Competitors

[WTS2012]

I own a small tree service in a small town. There is one other tree service in a small town down the road. I consider my business professional and operate my business that way as well. The competition is constantly undercutting my prices. After a couple of years of studying his bids and his operations I found the following:

Does not include sales tax in estimates or charge sales tax
His employees are " contract labor"

I charge sales tax per state law and after long conversations with my accountant, contract labor is not the way to go in this line of work. A contract labor is someone that owns and brings his or her own tools to work. My competitions people don't own the chipper, bucket truck or stump grinder, I can assure you. WC comp cost me $10,000/ year plus $1500 / month for payroll taxes alone in 2015

This is what I do for a living and I find it unfair that I follow the rules and he does not and gets an unfair advantage. Should I report me him? who do I report him to?

 

[climbhightree]

In my state I don't have to do sales tax.

As far as the wc thing. I talk about it on my web site, Facebook page, and sometimes with customers directly to get the information out there on how important it is for the homeowner to check for this when hiring a company. When potential new clients receive an estimate from me they automatically get a copy of our liability insurance and workers comp.

But all that being said I still have a lot of competition that have under rated liability, and no wc ("independent contractors" when they truly are not). There will always be people that want the cheapest price period.

I am busy though, I've built up a solid name and customer base and have had a 2-3 month back of for a year now.

 

[Coen]

Small business is cutthroat. There are respectful companies I compete with, but there are way too many idiots out there that will work cheap. I don't think it matters to many customers; they want cheap.

 

[mu2bdriver]

I highlight how I provide better value for my customers than the competitors. There are plenty of hacks around here and while I never call them out by name, I will say that 'others do this or that,' this is why I believe that is wrong and potentially harmful to you, and let the customer make an informed decision and draw a conclusion.

Working for cheap is very different than bending labor law practices to the point of being illegal. If you report him, you're going to be opening up a can of worms and you'd better make sure that everything you allege is verifiable. I'm sure your state has a Department of Consumer Protection or Department of Labor. Worst case, call your local legislative rep for assistance - they work for you.

 

[ATH]

Contract labor is an IRS/SSA issue most of the time. Oftn (but not always) the "contractors" are not paying their own taxes. When they get busted, they say "But I thought my boss was responsible for doing that". Never been through it, but from what I understand the IRS goes back to the employer if they think that the person should have been an employee instead of a contractor.

Worker's Comp and Sales taxes are state issues.

My opinion: Tree work is your issue. Do good work. Tell people what you do right. Let others worry about what somebody else does wrong.

I have had people ask "If I pay you cash can we skip the sales tax and you don't need to put it on the books?" (so I wouldn't pay income tax either). My reply is simply: "That is not the way we work...everything is above the table."

 

[bigremovals]

snitchs end up in ditches haha but just tell your clients straight out you get what u pay for if your a cheapskate u'll have people wreckin stuff and end up paying for the damage themselfs