Side Work Company

Packman · Jan 29, 2015

Does anybody have any experience in setting up a company in North Carolina and what is required. I will be the only employee and this work will be performed out of my house, outside of my normal job. My company has no issue with moonlighting and there will not be any conflicts of interest.

I know i will need:

1. Set up an LLC or PLLC or ??

2. E&O Insurance but how much coverage should i get? (Small civil/site/utility projects)

3. Business License

4. Accountant

5. Attorney? Is one really needed or is something like Legal Zoom sufficient?

6. Plotter/Comp/CAD etc i am working on.

Am i missing anyting?

thanks for the help!

willsee · Jan 29, 2015

I just set up a sole prop

Get E&O (I have a 1MM/2MM policy for $1600/year)

Get a federal tax id

I don't have an accountant

I got an attorney. He wrote my contract for me for a couple hundred bucks. I use that as a first line of defense for protection.

I just bought a laptop and use a program called progecad

Get a phone number. I use google voice for my cell phone (free)

Website, marketing materials. I sent fliers out in the mail to potential clients and followed up with phone calls. I also have a domain so I have a different email address [email protected] instead of gmail.com. I then run all of it through gmail. (small $$)

I haven't needed a plotter yet, just a good 11x17 printer.

I use google docs for my invoices and documents (free)

Get a backup external hard drive as well as dropbox

Don't treat it like a "part-time" job. Treat it like a full-time job with different hours than 8-5. Be professional and treat your company like it is a professional company and not just a hobby.

miloc · May 22, 2015

Good input Willsee. I'm doing the same thing in NY. my E&O insurance was only $500, for extra $300 I could get a liability insurance, I just need to get an extra side job to pay for it. I use Quickbooks for invoices and estimates. I got a very good deal for a workstation off-lease at dell.com imo I think a dual screen is more efficient for autocad in a laptop.

Now, you have a very good point about the attorney, can you give me some tips about what to ask when I contact an attorney? I'm sure they will try to sell me "the works" when I only need "the basics".

I'm "hunting" for a good laser 11x17 but prices are out of this world. Any recommendations?

The website is a must! There's nothing more professional than your name @ your company.com I have my domain and hosting with netfirms, the website itself is a template from wordpress.

Regarding your last sentence, you rise a very good point. From now on I'll do the same and dedicate some hrs per day to my company. btw, I use craigslist to find clients.

MetsFan · Jun 2, 2015

miloc said:
Good input Willsee. I'm doing the same thing in NY. my E&O insurance was only $500, for extra $300 I could get a liability insurance, I just need to get an extra side job to pay for it. I use Quickbooks for invoices and estimates. I got a very good deal for a workstation off-lease at dell.com imo I think a dual screen is more efficient for autocad in a laptop.

Now, you have a very good point about the attorney, can you give me some tips about what to ask when I contact an attorney? I'm sure they will try to sell me "the works" when I only need "the basics".

I'm "hunting" for a good laser 11x17 but prices are out of this world. Any recommendations?

The website is a must! There's nothing more professional than your name @ your company.com I have my domain and hosting with netfirms, the website itself is a template from wordpress.

Regarding your last sentence, you rise a very good point. From now on I'll do the same and dedicate some hrs per day to my company. btw, I use craigslist to find clients.

My old company used to use something similar to this:

http://www.staples.com/Brother-MFC-J5910dw-Inkjet-All-in-One-Printer/product_355835

I don't know how cost effective it is vs. a laser printer, but we used it for 4 years with no issues.

jglavin PE · Jun 12, 2015

I got a cheap 8.5x11 laser (samsung something or other) and an 11x17 inkjet (HP 7612) in our home office. That setup works pretty well for me, and all told cost less than $400. Sometimes when highlighting things printed from the inkjet it does smudge a tiny bit, but overall the quality is very good. As a bonus, it prints beautiful photos if you use glossy paper.

Edit: The inkjet costs me about 5-10 cents per 11x17 page including paper. It's really pretty economical if you can live with slightly smudgey ink.

willsee · Jun 12, 2015

I no longer use google docs, I bought microsoft office 2013. Writing reports, editing, proposals, etc. became to big of a pain in the *** and never worked like I wanted it to. I was spending too much time fighting with google docs.

Power SKM is the only expensive software I'm missing.