Haven’t had a day off since Aug 15

[kimberlily22]

Just under 6000’ of gutter, about 4000’ of downspout, 1200’ of fascia and 2000sqft of soffit installed. I don’t even know what the siding crew has done.

Holiday lighting can kiss my ass this year. Call me if you need me but I’m burned TF out!

Thursday is the last day. Deer hunting in Missouri, then finally going down to Mississippi and Florida to see my wife and son. Won’t be back until first week of January.

 

[rls]

@kimberlily22 No offense, but is all that a lot for 2.5 months? If so, congrats and enjoy your time off.

 

[kimberlily22]

@rls It’s about 125,000$ worth of work for me and a rotating cast of hourlies

 

[joegordon35]

@kimberlily22 125k for lighting?

 

[kimberlily22]

@joegordon35 No holiday lighting season is just getting started. We’ve got like 40ish repeat customers for that. Probably do like 20k gross. It’s not a big money maker but it keeps the wheels greased

 

[neo_ocelot]

@kimberlily22 Well done kicking ass!

2 of my neighbors had lights installed last year. I got quotes and they were $1000-2000. It seems like that would be very profitable per house, no?

 

[kimberlily22]

@neo_ocelot We don’t run our prices like that. Our focus is on smaller homes and elderly customers. Basically the first year we will come out and make the custom lighting, that can be fairly expensive. But, once the lights are cut and planned the first year we put them up and take them down label and store them for the next year. It works out to be about $4/ft, $400 minimum, and a $25 fee for storage off season. Most houses are minimum rate. But we do have a couple very large houses that are spending 2k or more a year on Christmas lights

 

[neo_ocelot]

@kimberlily22 That makes sense. I think the local company bought the lights and just passed that cost along to customers.

At $400-500/job, I can see how it would be a good way to earn some money, but not a primary business.

Definitely take a little time if you can. How many hours were you working?

 

[kimberlily22]

@neo_ocelot Everyday is different of course but my average week from April 1 until today is 63.47hrs. My profit share check for October was just cut on the 1st. That was about 12k plus my daily pay ($250/day) for October was $7750. I spent around 5k last month on my helpers, insurance and gas

 

[tiressa]

@kimberlily22 Chasing storms?

 

[kimberlily22]

@tiressa No it’s all relatively local work. We’ve been transitioning from subcontracting into homeowner sales for the past couple years, trying to build a brand and reputation. This year we went hard on advertising.

Edit: oh my wife is in the military so we are often living apart while I run the business and she’s stationed elsewhere.

 

[patricia1213]

@kimberlily22 I’m in the same business. We should connect

 

[patricia1213]

@kimberlily22 How are you advertising mostly?

 

[kimberlily22]

@patricia1213 We used paid ads on facebook/instagram and google ads. Both of these are managed by marketing companies.

 

[neo_ocelot]

@tiressa Do you chase storms because there is more work than you could otherwise get? Because you can charge a premium (if so, how much)? Or both?

 

[emyde23]

@kimberlily22 What is it exactly that your company does?

 

[patricia1213]

@emyde23 He installs gutters, fascia and soffit. It appears he also has a vinyl siding sub crew and maybe a lights sub crew.

 

[kimberlily22]

@patricia1213 Siding is handled by another crew. Lighting is done by whatever guys want to continue working through the winter. Nearly everyone is a subcontractor, the core group is 4 guys that have profit sharing agreements with each other. Hourly guys come and go, a lot of them are relatives or friends that are looking for work or something to make extra money. They tend to bounce around to help whoever needs extra hands.

It really only works because the core group was friends and working together for years before we did this thing.

 

[neo_ocelot]

@kimberlily22 Sounds like a great deal. Hope the giant explosions aren’t uncomfortable