therealtexasguy

Well, well, well.

I am technically without a business now.

That investment thing I was talking about, the house building in the Seattle area - yeah, it's looking sweeter and sweeter. I'd need about $150k up front, if we put the land on a loan (that includes the down payment for the land). I'm getting quotes from plumber, electrician and foundation companies over the next week or so to trim up that number a bit, but $150k looks like it. I'd only make like $35k off of it ($12k of which would go to my licensing bond), whereas the people investing would make probably $40k.

Somehow, though, I know they'd bitch about that number. Shit though, forty grand to just sit around and write me checks!? Course, I'm looking at this as a sure thing, because it is. I get my Dad to fly up for four months to stay with me, just to help with the physical work, and I hire a local guy at $15 an hour (unfortunately this would require me to get workers comp and shit, which would come out of MY end, still, not a biggy).

All and all, the first house would be a six month project. Once we got the land, we'd have to have the house plans approved by the city (I'm looking at Tacoma), unless we build in the county (which is cheaper and easier, but not as profitable), then the foundation get's laid, the framing/roofing materials get purchased, they get installed in two weeks (which would only really take one, maybe one and a half for a single story house), then six more weeks to do the interior. Even if the project ran over time, it'd only take at the very most three and a half months of actual work time. The rest of the time would be me dicking around with the city inspectors and whatnot.

See, this is a damn good way to make money, but I see it as sooooo much more then that. I figure after the third or fourth, I could get my oldest brother to quit his job (where he makes decent money, probably 35k a year or so) to come work for me, where he'd make at the very least twice that. Then we get his wife to come work for me as well, handling the administrative stuff (you know, ordering materials, dealing with the city fuckheads - notice I don't like inspectors ) making probably as much as she makes now, maybe even a little less, but this would free her up to spend the majority of her time with the kids. Maybe even pay her to get a realtors license so that in time she could be the one buying the land and selling the houses I build on them.

Come three years or so, I'd have enough money saved to start financing the projects by myself (which means all of a sudden I'd be making well over $100k a house, which means my brother would be getting half of it). I might be a greedy fuck in terms of I like money, but when it comes to something like this, I've always been the type to split the money right down the middle. Even if I was the general contractor, the one with the licenses and the insurance and responsibilities and whatnot, I would still make sure that, at the end of the day, my brother would go home with as much money as I did. Then, if my other brother's job got sent over seas (a very real possibility), he could come work for me too. I can't imagine how fucking cool it would be to have all the Evans boys working together building houses for a living.

I have no delusions of ten years down the line having some decent sized home building company that does spec work for clients and employs a couple dozen workers. That far too much of a headache and misses the whole point of this little venture I'm trying to put together. This is to make money for my whole family, not just myself, but at the same time is supposed to be fun. I LIKE building houses. I LIKE working with my hands. I LIKE being my own boss. And I LOVE driving down a street and seeing a house I build with those two hands.

Still, I dunno. Nothing is set in concrete, but we shall see. I'm going to start pitching the idea to some people I know down here probably first part of next week, or as soon as I get those preliminary bids from the electric/plumber/foundation contractors in Tacoma.