Hey Scott,
Appreciate very much that you have created this site and still answering questions up to the present moment.
I have a daughter who’ve worked in a main contractor firm for 4 years as a quantity surveyor and purchaser. Recently a friend of mine who I have consulted about starting up my own business, told me that I am sitting on a gold mine that I have yet to tap on. He was referring to my daughter of course and he is even willing to put up half of the capital as an investor if I can come up with a business plan that will employ my daughter’s expertise.
My daughter is actually quite good in her field landing some high profile contracts for her company. Her work rate is very high (clocking more than 14hrs per day). The way I see it, she could easily survive doing it for her own, like setting up her own business with me. However, eventhough I do not know anything about building construction but I am good with account softwares and internet marketing.
Need your advice on the type of business we should engage ourselves in.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Scott says:
It’s difficult for me to tell you exactly what to do with the limited information you’ve provided. Is your daughter prepared to leave her job and start a new business? There is always risk involved with such a change that should be carefully weighed, particularly in an economy where finding a new job is very difficult for many people. Perhaps she could keep the job and the two of you could start this venture on the side and see where it goes.If you have an investor who is willing to put up half the capital that is good in the sense that it spreads the risk around a bit, but I would make sure everything is in writing, and run it by a lawyer before any papers are signed. Many a friendship has been soured by business arrangements that went bad, so just make sure everything is understood up front so there are no disagreements later about who is entitled to what.If you have no construction experience then you will need to focus your service on your daughter’s skill set and expertise. If she already knows how to land big contracts then just let her continue to do it, and manage the accounting and marketing so she can focus on what she excels at. Using her advice, build a team around her that will complement her and enable you to flesh out a full blown business.So that’s my take on the limited information at hand. At the end of the day, I can’t tell you what to do. You know the situation better than I do, and you’ll need to make a calculated decision that takes into account the inherent risks of starting a business. Some will make it, and some won’t. I truly hope that it works for you if you decide to give it a shot. Thanks for the comment and best of luck.- Hey Scott,Appreciate very much your advice on the steps to take if we are going into this business.I will pay particular attention to the legal issues of the matter like putting up the paper and running by a lawyer about the agreement with my investor.I have given it a thought about joining my daughter full-time when I can keep my job and help her on the sideline. I totally agree about building a team around her so that we can hit the first most crucial job and being paid at the shortest time possible.I’d rather spend on that compared to paying my salary if I were to join her full-time. I can still draw my salary from my current job and whatever paid-up capital to be spent on building the team to ensure this business gets off the ground.The strategy that we have discussed is, my daughter should zero in the kind of projects (government tenders mostly) that she is very familiar with and have a good relationship with the sub-contractors that can carry it out completely. In other words, a project that she can totally owned and then keep a record of the price that made the hit. The price that gives the tender to the contractor so that she would have a gauge of the pricing when it comes to working out the tender quotation.It is like being familiar with the project profile that we are going to undertake when we set up our business. Of course one of it is the shortest amount of time the project can be completed and get payment from it.For taking the time to read this and giving your kind attention, I am forever grateful… May you find satisfaction in whatever you do…Regards
Zul
