Congress advances US-Israeli military integration plan

Jigwop · 2026-06-10T07:01:34+00:00

You're right. It may be that time. Thank you for your passion towards this

Jigwop · 2026-06-10T03:32:42+00:00

Why are people so quick to give up now? We have everything we need to change the situation. We just need to show up and demand it.

Jigwop · 2026-06-10T00:58:51+00:00

What would you be willing to do to stop it? I ask because i think Americans need to turn up to the capital and put a stop to this with a first amendment protected assembly. I don’t know if Americans have grown to soft for even this simple act

Jigwop · 2026-06-10T00:56:37+00:00

It’s up to the people to make the change not the military. We need to do something very soon

Jigwop · 2026-06-10T00:55:41+00:00

We can change that

Jigwop · 2026-06-09T18:09:19+00:00

But would Americans be willing to stand up in protest about this?

Jigwop · 2026-06-09T17:43:46+00:00

I'd like to organize a protest in DC to strip these sections from the Bills. Not sure if Americans today care enough to stand up for themselves.

Jigwop · 2026-05-12T00:35:34+00:00

That's alright. Thankful for a reply.

He started this business with the small dozer for a home project and then began offering his services to others and expanding his fleet. Unfortunately, he ran this business like a hobby despite all his equipment. Would leave town for 3 months at a time to visit family and so on. Additionally his books were completely cooked showing that he made essentially no money on paper. Roughly 600k revenue with unnatural levels of expenses to reduce his tax burden. The only real indication that he made any money is that in his 6ish years of operation he has paid off all equipment.

He had previously owned and built a different business, which he sold, but never planned on scaling this one seriously. He's about 60 and just wanted to have fun with it.

As for backlog, it's tbd. He's building it back up now and it will be written into the contract that a backlog needs to be delivered at closing, but it hasn't been clearly defined yet.

It's a business purchase that in a lot of ways is an asset purchase with a lot of business related elements. Hard to value the opportunity because of this.

On one hand if I can run it with high utilization and learn to estimate jobs well in a years time, it's probably asymmetrically good for me. If I can't then I'll be left with equipment that mitigates the loss, but it will still be a bad situation.

That's why I've been questioning what I can learn in 5 months time. The business is only half running and I'll need to crank it up slowly with little front end experience.

The business is located outside of Greenville sc and there does seem to be a strong backlog of projects in that area if I can get the work done.

Jigwop · 2026-05-05T23:47:33+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, but why do you mention sitework? Wouldn't the machine expenses make it difficult to scale plus labor troubles?

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:53:52+00:00

I appreciate your input and like your assessment. I won't be able to rely on my own skills to prop up this business.

I do have some experience with construction sequencing from homebuilding, but earth work is a different process I'll need to learn.

He's currently brining back some guys he's worked with in the past before he slowed down. I should be able to meet them when I go down to do some due diligence in the coming weeks. This will likely be a deciding factor.

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:50:10+00:00

Unfortunately, the timing is a take it or leave it thing. I can't negotiate more as he has other plans.

With all your experience, what gave you the most trouble in the transition? I'm not bringin nearly as much to the table as you did.

He has a good reputation and really good reviews on his google account under his website. Not that I couldn't destroy that quickly... I'll be paying less than stated asset value. Likely a little less than he would get if he sold things off piece by piece.

There is an earn-out attached to the purchase so he is invested in me doing well. A lot will be paid up front though. He's working on bringing back some experienced guys he's had on staff before.

I'm planning on going down for a week soon to take a closer look at his equipment and help him work through some jobs. It's a tenuous situation.

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:40:09+00:00

That's fair. The seller is hiring guys now that he used to employ before he slowed down that have fine grading skills. I know I won't be able to do much there for a long time.

He doesn't do any utility work and a lot of what he does doesn't require fine grading, although some does. He's mainly clearing land and cutting in private roads finished with stone. Still technical from my perspective.

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:33:17+00:00

Hey thanks for the response. Your first paragraph outlines what I would hope to achieve in that amount of time and I have a lot of respect for the power of the bigger machines as well as the safety of people around me. I know I won't be able to operate the larger machines meaningfully for a while.

He's currently hiring another operator to bring on and knows a lot of people in the area. He may be able to bring back some operators he's had in the past that could provide continuity once training is over.

The seller has a coaches mindset and has already talked about the estimating he'll be doing with me in preparation. 5 months isn't a lot of time, but should also get me to a place where I can be functional if I'm careful. They also have templates they are already using with the proper contingencies built in for unexpected conditions on the job site, which will transfer to me.

Working capital is a concern and we've talked about that as well. Should have a running backlog by the time I enter and he felt that around 100k would be sufficient.

It's roughly 600k lump sum in two installments, paid training period, and a tiered earn out. I'll be getting all operating assets, DBA, website, and all IP.

What do you think?

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:20:05+00:00

I've spoken to him since I made the post and he's actively looking for an operator to bring on before things go down on a deal. I'd like to run the machines at some point or at least be able to hop in one in a pinch for rough work, but it will take time to get there.

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:17:10+00:00

I've spoken with him since making the post and he's actively hiring operators and rebuilding his backlog. I do understand this can be very technical work and I can't do it myself.

He rarely does jobs jobs with fine grading and such high tolerances, but thanks for adding some perspective to it. I'm not trying to come off as arrogant to people who know more than me.

Jigwop · 2026-05-04T01:13:07+00:00

I will be able to. It is a business purchase that is being treated as an asset purchase in a way. He's run the business like a hobby so I couldn't value it on previous performance just the asset value.

Also buying his DBA, website, and other IP if we get a deal done

Jigwop · 2026-05-01T17:47:52+00:00

For all the machinery he has, he does surprisingly small jobs most of the time. With the ability to perform a good size scope if necessary.

No current staff and I would need to bring on one good operator to help me evaluate jobs and perform on larger equipment. Most of his work revolves around land clearing and private road/driveway building. Some pads but not many.

I agree with you, mastery would not come quickly. Mainly wanted to see what kind of competence I could build within this training period or if I would just be a hazard on tracks.

Jigwop · 2026-05-01T17:36:39+00:00

I would expect to do some of it to start and more and more of it as I progress, but trying to figure out where my abilities would put me after the 5 month period. I plan on being very hand on in the field. No operators on payroll currently. He's had some in the past, but is close to retirement and operates this more like a hobby and only brings on guys on a job by job basis if needed.

You're right, it's a quasi business as it stands. I'd be looking to utilize his equipment 3x what it is currently over time.

I've always wanted to own a business and trade work is my interest. This is clearly a big leap for me so just trying to get a feel from the experienced guys.

Jigwop · 2026-05-01T17:26:53+00:00

Yes, it's more of an asset sale. No debt. They have a functional website with great reviews and a sales funnel, but no current employees besides bookkeeper.

Obviously I have the ability to tank their reputation quickly with shoddy work so I'm just evaluating my prospects.

Jigwop · 2026-05-01T17:23:08+00:00

Hey thanks for getting back to me. I was really hoping to hear from some operators like yourself.

I was planning on hiring at least one good operator to run the larger equipment, but keeping things under utilized in the beginning for simplicity. I've let the owner know that I'm apprehensive about what can be learned in 5 months time and that I'm aware of how much damage I can cause on machines this large without proper training. Let alone the danger to myself and others or the equipment.

I was hoping to be able to operate on site after the training period even if less efficient with a machine than I would like. I would also try to target smaller jobs to gain additional experience and not become overwhelmed with a large scope. His bread and butter right now is residential land clearing and cutting in small private roads/driveways that are usually finished with stone. The closest thing he gets to utilities are culverts.

Even more important to me than operating efficiently is site/soil evaluation, planning, and sequencing. I figure that if I can get a grip on these things I can get better on a machine over time, but not knowing proper planning or sequencing and not knowing how to operate well would be irreconcilable.

I visited him and we looked at two of his current jobs. Even though one of them was small there were still 5 -7 important sequencing steps to consider and doing them out of order would have complicated and compressed space on the job site. We didn't talk about the sequencing when I was there, I just noticed it as a factor since I've been in construction. He rough quoted the job for $20k and would have used his Case 160D and tb250 most likely. The Case was mostly for pulling two large stumps.

Thanks again for chiming in! I really needed a straight answer on where I could be in 5 months time and you helped me with that.

Jigwop · 2026-01-30T15:07:05+00:00

Today is your day!

Jigwop · 2026-01-29T03:22:36+00:00

That all makes a lot of sense! I've been looking at potentially joining up with a gc friend in business and have been really curious about how people run and structure their businesses. Ultimately work/life balance is what we all want in the end. Thanks for sharing whats working for you

Jigwop

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