What's your year been like, business wise?

Takes forever to dry out here, so waiting a bit isn't such an option.

I'm considering buying some mats, as my plywood supply is holding, but dwindling. I'll have to see what wet plywood weighs. in varying thicknesses.

Mats will rut, but not break.

I wonder how much give either one has.


Really wet area, like downhill of a gutter downspout seem like mats and 2x6's would help.


When I first started residential, my boss drove the bucket-truck past the corner of the house (drainage grading meant a noticeable slope) and downspout. Then,it rained, then on the way out, driving on the cross-slope, it was discovered that this was one of those urban developments that put down black plastic sheeting and 6" of top soil. The truck slid sideways into a tree, but he was able to drive off it.


I have a couple 10' pieces of drain pipe to extend the downspouts past the driving path. Have used them during the job a few times.
 
It's one day at a time...

I'm super grateful and take care of the crew very well.

It's like a good fishing spot or skate spot... so far so good..

I play the business pretty conservative...

But yeah, better knock on wood... :) always dew.
 
The only way you could lose some net Robert is if you rented/bought equipment or paid guys more than you made. Otherwise you just worked for really low dollar per hour.

Personally, i had the best year of my career money wise. :) next year should be dramatically better yet!!! No trees tho... maybe buy some equipment this year so when the work goes away I'm ready
 
congratulations on your year, Kyle.

yeah, I have bought equipment this year (and I don't remember if I had any truck repairs/expenses) but I haven't compiled all those expenses yet... but I'm my only worker.
 
Well that will help come tax time. Anything you used, you can write off at least a percentage. Get a tax guy, and start enjoying what owning a business actually does for you. Which reminds me, i need to start a welding side business to help recoup those costs, and develop a plan c for when work is slow.... since i can't do pipe work or similar construction, I'll still playing with what i should make or do... I'm open to any ideas by anyone... been thinking maybe attachments or something?
 
metal art, welded...ebay and etsy, mix some woodworking tools, i mean wood into the art. zero liability. zero repairs. make it fit in a usps box.
 
Personally, i had the best year of my career money wise. :) next year should be dramatically better yet!!! no trees tho

Lol!! Q: How do you make a million dollars doing tree work??

A: Start with 5 million
 
Metal art... I could use that in my band!!!

2hqz1fk.jpg
 
Lol Cory, it's not like i didn't want to do trees, i just didn't have time. Still gonna load up on equipment this year if i can.

I have a messy 2 stall garage, and that's about it until a bit down the road and i build a pole barn. If need be tho, I'm rural enough to slop up a tarp building. Ideally this would be something i do on the road as well, so art makes sense. I've thought about the art stuff, but if you've seen my drawing ability, you can imagine my lack of confidence in that arena:lol: i need to look on etsy and such, my mom and sister buy a bunch of dumb stuff on there. I would prefer to make something actually useful, but that's the practical me thinking again.

Butch, anything in particular you have in mind?
 
Kyle, how about some quality fireplace grates or dog logs.
I just bought a grate off amazon, but I'm not sure how it will hold up... the bars aren't real thick.... might be heavy to ship.

Can you use old car springs to weld?

Yeah, I have an accountant... which I've got to get all my figures together.
My business lost money last year.... and if I show losing money this year I may not claim all my expenses (if that is legal) because I don't want to raise any red flags for a potential audit.... need to talk to the accountant.
 
Robert, thx for the idea, but fire grates should be cast iron, so they stand up to the oxidation of a fire. Car springs are awesome to use to build stuff, i use them for wedges because they are very high carbon steel, which also means they don't like welds very much.

Yeah Sean, i think I'll have to make some stuff and see how it does...i might stop working for money if i can do that lol. I made a bottle tree several years ago for mothers day, maybe just build a few prototypes of stuff and build them to order.
 
Restoration work on old “wrought iron” gates and rails might fetch a few dollars Kyle. I use these folks for parts.
https://www.kingmetals.com/Mobile/home.aspx
People with big old houses and businesses like to spend.

Repair work in quarries isn’t bad work, easy people to impress too. Won’t make ya rich but it’s work.
 
Good tips there Bob, thx. I'm not aware of any quarries here, maybe some gravel yards. I probably could try to get going with some farmers too. Thx man
 
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  • #125
Ha, I was being a bit unfair.

In reality farmers try to screw you on price by telling you not to chip it, they’ll deal with the arisings etc.

You have these machines on credit so they’ll be paying for them anyway if they get used or not.
 
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