How did you get in with the business relationships you have?

[bumperlt]

Trying to grow a small company. How did you meet the contractors you do consistent work for? I am only able to land one time only kind of work, there's one or two people I do constant work for, but that's not enough. I know the bread and butter is consistency. Was it this hard before the economy that got me laid off?

I've considered stopping by houses I see under construction and talking to the general, but I think to myself that I wouldn't want anyone to do that if I were him.

On top of consistency, I find there's more money to be had in commercial. Getting with commercial contractors is a whole other monster.

Any advice you can give would be helpful, I hated working hourly making other people money and I don't want to go back to it.

 

[readydave8]

I've considered stopping by houses I see under construction and talking to the general, but I think to myself that I wouldn't want anyone to do that if I were him.

Yes stop and talk to generals, you don't care whether some won't like it, you only care that you will survive. To make friends go to church or bars, to get work pursue all avenues.

I know some EC's that get lists of permits from local building department, they get work that way (or did when there was more work), just call everyone that has pulled a permit.

 

[Ken9876]

Take a look at the business newsletters on this site there is a lot of good info. Stop by real estate offices, property mgmt. offices, other businesses. Let them know who you are and what you do. Read the book gurilla marketing.

 

[tryinghard]

...On top of consistency, I find there's more money to be had in commercial. Getting with commercial contractors is a whole other monster...

It really does take start-up money, how much is up to the individual. If your market attempt includes commercial I suggest becomming a member of a builders exchange.

 

[jaylectricity]

I met one guy on craigslist.org by random chance. He needed somebody the next day and I happened to be looking on that particular day. Honestly, I don't look at that website often because it doesn't pan out. But I'm still doing all of his work when he gets it. I just got lucky, and that's what you need to get started.

I also got a few steady customers from my old boss. He couldn't do the work, or didn't want to and gave them my number and told them I had my own license now.

I got a lot of work from another guy because my friend didn't have his license and they needed to pull a permit. I became their electrician until they went out of business. But one of their customers also gave me a lot of work and I continue to do work for him at his business, his home, his parent's home, his brother-in-law's home, etc.

I have a decent amount of family in one smallish beach town so I get random jobs from that.

Like I said, it takes a little luck but if you do the very best job you can and charge a fair price, you'll never run out of work. Not saying that you'll get rich, but you can get by.

I got a few jobs out of a small town newspaper advertisement, but like you said, most of those were one and done customers who had a small electrical issue that they wanted fixed and turned to a small time electrician rather than getting a number from a large ad in the yellow pages.

 

[readydave8]

I got a call from yellow page listing yesterday, 1st one in quite some time. I asked the customer if she started from end of category since I'm #21 electrician (starts with R). She said yes, she always starts at the bottom.

 

[LLSolutions]

talk to anybody who will listen

talk to anybody who will listen

Talk to anybody who will listen, and even the ones who won't. I've sent gc's letters to request invitations to bid. Also some of the BEST costumers I have are the ones I've started out doing the smallest things for. IE- I was slow a few years ago so i wired a small 2500sq.ft. garage pretty much at cost, only charged around $25 and hour for myself, about a 3rd of what i would usually do. Anyway he saw the workmanship and we built a mutual trust, now he throws me all his work. Better yet he remembers to pay. the reason I like this story is because I built up trust as the risk built. I didn't start out laying out thousands for material and labor to somebody I had just met. Also not that I will always turn down putting up a ceiling fan for grandma, but i will jump through hoops for a customer who owns their own business, since most of them have tons of their own contacts. network! network! network!

 

[mr wizard]

...Also not that I will always turn down putting up a ceiling fan for grandma...That, in my experience, is not a very good idea. Speaking from experience, grandma's son was a doctor who was planning on building a house. I was very polite and respectful to grandma, as I am to all of my customers. Grandma told her son about me. I wired grandma's sons' house, and have done quite a bit of work for his fellow doctor friends. Turning down work when you're starting out can be a bad move. Just my two cents...

 

[cowboyjwc]

I met most of mine through referl, but I can't tell you how much work I got our of resetting a breaker or gfci for free. I once went and simply changed a light fixture at a company, where no one else would even call him back because it was to small of a job. I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I made off of them.

You don't need to sell your service, electricians are a dime a dozen, give them you, treat them like they're the only customer you have. When you're working for them leave your cell phone in the truck. I became very good friends with several of my customers.

 

[mccayry]

Trying to grow a small company. How did you meet the contractors you do consistent work for? I am only able to land one time only kind of work, there's one or two people I do constant work for, but that's not enough. I know the bread and butter is consistency. Was it this hard before the economy that got me laid off?

I've considered stopping by houses I see under construction and talking to the general, but I think to myself that I wouldn't want anyone to do that if I were him.

On top of consistency, I find there's more money to be had in commercial. Getting with commercial contractors is a whole other monster.

Any advice you can give would be helpful, I hated working hourly making other people money and I don't want to go back to it.

Check to see if there is a BNI organization in your area. I have been a member for about 6 months now and it has really helped me with my business. It has definitely been a great investment so far and it is only gonna get better.www.bni.com

 

[John120/240]

Join Rotary, Optimist, Lions, church etc. Get to know some real estate sales-

people. Home Inspectors although we don't always agree with them, they can

provide a lead. Stop at your banks real estate loan department.

 

[cdslotz]

I think if you want to get into commercial, you have to build your company that way, and make commercial your focus.
It's a slow, long growth, but the payoff is much bigger if you are good.
Good GC's only solicit bids from EC's that are financially capable of getting through a 12 month job, have good estimators, good project management, safety, pre-construction services, foremen, etc. In other words, EC's that have built relationships with and a huge trust factor. If you get to that point, you are rarely bidding against more than 2 or 3 competitors. That's a good thing.
Those are rare, as a lot of GC's will invite 20 EC's for a $30K job, shop the bids, write you a horrible contract, and screw you out of your money. It's almost impossible to take the commercial path without encountering many of those, which can take you and your business down.
So having said all of that, if you go commercial, start small, build good relationships one at a time, be cautious, and smart with your money. Don't sign bad contracts. Oh, and hire really good foremen and keep them any way you can. Your reputation is in the hands of the men on the job with that GC

Good luck

 

[dhalleron]

A friend of mine had an interesting way he got started.

He got into an argument with a supervisor over 20 years ago and got fired. One of the customers he did work for was a local Walgreens drug store. Someone there found out he no longer worked for the company and they wanted him to continue doing their work. He said he couldn't because he was not licensed. They told him to go get his license and he would get all their work. It took him 2 tries to pass the test though.

Then he just picked up more customers by word of mouth and stays busy most of the time. He has never advertised and did not have his name or number on his truck until recently when the local AHJ started enforcing a requirement to have you company name and license # on your truck.

 

[220/221]

I hated working hourly making other people money and I don't want to go back to it.

It's not as easy as it looks huh?


All I can say is, it takes a combination of extremely hard work, top shelf service and a little dumb luck.

Treat every single customer like they could be your next $100K account because, they might be.


One thing that worked for me decades ago was some direct mail to AC contractors. They are directly involved with electrical and there is a limit to what thy can and will do. I picked up one client (out of a about three hundred flyers) and worked with him for about ten years. I did the same thing with EC's trying to pick up the crap work they didnt want. That might not work so well these days

 

[mtfallsmikey]

...Also not that I will always turn down putting up a ceiling fan for grandma...That, in my experience, is not a very good idea. Speaking from experience, grandma's son was a doctor who was planning on building a house. I was very polite and respectful to grandma, as I am to all of my customers. Grandma told her son about me. I wired grandma's sons' house, and have done quite a bit of work for his fellow doctor friends. Turning down work when you're starting out can be a bad move. Just my two cents...

Speaking of doctors...they are a powerful group to network with. Dad's family doctor turned us on to so many others...and i'll spark a little debate here, lawyers were a large clientele for me as well. Both groups tend to own rental property too.

I met most of mine through referl, but I can't tell you how much work I got our of resetting a breaker or gfci for free. I once went and simply changed a light fixture at a company, where no one else would even call him back because it was to small of a job. I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I made off of them.

You don't need to sell your service, electricians are a dime a dozen, give them you, treat them like they're the only customer you have. When you're working for them leave your cell phone in the truck. I became very good friends with several of my customers.

Word of mouth is the most powerful tool as far as gettting work is concerned. And it happens in some very strange ways.