Teaming up question

[kcscrapper]

My buddy just lost his job and is wanting to start scrapping I was wondering about teaming up but was not sure. Anyone do this?

[PartTimeScrapper]

DO you find more scrap in a day then you can handle solo? If so then team up and maybe you can make more money together than you can seperate. If not then I would say let him go it alone. Also partnerships in business have a tendency to not end well in my experience.

[freonjoe]

Does he bring any assets to the party? ie: scrap contracts, equipment or contacts? If not, then he would be just a helper. Been there, done that.

[kcscrapper]

Well he work under the table for a apt complex and can get washers and dryers ect. And I get tvs lots every week. I think we can make good money plus we both have trucks. Also we used to work together and go to school together.

[Ohio Scrapper]

Just be careful forming a business with friends. I tried it once with a good friend of mine. Ended up that we weren't good friends anymore.

[freonjoe]

Trucks or trucks and trailers?

[kcscrapper]

Im sure he has people he just has to ask them. I have trailers and we both have trucks to pull them. Im think with my contacts and his contacts we can get 2 truck load and load two trailers a week or two not counting e waste

[greytruck]

Why turn $100 into $50?

[IronPirate]

Lots of good advice there. Best to do the math - work the numbers out on paper, then determine a business structure. Someone once told me to pretend you were going to make a million dollars a year, and decide how you'd want to run it. Thinking in terms of big numbers makes you more serious.

Do you want him to share ownership of your work, or just be a partner who can come and go as he pleases? What's to keep him from taking over your route and vice versa?

[kcscrapper]

Thanks guys. I will test it out and see if he is serious about scrapping first

[Mechanic688]

Having a second person might let you branch on out and maybe one of you start hauling junk cars/appliances which if your doing one load every other day at a $200. profit would be a good start. Might be able to up it to a load a day.

[corycouch]

me and my partner have been friends for years, ill be honest its been a little more stressful lately but we have a whole lot going on. before you take on a friend you have to realize stuff can go south real quick and it will test your friendship like you never thought. on the postive side if you can get past this, for us most jobs are definetly easier with two people, and with two peoples point of view as long as you are both open minded solutions for problems you have will be figured out more quickly, in turn more loads

[zito]

Having a partner available you can trust and rely on can be a huge benefit. Having that same partner all the time, all day every day? I don't know about that. My brother and I each usually do our own scrapping, but we still work together even while doing our own thing. We each have our own truck/trailers. We'll let each other know what we're planning on working on for the day, so we're not both hitting the same shops/spots for scrap. On "out of town" days we'll both usually head to the same area, or at least in the same direction, in case one of us has a breakdown or something. Or we'll arrange that one of us will haul cars, while the other will do the "small scrap" stuff, for example brake shops. On big jobs we'll work together, like a farm cleanup. Or say there's a big auction with a lot of scrap, having 2 people available can really help there. Or if you have those cold snowy rainy cruddy days when the roads suck and you're not really motivated, flying solo you're a lot more likely to call it a day earlier and head home. At least I know I am. On those days we'll usually work together.

So I would definitely say that having a partner available ends up making us both a lot more money. But if we were both riding around in the same truck all day, we'd probably end up killing each other, and we'd definitely both make less money.

[GeorgeB]

Having a partner available you can trust and rely on can be a huge benefit. Having that same partner all the time, all day every day? I don't know about that. My brother and I each usually do our own scrapping, but we still work together even while doing our own thing. We each have our own truck/trailers. We'll let each other know what we're planning on working on for the day, so we're not both hitting the same shops/spots for scrap. On "out of town" days we'll both usually head to the same area, or at least in the same direction, in case one of us has a breakdown or something. Or we'll arrange that one of us will haul cars, while the other will do the "small scrap" stuff, for example brake shops. On big jobs we'll work together, like a farm cleanup. Or say there's a big auction with a lot of scrap, having 2 people available can really help there. Or if you have those cold snowy rainy cruddy days when the roads suck and you're not really motivated, flying solo you're a lot more likely to call it a day earlier and head home. At least I know I am. On those days we'll usually work together.

So I would definitely say that having a partner available ends up making us both a lot more money. But if we were both riding around in the same truck all day, we'd probably end up killing each other, and we'd definitely both make less money.

That is the way to do it right there!

My wife's uncle just moved back here from Kentucky after living down there for about 4 years.

Before he left, he did some scrapping and junk hauling himself.

I told him that when I get the work in, he is more than welcome to help out and I will pay him. I told him, that I would first take out all of my expenses (gas, tools, etc) and then what is left, we can split.

I told my wife, I rather work with someone I know and who is family that I can trust and rely on when and if I need them, and know that they won't be using the money for money or drugs (even though that is their business), then to work with someone and know that I am contributing to stuff like that.

My first partner was a tiny bit of an alcoholic and after 1 or 2, he didn't really care where he threw things, and what he took. Couldn't deal with that.

[kcscrapper]

Ya. I was going to teach my younger brother but he is a pot head and can't count on him. And my sister is not a blonde but acts like it. But my wife was a huge help before we had are son now she is the babysitter.

[kcscrapper]

But helps as much as she can.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Just wait till that partner is late or doesn't work as hard as you do or won't work a Saturday. Just wait it will happen. Friends are great but I can tell you from personal experience my best friend works with me and doesn't have nearly the same work ethic that I do. Its not even close. We blow up on each other all the time. He claims he doesn't have an anger management problem but is quick to blow up over something stupid. He calls me greedy all the time and isn't a business person at all. Good luck though. Some people don't appreciate money or work as much as you do keep that in mind. I could pay my partner a million dollars and he would still cry about stuff.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

I know that Kris Kringle but when he is getting paid the same as I am its hard to understand why you wouldn't want to work as hard as I do and make more money. Thats the whole point of being in business but he calls it greed and I laugh him all the time and have to explain to him and ask him to show me one person in the scrap industry that isn't greedy. People don't appreciate how they got to where they are now is what it boils down to I guess.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Thats never going to happen I am stuck to him like glue good or bad mood. I just like to b**ch and he likes to yell. Either way when we are on the same page we can pound out some work.

[Mechanic688]

Thats never going to happen I am stuck to him like glue good or bad mood. I just like to b**ch and he likes to yell. Either way when we are on the same page we can pound out some work.

Almost like being married, can't live with him, can't live without him.