Well The Economy Must Be Absolutely Thriving And Rampant.. As Some Are Turning Down Work..

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Looked at a job earlier this week...

Bungalow, semi gutted being refurbished as new owners modernising it before moving in.. 

Old wylex 6-way box,   Kitchen gutted.. no ceiling or plaster on walls..

Owners want a price for new fuse box, new kitchen electrics sockets cooker etc all moving..

Bonding needs doing,  some other one - off bit in other rooms..  (sockets for TV, new shower cct)..

Spur for new boiler & test all other circuits..  (All PVC mix of T&E and singles).

The lady who's home its going to be, got my name via my wifes workplace...

in a bit of a panic as cant get an electrician to give her a price for the work..

and is waiting to get walls plastered to then get kitchen fitted...!?    

So Theres a fuse box about a dozen new sockets, some lights,  

new shower circuit, move cooker circuit, install bonding.. test & cert's etc..

Mileage negligible.. (I can walk there in 10 mins)

I estimate three & half days labour should do it all..

Total cost labour materials etc.. just under £1300.00

Dropped quote of yesterday..

Customer agreed it today..

I start doing it next Tuesday for them..

Now I know some people don't like domestic work..   (personally it don't bother me)

But empty, Non lived in, partially gutted Bungalow..   Is about as easy as it can get!!!!!

Now here is the bit I cant get my head around....

according to the customer thay have asked '6'  (SIX) other electricians before me to come and quote...

Three didn't turn up!!!   Three did turn up....  But never gave a price!!!

I can understand one or two not showing...

But SIX....

Turning down a job with a four figure price tag ??????

So there MUST be one heck of a lot of Sparkies out there with so much work they can just ignore what to me seems relatively easy work for a decent return!!

:C   :shakehead

Are any of the rest of you finding customers struggling to get electrician's to come and quote for work???

I honestly didn't think the economy had got that buoyant yet!?

 

[steptoe]

nope,

Im finding the opposite,

'sparks' working for almost nothing,

have priced a few jobs this year where Ive been told Im about twice what they have been quoted,

actually got a call back from one would I like to go back and price again,

I said no, you have my price, they were obviously trying it on,

as for the rest, I dread to think of the standard of work, I usually price pretty keen, I have low overheads.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Thats what I thought and is precisely why I cannot understand them saying they have struggled to get someone to give a price ????

:C   :C

 

[Apache]

I'm still waiting for an electrician to call me back to check the electrics before I move in to my house that I have now lived in for 7 years.

Got the consumer unit changed when I vaccinated an electrician's dog and cornered him.

Before we bought the practice the previous owner rang 4 electricians before he could get one to do a PIR. Small single story building. Not a big job.

 

[steptoe]

I'm still waiting for an electrician to call me back to check the electrics before I move in to my house that I have now lived in for 7 years.

Got the consumer unit changed when I vaccinated an electrician's dog and cornered him.

Before we bought the practice the previous owner rang 4 electricians before he could get one to do a PIR. Small single story building. Not a big job.

give me a bell Paddy,

you have my number, and, you are in my catchment area, 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Strange how some electricians minds work....

They may be ok at joining wires...

But sod all sense about how to market themselves and look after customers.....

I know some get a bit farty about small jobs...

Have a mindset that its not worth going if you can't get a few hundred back...

But turn up when you say you will..

Do the work you said you'd do..

At a mutually agreeably cost..

Always works for me!

Guinness

 

[steptoe]

if I cant make a job pay, but, I am light on work, and, I can cover my costs, then I will do the small jobs,

a socket today for Joe, might mean a rewire  for Joe's daughter and her new husband next month.

a PIR for Paddy next week might mean a new extension at the begining of the year,

thats how I look at some jobs.

 

[Apache]

If the chap (who lives in the same village with a population of about 200 people) had done a PIR when I asked, he'd have got the CU change job. If he'd come and done those then we'd have called him to do the PIR at the surgery, but didn't.....

 

[steptoe]

If the chap (who lives in the same village with a population of about 200 people) had done a PIR when I asked, he'd have got the CU change job. If he'd come and done those then we'd have called him to do the PIR at the surgery, but didn't.....

he has also lost a recommendation from a professional in the village that probably talks to a lot of people,

 

[Apache]

I've told the story a number of times, but he is also a client so don't want to piss him off too much.

 

[Sharpend]

It's simple, if you can't look after the small jobs then what makes you think you can do larger jobs?

Every job has it's profit, you just have too know where to find it.

 

[NozSpark]

Maybe he just doesn't like doing local jobs, he might feel that he has to do a deal for a "neighbour".. If this is the case though he should have said straight away.

P.S. the only people who I give a deal are my direct family,,, everyone else pays the going rate

 

[Blue Duck]

6x5ww not wanting to get there ck tool bags dirty

 

[binky]

small jobs lead to big jobs, but sometimes just lots more small jobs, but it is all work, you build your client base on these when you start your own business.

Only thing I can think of for people to turn down reasonable size work is that there are some big building jobs in the area that is soaking up trades

 

[apprentice87]

Tell you what i think... Blue Duck is not far from the mark.....

I would think that so far as "electricians" are concerned, the market is flooded with the 5WW as you all call them. They are ok, [well, they think they are ok] when it comes to fitting a socket, but a rewire is just too much for them. Bit like the garages and so-called motor mechanics now. A mate of mine has a friend who is a car mechanic, properly qualified and all that, and yet he has never, not even in tech, done a crank!!! He had to do one on a tractor he was doing for someone and had to get my mate to help him!!!

That is the trouble with the mechanics now, no aptitude for the job, just plug in the fault code reader and change every possible related part and tell you it was "all of them"

You had a similar thing years ago mind, numpties, that, because they did not know what they were doing, would tell someone, that, it was their battery, alternator AND starter motor all faulty, as they were too stupid to know which one it ACTUALLY was.....

john...

 

[Doc Hudson]

small jobs lead to big jobs, but sometimes just lots more small jobs, but it is all work, you build your client base on these when you start your own business.

Very true, lots of small jobs can make you a bigger business, i.e. more clients more turnover. better to have fifty £100 jobs than one £3000 job, as you normally have more income and far more happy clients who will pass your name around. And as far as I know every big multinational company started as a smaller business at some stage. There is nothing worse in my mind that waiting around for someone to phone you back, or for a delivery to come or for a service engineer to visit to fix or install something. If you are too busy to see a potential customer why say you will visit or quote, its just wasting everyones time.

Doc H.  

 

[Evans Electric]

Looked at a job earlier this week...

Bungalow, semi gutted being refurbished as new owners modernising it before moving in.. 

Old wylex 6-way box,   Kitchen gutted.. no ceiling or plaster on walls..

Owners want a price for new fuse box, new kitchen electrics sockets cooker etc all moving..

Bonding needs doing,  some other one - off bit in other rooms..  (sockets for TV, new shower cct)..

Spur for new boiler & test all other circuits..  (All PVC mix of T&E and singles).

The lady who's home its going to be, got my name via my wifes workplace...

in a bit of a panic as cant get an electrician to give her a price for the work..

and is waiting to get walls plastered to then get kitchen fitted...!?    

So Theres a fuse box about a dozen new sockets, some lights,  

new shower circuit, move cooker circuit, install bonding.. test & cert's etc..

Mileage negligible.. (I can walk there in 10 mins)

I estimate three & half days labour should do it all..

Total cost labour materials etc.. just under £1300.00

Dropped quote of yesterday..

Customer agreed it today..

I start doing it next Tuesday for them..

Now I know some people don't like domestic work..   (personally it don't bother me)

But empty, Non lived in, partially gutted Bungalow..   Is about as easy as it can get!!!!!

Now here is the bit I cant get my head around....

according to the customer thay have asked '6'  (SIX) other electricians before me to come and quote...

Three didn't turn up!!!   Three did turn up....  But never gave a price!!!

I can understand one or two not showing...

But SIX....

Turning down a job with a four figure price tag ??????

So there MUST be one heck of a lot of Sparkies out there with so much work they can just ignore what to me seems relatively easy work for a decent return!!

:C   :shakehead

Are any of the rest of you finding customers struggling to get electrician's to come and quote for work???

I honestly didn't think the economy had got that buoyant yet!?

Empty bungalow , a doddle as you say Specs , no floorboard lifting etc.

As said above ,  perhaps 6 x 5WWs who shy away from a full rewire or changing a board .

Now you have raised this subject made me think ,   I turn away work these days such as occupied domestic rewires for the following :-

They are hard work .

My knees are shot .      Can't do continuous kneeling .

Carpets, floorboards , furniture , loft lagging , people , all in the way.

I only work 3-4 days /week these days.

BUT !!!!   Do you think I can find anyone to pass them onto ?   NO !!

ALSO !!! We just part  rewired  an empty house,  new kitchen power , alarm, new board.   Client wanted a kitchen fitter , empty room, blank canvas, we spoke to two we know , neither turned up to quote . :C

 

[NozSpark]

Geez,,, voids must be the easiest domestic work you can get...

I'll swap you an old stone farmhouse that I've got to run a sub main through and then final circuits for 3 combi storage heaters.... proper cement & skim walls

But I have to do it as ...

1 I'm skint due to my builer/his customer spec disparity bring my problem and delaying my stage payment for 2 or 3 weeks (at least)

2 they're a friend, but a great customer

 

[kme]

I`ve got almost the opposite problem at the moment........

Al least twice a day, every day this week, we`re having to refuse to even look at a job, unless they`re willing to wait until February! The commercial stuff ( new brewery install - they were on the Wales TV news on Tuesday), has us rammed at the moment - and the owners` family have all these "little" jobs they want us to do - I can`t get to them all when I`d like to - but they`ll wait for me........

I can`t put subbies into the brewery - I`m currently the only one who can give people access with the mewps; and run the forks as well as required.........which is usually in the midst of an awkward bit of MY work.

But we`re hearing this from domestic customers all the time - people just don`t arrive. I do not intend to get a similar rep; which is why we currently say that we just cannot get to them!

 

[Evans Electric]

I`ve got almost the opposite problem at the moment........

Al least twice a day, every day this week, we`re having to refuse to even look at a job, unless they`re willing to wait until February! The commercial stuff ( new brewery install - they were on the Wales TV news on Tuesday), has us rammed at the moment - and the owners` family have all these "little" jobs they want us to do - I can`t get to them all when I`d like to - but they`ll wait for me........

I can`t put subbies into the brewery - I`m currently the only one who can give people access with the mewps; and run the forks as well as required.........which is usually in the midst of an awkward bit of MY work.

But we`re hearing this from domestic customers all the time - people just don`t arrive. I do not intend to get a similar rep; which is why we currently say that we just cannot get to them!

Has something been lost in the translation from Welsh to English here ?

So what are the " mewps"   and what does  " Running the Forks" mean ?   Do I need to go back to college?