Subcontractor markup agency
Run an agency that subcontracts trades and services to vetted providers and sells them at a markup to clients.
The idea, in plain language
Run an agency that subcontracts trades or services to vetted providers and resells them to clients at a markup, with or without holding inventory, equipment or a license. Koerner dominates: Chris's SAM.gov app built in 4 minutes with Replit Agent to filter the $200B small-business set-aside pool, Natalie Rosario explaining how she profits from government contracts by quoting subcontractors and marking up from USAspending.gov historical pricing (a catering contract that made $11,000 in two weeks and a $962,000 landscaping contract), Parker J. Smith's DoorDash-to-$81K/month water-filtration business with subcontracted installs, Alex Hansen's Shelf Dude $15K/month at 70-80% margins selling exclusively on Facebook Marketplace and pivoting to a nationwide installer network plus digital plans, Jeff's concrete-levelling drop-service on track for $100K profit in year one, Wrex Lindsay's no-tools/no-crew home-performance (insulation, duct sealing, air scrubbers) subcontractor model targeting $1M/year, Parker's follow-up whole-home water-filtration episode with the licensing disclaimer, and Tyler's $23K/month stump-grinding follow-up partnering with tree trimmers. Customers are home-owners, small businesses and government buyers; startup cost is near zero for the subcontractor-only shape; cited revenue is $81K/month (water filtration), $11K in two weeks (catering contract), $962K (landscaping contract), $15K/month (Shelf Dude), $1,000/job at near-$100K profit year one (concrete levelling), $1M/year target (home performance), $23K/month (stump grinding).
Where the sources agree
- Subcontract everything, hold little to no inventory - Wrex's no-tools/no-crew frame, Parker's water-filtration outsourcing, Jeff's concrete-levelling drop-service and Tyler's stump-grinding partnership with tree trimmers all follow the same playbook.
- Government contracting is a huge, underused opportunity - Chris's SAM.gov app, Natalie's USAspending.gov historical-pricing markup and the $200B small-business set-aside pool all hammer the same point.
- High-ticket home services are the most-cited vertical - water filtration, concrete levelling, insulation/duct sealing, garage shelving and stump grinding all cluster around the same $1,000-$15,000 job range.
- Pricing transparency and Facebook/upfront-price ads outperform discovery-led sales - Parker's upfront-price Facebook ads, Jeff's virtual quoting and Tyler's cold outreach are the recurring pattern.
Where they differ
- Channels: Koerner owns the idea entirely; MFM, Isenberg and Starter Story do not appear, so the playbook is single-channel and operator-centric.
- License requirements vary - Parker's water-filtration episode carries an explicit licensing disclaimer for states like North Carolina; concrete levelling, insulation and stump grinding are not licensed trades.
- Monetisation shape: per-job with ~70-80% margins (Shelf Dude, stump grinding), per-contract at government-set-aside scale (catering, landscaping), per-month retainer or subscription (commercial maintenance plans for Jeff and Wrex), and digital-plan upsells (Hansen's installer-network pivot).
- Founder posture: solo with subcontractors (Jeff, Wrex, Parker), solo with one crew partner (the stump-grinding story), franchise operator (implied across several episodes), and government-contract prime (Natalie).
- Frame varies from 'sell before you build' (the broader Koerner thesis) to 'subcontractor arbitrage as a $1M/year model' (Wrex) to 'government contracting done-for-you' (Natalie).
What each source says
KoernerI Built an App the Government Doesn't Want You to See
Build a gov-contract alert SaaS for small local service firms (IT, janitorial, landscaping) with email/SMS digests, reusing scraping and SMS infrastructure.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerHow Anyone Can Make $10K+/Month From the Government
Use Claude/RAG tooling to scan SAM.gov and USAspending for small IT or web contracts he could prime and subcontract.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerFrom DoorDash to $81K/M With This Overlooked Business [NO ADS • FULL EPISODE]
Build the software and marketing layer (booking, SMS follow-up, upfront-price Facebook funnels) and subcontract licensed plumbers, or sell that stack as a productised service to existing home-service pros.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerHow to Make $15k/M on FB Marketplace Selling This ONE Item
Video covers How to Make $15k/M on FB Marketplace Selling This ONE Item.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerForget Dropshipping. Be The Middleman For $800+/Job (Drop-Servicing)
Video covers Forget Dropshipping. Be The Middleman For $800+/Job (Drop-Servicing).
Watch on YouTubeKoernerYou Can Start This $1M/Yr Business With No Tools and No Crew
Video covers You Can Start This $1M/Yr Business With No Tools and No Crew.
Watch on YouTubeside-hustle-school#2900 - First $1,000: Handyman Cashes In On Home Theater Boom
The episode shows a home-theater operator who subcontracts TV mounting to others while handling sales and dispatch himself, effectively running a markup agency that resells subcontracted labor to end customers.
Listen on Side Hustle SchoolKoernerThe Most Overlooked $81K/Month Business Anyone Can Start
Video covers The Most Overlooked $81K/Month Business Anyone Can Start.
Watch on YouTubeKoerner$23k/Month by Month 2: Exact Playbook (Not Clickbait)
Video covers $23k/Month by Month 2: Exact Playbook (Not Clickbait).
Watch on YouTubeTools people use for this
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