good at night.

I figured they were key people but I just thought your first post begged for some insight and background about it. In the level of hardscape work you're doing, I can see where these 2 key guys make sense if you yourself are making appropriate money. I can see you have a real passion in this endeavor.

Mark