Construction field no luck getting work

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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Lakewood, Toms River & Jackson related Inquiries

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amother

Aster

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:20 pm

You need an IN. Someone you know who can recommend you and vouch for you and willing to take a chance.
But you will have to give 110% and really come through with timing, price and service.
Don’t give up.

groisamomma

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:23 pm

Don’t they have the KBIS show in Vegas coming up soon? That’s a great place to start mingling with people in the construction field.

Naomi Charish is a popular interior decorator in Lakewood, too.

Oh, and try to get into the WhatsApp group shared by the builders in Lakewood.

stillnewlywed

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:25 pm

groisamomma wrote:

I'll add some more - Margalit Lankry, Chava Dunner, Heshy Hecht....

OP, I would PM you but you are anonymous. I posted under my screen name so I don't want to say anything else that would out myself. But you can PM me.

amother

Gold

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:29 pm

amother OP wrote:

As for the NY projects, alot of thr clients and most of their children have moved to Lakewood. Would you complain that someone born originally in Brooklyn is built a huge home in the hope chapel area and used a lakewood born builder??
It's time to get rid of this Brooklyn/Lakewood devide. We are all one now and working toward the same goal

I’m sorry, I was not displaying my specific attitude, just explaining why this might be happening to your business. When people provide a good, reliable, well priced product for many years and develop a relationship with builders, those builders aren’t running to try someone new. I wasn’t insulting Brooklyn, my husband and I were both born there and lived there for quite a number of years!

I think in certain industries, if a newcomer came along, even if he’s from Lakewood he could have a hard time. If the system ain’t broke, why fix it?

Some other suggestions might be-

Reaching out to newer builders (or builders that came from NY) that are just getting their feet wet

Offer a rock-bottom price that will beat your competition’s pricing

If you have connection to the Syrian community or Syrian builders, find out if there is a market for your business in Deal

Is there a trade-commission given to designers or builders in your field? Are you offering the same or better than your competitors?

I personally know someone who moved from Brooklyn quite a number of years ago, also in a construction related business. His initial plan was to move most of his business to Lakewood. I recently reached out to him about doing work on my house and he said he still primarily works in Brooklyn- he would only take a job in Lakewood if it’s a huge job- the cost of transporting materials and workers are just not worth it for something small. He does very well this way.

Ultimately, parnasa is in the hands of Hashem. I do think that with time you can be successful or as more of your customers children build custom homes here they may remember you from Brooklyn and request that their builder uses you. I also think advertising/name recognition may help you as well.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:33 pm

Most of this town builds cheap low end houses. I know someone who wanted high end stuff and they had to travel to brooklyn to use those vendors. There is a need but it's a small market and the other vendors recommend the low end ones.

voira

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:39 pm

many contractors and vendors have a kickback system in place - I hire you here and you recommend me....

amother

Lightblue

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 7:46 pm

Lakewood pricing is super cheap, if you’re priced at Brooklyn pricing, you are way out of range. Even for high end construction. (Give or take a couple of builders)
I’m in the architecture field and pricing is less than 50% in Lakewood, even for high end!

gamanit

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 9:45 pm

amother OP wrote:

No to the trade shows.... Can you name some so I can follow for info...
yes to the cold calling and out on the road
a lot of rude curt responses and attitude...

Look out for ads in the jewish papers and on the real deal whatsapp status. There was recently a construction specific one but there are also other ones that feature construction. PCON in the summer always has quite a bit of the construction end too, not just management.

amother

Plum

Wed, Jan 24 2024, 11:37 pm

It happened to us.
We moved out of Brooklyn. Barely got any jobs in new town or Brooklyn. New place wants to built cheap ( barely any profit ) and because my clients don't bump into me anymore, nor see my husband in shul/ simchas/around.... We took a plunge and buy and fix for ourselves now.

amother

Marigold

Thu, Jan 25 2024, 12:53 am

What kind of work do you do? What type of vendor? I’m in the industry and curious if there is a need for your product/service/trade. I’m not usually looking for new vendors but alway open to hearing…. Sometimes it’s a good fit for a specific project

amother

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 9:46 am

groisamomma wrote:

We are on one of those groups and they specifically don't allow advertising or networking for business...

amother

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 9:53 am

amother Marigold wrote:

Hardwood Flooring...
We have worked with some of the top designers.... and they were very happy with the results... I guess there is some secret ingredients... When you approach the client , they will tell you I would love to give you the parnassah but my designer decides... The designer pin it on the builders and the builders??? How did they try someone new to begin with? I find it very odd that we showed s/o we can save him a a nice amount ( let's say 40K) on a project and they still refused

amother

Tan

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 10:45 am

OP I work for a development company in Lakewood and I can tell you that a lot of the vendors we use are specifically because we have a relationship with them..

we would not jump to a random unknown vendor only because of pricing - we have relationships and an understanding with our vendors and thats what we stick with. construction requires trust - you have to believe that the vendors you hire will do a good job bec they are many times representing you as a developer.

amother

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 10:50 am

[quote="amother Tan"]OP I work for a development company in Lakewood and I can tell you that a lot of the vendors we use are specifically because we have a relationship with them..

we would not jump to a random unknown vendor only because of pricing - we have relationships and an understanding with our vendors and thats what we stick with. construction requires trust - you have to believe that the vendors you hire will do a good job bec they are many times representing you as a developer.[/quote
That's understandable... but every relationship had a start date...
We also happen to have years of experience, in all of the tri state area

amother

Tan

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 11:09 am

amother OP wrote:

We also happen to have years of experience, in all of the tri state area

ok - so work with your contractors that you have a relationship with.

im explaining why lakewood developers are hard to break into -

amother

Hyssop

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 1:16 pm

I would suggest going directly to clients and designers. I just built . I didn’t know any better so I went along with builders vendor but if someone had told me she can do it for significantly cheaper I would tell my builder I want to use her

amother

Viola

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 3:08 pm

It seems they are trying to keep out competition and that they probably have kickbacks from the vendors they use?

amother

Cantaloupe

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 3:32 pm

The construction industry is all about RELATIONSHIPS. Period.

Nobody hires you because nobody knows you. You need a personality skill to make relationships. Who is the face of the business? Is it your husband? Is he the kind of guy that is great at connecting with people?

My husband and I are in the industry as well and I can tell you firsthand that once you make relationships with clients and become real tight, no matter what price your bid comes in at, YOU ARE GETTING THE DEAL.

amother

Tangerine

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 6:57 pm

There's enough business to go around. They need to want to give YOU the business. You'll have to break in. It sounds like you expect to be successful in Lakewood just because you're successful in Brooklyn but it's a whole different market!

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