Small Partnership

Not sure how much this will be beneficial to some members, but thought I would throw it out there, none the less.

As many know, I am located in Northern Virginia. I get a decent amount of business through various methods of advertising.

What I am looking to do is form a few small partnerships. Basically, how it would work, is if I get a client (new or repeat) that needs me to do a job, but for one reason or the other, I cannot do it, I can out source it to someone that I form a small partnership with. This way, my client gets the work done, I can handle processing the payments and paperwork, and then you get the job.

For junk jobs, I would charge enough to make a small profit for setting everything up, and then the rest would be direct deposited to you, or through paypal.com, check, money order, anything but sending you cash, since that is obviously not the wisest thing to do via the mail.

Since, I mainly don't deal with any areas, besides Northern Virginia, then as I mentioned, this wouldn't work for all members.

However, if anyone has a good idea on how to incorporate this nationwide, I am all ears and open to some suggestions.

Like I said, just an idea that I had.

Just buya liscence from scrap it guy :)

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Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

I think it is Doable if you had a few more people working for you If I am not mistaken there is a company out there doing that now. Most likely have to Get an name to give the company Like Hmmmm Scrap Masters you get the Idea. I think this may be something that would Be benificial for the hard core scrappers on the Board.

Good Idea George maybe we can kick around some Ideas as a Forum

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Well, it wouldn't be a "formal" partnership. Basically, it would be a list of people or companies that do what I do, and I be on their list, etc.

So, if a job came up, whether scrap metal, junk, electronics, etc and the person contacted could not do the job for ANY reason, they can go to the list, contact an individual or company on the list, and see if they would like the job. If so, you as the main contact person, would set it all up, sub contract the individual or company, get paid from the client, and depending on how you work the deal with the sub contractor, you would then send them their share of the money received.

I do this now with a guy that will do DC and MD, which are areas that I will not serve for a few reasons. I get the requests occasionally, then I contact him, and if he can do them, he gets the address, and goes and does it.

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Just buya liscence from scrap it guy :)

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Kind of like what he had in mind, but a bit different.

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However, if anyone has a good idea on how to incorporate this nationwide, I am all ears and open to some suggestions.

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Maybe something regional would be more do-able to put together.

over here it is called a Sub-Contractor.

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Originally Posted by Torker Man

over here it is called a Sub-Contractor.

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Same here.

make a list of preferred partners in your area, then when you get jobs that you cant handle or don't have time for send this list to the client and they can contact anybody on the list.
this way you help a friend and the job gets done. everybody happy :)

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Originally Posted by Torker Man

over here it is called a Sub-Contractor.

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Yes, that is what the person who got contacted from the client would be doing esentially. Sub contracting the work out to a fellow individual/company, as well as making a profit themselves for setting it all up.

As anyone will know, small/medium/large companies do this all the time. Perhaps not in the scrap metal industry, but in a lot of industries, this is a common practice.

A company I used to work for, was a sub contractor for Cox Communications.

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Originally Posted by goldfinger

make a list of preferred partners in your area, then when you get jobs that you cant handle or don't have time for send this list to the client and they can contact anybody on the list.
this way you help a friend and the job gets done. everybody happy :)

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You have some what the idea of what I want to do, but I wouldn't be handing my client any list.

They would simply contact my company for a job of either scrap metal, junk, or electronic recycling need. If I cannot do the job for any reason at all, but knew I had someone on a list that could and would take the job, I would set everything up, and then contact the individual/company on my list to go and do the work.

This way, I make my new or repeat client happy by getting the job done, the sub contractor would make money by either scrapping the metal, or if it is a junk job, by getting paid from my company once the job was done, and we got paid for it.

If I got this right, I would be servicing your client, you would bill the client for services rendered then submit payment to me for my part in this.

As a sub contractor ( the grunt ) my liability would be much less than yours the Brokering Agent - you.

Pimps, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, used car salesman and brokers are pretty closely related on the food chain.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/broker

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Originally Posted by gustavus

If I got this right, I would be servicing your client, you would bill the client for services rendered then submit payment to me for my part in this.

As a sub contractor ( the grunt ) my liability would be much less than yours the Brokering Agent - you.

Pimps, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, used car salesman and brokers are pretty closely related on the food chain.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/broker

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Gustavus, yes you got the general idea for it.

I do this now with a few people, as I get cleanout requests from private investors, realtors, REIT's, etc to get in and clean out foreclosures. I can get a good majority done by myself, depending on the magnitude of the mess, and if I decide to hire 1 or 2 day laborers for the day, give them a nice tip for doing a good job, and provide lunch, but sometimes, even with that, it is a lot of work, when I am not big like some of the other companies.

Also, I don't out source to just anyone. I have to be ensured that if they do a job on behalf of my company, that the job gets done in a timely fashion, they take care not to damage the customers property, etc.

Also, the more I have thought about this, I want everyone to understand, that I am not looking to be selfish about this. We can form something that everyone can be a part of...so for instance, if I branched out to NC, where I used to live, and there was a scrapper/junk guy/girl or company down there, then I could contact them for a job that I had, or they could contact me for a job that they had.

Also, there is nothing to say that money has to exchange hands really.

Again, for instance, if I contacted you, or you contacted me, etc and said "Hey, I got a job at this address, and this needs to be done, can you do it" and the person said "sure, we can do it right now, and will take about 1.5 hours" then both parties can come to an agreement on compensation. Whether that compensation is money involved, or swapping of services, etc.

Perhaps, it is not the best idea, but I have been playing around with it for a while, and finally decided to share the idea with others to get their opinion on it.

Like I said, I do this now with a few people local to me, and haven't had any issues as of yet.

They do the job, or I do it for them for a client of theirs, and then we contact one another when the job is done, provide pictures if that is case, and if it is a junk job, we provide an invoice, so everyone can get paid.

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Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

I still think it is a good Idea as a nationwide Kind of Service like 1-800 Got Junk. There is a Lady on here that is a Virtual Assistant I was chatting to her in a Post about something simular. On the payments they have apps for phones when your done at customers house swipe the CC and payment is made to Main office. Basically Like Gus said A Broker it is kind of Like a Freight Fowarder.

Would be lots to work out but it could be done. And A place like this forum where people are from all over The Country you have Lots of contacts but I think if we continue this Thread and people get interested in it you could do a Poll on the Forum and see who all would want to help this as a Project.

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The CC that I use now, charges a flat % depending on if you use a credit or debit card. They have things for the cell phones like what you are describing. I don't have a phone compatible for it, so generally what I do is carry a small laptop with me, that has the CC app on it, to process their credit card. They enter in all the information, so I have none of it, unless for some reason they give it to me.

I have been looking to get a portable device though to take around with me, but those use cell signals, and sometimes you get in the boonies where there is none.

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Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

I cant edit threads no more so here is a Price List for a Few Major franchises that does the same thing.

http://junkremovalrates.com/index.html

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I find it funny, how 1-800-got junk is the most expensive.

I know they provide a great service, but to me, for what I know the costs is, their prices are a bit much.

George you know what your cost is. You dont know what it costs them. They are now a national company have have to pay for far more employees and such. A 1 man operation will always be able to do things cheaper then a huge company just for the sake of overhead on labor only jobs. NOw if your talking about making something the opposite is usualy true.

George, I can chime in on this for a minute because all I do is sub-contracting work for scrap yards. First off if you are the owner or picking up the jobs the first thing you need to look at on your liability insurance is the box marked Sub-Contractors. If its not marked you need to call your insurance company and ask how much you would have to pay to have subcontractors added to the policy. The next question that your insurance agent is going to ask is who is going to be subcontracting for you? Whats there experience? What do you have to prove that they aren't a liability to you and secondly the company insuring you. Remember insurance companies are in the business to make money not lose money on insuring some dummy who is going to cost them money in losses and court costs. Who ever you would be thinking of hiring better be able to talk the talk and walk the walk. The sub contractors insurance policy better be spotless. Secondly if the insurance agent is smart enough they will ask for a copy of workmans comp. If you can pass muster on all those questions and get the paperwork in order then the next question is. DO YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE FAITH IN THE CONTRACTOR YOU ARE HIRING? I put that in caps for a reason one small small accident can cost you your entire life your entire business and ruin your name. A small fire turns into a big fire. A contract employee backs into a gas line. A contract employee cuts through a live wire and electrocutes himself. All of these are plausible possibility's when using a contractor. Safety is the first and foremost thing and trust is second. Remember sometimes the lowball contractor isn't always the best to use cheap price usually means cheap work. The old you get what you paid for remark usually is what you hear. The contractor which can produce a good safe labor conducive environment and still make you a good "not spectacular awesome profit the lowballer would make you" profit would be the better choice to use. I have worked my whole life and am thankful every that I never never had an accident where an employee was seriously injured.

What kinda contractor work are you talking about to?

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Originally Posted by PistoneScrapProcessing

George, I can chime in on this for a minute because all I do is sub-contracting work for scrap yards. First off if you are the owner or picking up the jobs the first thing you need to look at on your liability insurance is the box marked Sub-Contractors. If its not marked you need to call your insurance company and ask how much you would have to pay to have subcontractors added to the policy. The next question that your insurance agent is going to ask is who is going to be subcontracting for you? Whats there experience? What do you have to prove that they aren't a liability to you and secondly the company insuring you. Remember insurance companies are in the business to make money not lose money on insuring some dummy who is going to cost them money in losses and court costs. Who ever you would be thinking of hiring better be able to talk the talk and walk the walk. The sub contractors insurance policy better be spotless. Secondly if the insurance agent is smart enough they will ask for a copy of workmans comp. If you can pass muster on all those questions and get the paperwork in order then the next question is. DO YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE FAITH IN THE CONTRACTOR YOU ARE HIRING? I put that in caps for a reason one small small accident can cost you your entire life your entire business and ruin your name. A small fire turns into a big fire. A contract employee backs into a gas line. A contract employee cuts through a live wire and electrocutes himself. All of these are plausible possibility's when using a contractor. Safety is the first and foremost thing and trust is second. Remember sometimes the lowball contractor isn't always the best to use cheap price usually means cheap work. The old you get what you paid for remark usually is what you hear. The contractor which can produce a good safe labor conducive environment and still make you a good "not spectacular awesome profit the lowballer would make you" profit would be the better choice to use. I have worked my whole life and am thankful every that I never never had an accident where an employee was seriously injured.

What kinda contractor work are you talking about to?

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I alluded to this earlier but you have put it in plain English.

Sub Contractor injures himself on a clients property he would have the same rights a burglar, maybe not in the US but in Canada for sure.

Proof of insurance and compensation a must.

On my commercial trucks I carry 5 million public liability, it's cheap. Personal compensation coverage is also very reasonable if you have a clean slate.

My policy is rather cheap but zero accidents is the reason why its dropped over 35 percent since I started it. It took me over a month to find a company that would insure me. Every company I called for a quote said and I quote "Wait wait back up a minute here you said your are going to be using liquid oxygen propane and torches to cut up metal there's no way we could insure that" I had to go back and forth with my insure company about its, send them picture, talk to the underwriter of the policy for 20 minutes, more back and forth they finally wrote me the policy. All gravy since then. Just the once a year audit and that's my communication with them. Some companies may also want you to have Umbrella insurance which is basically like having insurance over your insurance. I hope this puts it into perspective over how it is out there.

i do this all the time when i am offered something i dont have time to get. i call my friend who has the time, and he will handle it for me. he usually either tips me for the lead, or he helps me when i have a two man job. that way they keep calling me, and i dont lose the clientelle

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Originally Posted by Filthy

i do this all the time when i am offered something i dont have time to get. i call my friend who has the time, and he will handle it for me. he usually either tips me for the lead, or he helps me when i have a two man job. that way they keep calling me, and i dont lose the clientelle

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This is exactly what I am referring too.

I will reply to the other posts here soon. I am trying to catch up on some work, before I am put in the kitchen.

GeorgeB, just an observation. A true partnership is like a marriage. One partner can obligate the other financially and otherwise. Sharing leads is one thing but a true partnership has other legal ramifications. I would suggest exploring some type of corporate ownership that might insulate you legally unless it is someone you have 100% faith.

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Originally Posted by metaljacket

GeorgeB, just an observation. A true partnership is like a marriage. One partner can obligate the other financially and otherwise. Sharing leads is one thing but a true partnership has other legal ramifications. I would suggest exploring some type of corporate ownership that might insulate you legally unless it is someone you have 100% faith.

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Not to be smart, but I can only handle one marriage at a time lol.

Not to be serious.

Your statement here "one partner can obligate the other financially and otherwise" is kind of what I had in mine, when I first brought this up. However, now my idea is to simply have a "partnership" list that you can use to out source jobs to other providers to help one another out when you cannot do the job yourself for ANY reason at all.

Once you find someone who can do it, you connect them to the client, and leave the rest alone.

If all goes perfect, the client gets the job done and will contact you in the future, the provider gets the job and is paid for it, and will hopefully return the favor to you in the future.

Years ago when I owned and operated my own gravel truck, I had to find my own work and much preferred this over going through a broker who wanted 30% off the top with long pay outs.

The trick with the long pay outs is so that the Broker is able to use at his discretion my money.

There's no way I would work through a broker when I know that business cards and advertising work so well. And George your right when you say that your man contracted through your brokerage would surly get direct contact with the booking client and get the next job direct.

When I ran my appliance repair, started from home fixing up washers and dryers, after that first sale a mole hill soon grew into a mountain of clientèle, one happy customer soon tells a friend or relative. Next thing you know you have more work than you can handle, yea you could broker out the extra work, but not on my good name and reputation.

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Originally Posted by gustavus

Years ago when I owned and operated my own gravel truck, I had to find my own work and much preferred this over going through a broker who wanted 30% off the top with long pay outs.

The trick with the long pay outs is so that the Broker is able to use at his discretion my money.

There's no way I would work through a broker when I know that business cards and advertising work so well. And George your right when you say that your man contracted through your brokerage would surly get direct contact with the booking client and get the next job direct.

When I ran my appliance repair, started from home fixing up washers and dryers, after that first sale a mole hill soon grew into a mountain of clientèle, one happy customer soon tells a friend or relative. Next thing you know you have more work than you can handle, yea you could broker out the extra work, but not on my good name and reputation.

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Gustavus,

I can definitely understand and respect your opinion, and I even agree with it 100%. The part that I am agreeing with is this.

I get contacted, and I tell Joe Schmoe "hey, I got a client that has 4,000 lbs of ready to go metal and copper, but I am super tied up until the end of the week. Would you like the job" they say yes, and go and do it. Unfortunately, something goes wrong on the job and they break something or something else, etc. Just a number of situations could happen.

Anyways, the client contacts you back and expects you to pay for everything, even though you had nothing to do with it, and the provider doesn't even represent your company.

That can definitely hurt a reputation.

Like you gustavus, I use business cards, word of mouth, and starting in January I will be doing direct marketing pieces through the USPS thanks to a link that PTS provided to me. Also, a lot of my business not only comes from business cards and word of mouth, but happy, satisfied repeat customers, as well as referrals.

Like I said, I agree with you, and your point makes me definitely realize it probably is not the best idea.

Like I also said, it was just a thought and idea.

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Originally Posted by gustavus

When I ran my appliance repair, started from home fixing up washers and dryers, after that first sale a mole hill soon grew into a mountain of clientèle, one happy customer soon tells a friend or relative. Next thing you know you have more work than you can handle, yea you could broker out the extra work, but not on my good name and reputation.

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Well said!

" A happy customer tells five of his friends, An unhappy customer tells everyone!"

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Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

... give the company Like Hmmmm Scrap Masters you get the Idea. ...

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Scrapmasters is taken, that's me! But being halfway across the country, go for it! :)