You will burn through $20,000 so fast you will be broke before you know it. You will need to find a banker that has a lot of faith in your ability to make this work with so little capital.
The first you will have to do is set up a corporation or LLC. I would NOT start a business today any other way. Then you will need insurance, General Liability and Workers Compensation from a good business insurance agent. Seldom is a home and auto agent a good choice. Then you need to set up your accounts receivable and billable. Personally, I would use a CPA to set it up properly or you will have a mess at tax time. It is very common to have 3 month of expenses paid out before you get you first payment from the contractor. Another thing to consider is that right now your employer is paying 1/2 of your social security and Medicare which amounts to about 7.5% of your gross pay. As self employed you will pay all your and half of your employees social security and Medicare. Weekly payroll and payroll taxes. Repairs, fuel, damage property payment, etc. There is much more but this should give enough to think about for awhile.
And we haven’t even bought equipment yet. At minimum you will need an air compressor , a missle, a shovel and a pickup. But you will more than likely need some sort of mechanical excavation, a cable locator, restoration tools, computer, printer, and the list goes on.
‘The IRS has guidelines on what constitutes an employee W2 or a contractor 1099. If you pay 1099 and the IRS does not agree they are contractors, you will not only be paying payroll taxes but interest and penalties as well.
Dont mean to discourage you but about twenty percent of business startups fail in the first year. About half succumb to business failure within five years. By year 10, only about 33% survive.
