Paperback Version $12.85
Should You Read This Book?
Back in 1979, I started a small contracting company with an old pickup truck and a few tools. My first job was for a pizza place my wife and I used to go to. I installed a dimmer for their dining room lights. If I remember correctly, I charged them for the dimmer and traded my labor for a free dinner. For a while, I did small jobs like that–adding switches, replacing lights, installing bathroom fans–relying on word-of-mouth referrals to get work. Then our first baby was born, and the relatively small income I was earning with my little company was not nearly enough to pay for all the new expenses of our growing family. I decided to get serious and I put an ad in the local Yellow Pages, hoping for the best.
It worked! Lots of new customers were calling me. The jobs got bigger and my income went up. I thought it would be smooth sailing for my contracting business from then on. How little I knew!
Well, over forty years have passed since that time. Through a lot of ups and downs I have learned what works and what doesn’t in running a contracting business. Now, I’m semi-retired, my company has 30 employees and pretty much runs itself. As I write this book in late 2022, revenue now runs several million dollars annually, enough to pay our employees well and to provide me and my family with a comfortable living and a financially secure future.
Along the way I’ve had the good fortune of working with many great people. I’ve learned a lot from them and from my four decades of work in this industry. Since I have the time, I want to share with you some of the key ideas that have helped me create a successful contracting company. I know they can help you do the same.
Although my company specializes in electrical work, this book is not specifically about electrical contracting. This book is about what you need to know to operate any type of contracting or service business. From a business standpoint, any building contracting company or service company has the same basic requirements. It doesn’t matter whether the contractor does plumbing, HVAC, roofing, painting, framing, electrical, house cleaning, window cleaning, landscaping, pool maintenance, or piano tuning.
Every contractor needs certain qualities, skills, and assets to succeed and my book, Million Dollar Contracting, covers every one of these subjects.
Want to know what this book covers? Check out Table of Contents.