angies list... the big deal....

[Fulthrotl]

Isn't this a conflict of interest in the first place?

Angie's List supposed to be a CUSTOMER driven opinion forum. How can then the Owner take money for advertisement form one of the reviewed?!

It's gotta be a hoax.....or somebody hijacked their e-mail list.

nope. angies gets a piece of that big $300 windfall... someone said half,
but i suspect more like a third.... and you can buy a second "coupon"
so you can get 8 can lights for $600...

so now, you can do 8 lights for $400. material will be about what.. $200?
so, you are doing them net for about half of what i net doing them.

things are different on the left coast than what we are used to. case in point:

this little office building i'm wiring, stick on slab, got sheetrock friday. all of it.
3,000 SQ, 9' ceilings, hard lids and soffets on about a third of the footage.

5/8" sheetrock, double on the bathrooms, including the ceiling.

4 guys, none of them speaking english at all, showed up in a 4 door sedan.

everyone cleared out of the building, and they had it done in 7 hours. up,
screwed off, routed, everything but they ran out of board, and had to
come back and stand 10 sheets or so the next morning.

the tapers showed up today, got rolling about 8 am. three of them, speaking
a smidge of english. one with a bazooka, one on stilts, one with a 6" knife
and mud pan.

they ran out of tape, or it'd been done today, and the building is spotless.
they left at 3:30 pm. sand and second coat saturday.

3 guys, one day, done. and as hard as i would have liked to snivel at the
work, it was excellent, both on hanging, and taping. no damage to any
of my wiring, no mud in the boxes, zip.

the 3 of them are off to do 600 apartments, in marina del rey after this...
i'm assuming, by themselves.... :lol:

 

[sethas]

They are supposed to be loss leaders, a foot in the door.

We have had a huge amount of success with them. The key is to do very small quick and easy specials. We try to do only labor or something less than $25 in materials. The object is to up sell.

On crap like that, your just gonna loose your shirt. You just gave them the deal on the very thing you should be up selling!

 

[kwired]

nope. angies gets a piece of that big $300 windfall... someone said half,
but i suspect more like a third.... and you can buy a second "coupon"
so you can get 8 can lights for $600...

so now, you can do 8 lights for $400. material will be about what.. $200?
so, you are doing them net for about half of what i net doing them.

things are different on the left coast than what we are used to. case in point:

this little office building i'm wiring, stick on slab, got sheetrock friday. all of it.
3,000 SQ, 9' ceilings, hard lids and soffets on about a third of the footage.

5/8" sheetrock, double on the bathrooms, including the ceiling.

4 guys, none of them speaking english at all, showed up in a 4 door sedan.

everyone cleared out of the building, and they had it done in 7 hours. up,
screwed off, routed, everything but they ran out of board, and had to
come back and stand 10 sheets or so the next morning.

the tapers showed up today, got rolling about 8 am. three of them, speaking
a smidge of english. one with a bazooka, one on stilts, one with a 6" knife
and mud pan.

they ran out of tape, or it'd been done today, and the building is spotless.
they left at 3:30 pm. sand and second coat saturday.

3 guys, one day, done. and as hard as i would have liked to snivel at the
work, it was excellent, both on hanging, and taping. no damage to any
of my wiring, no mud in the boxes, zip.

the 3 of them are off to do 600 apartments, in marina del rey after this...
i'm assuming, by themselves.... :lol:

do you have any idea if they were in the same ballpark as others performing same work?

Were they legal contractors meaning do they follow all laws as others doing same thing are required to do? Are they insured?

There is not really that much equipment overhead in drywall work.

I am not too surprised at the speed or quality of work. If that is all you do, you eventually get pretty efficient at it, the rest is how hard you intend to work at it, and your physical condition.

 

[kwired]

Giving discounts is for getting a foot in the door. Look at retailers and some of the sales they sometimes have. When something is knocked down 50% or more if they are not losing money on that item they certainly are making less profit. There is also the hope that some customers will purchase other items since they are in the store.

My wife receives $10.00 coupons good for any purchase from JC Penny frequently. She often goes in the store and only purchases an item valued near $10.00 and nothing else with the coupon, quite often a bath towel, something that we can always use. Likely no profit at all on that particular sale.

 

[emfforhire]

Angie's List

Angie's List

No way to start a relationship for the most part with someone who is only looking to get something done cheap. In this age of Groupon, Living Social, and other simulair promotions consumers are pretty savvy as what to expect. I think they would be pretty defensive to any sort of up sale.

 

[tbakelis]

Angie's list is...

Angie's list is...

A huge part of my business. Ive been on there 6 years and have about 70 "A" reviews. I get roughly 3-5 calls a week from them. I don't do any of the "big deals"... I just give bids... Take it or leave it. Works out great. Blows Yelp out of the water since Angie's list members are paying customers and yelpers are just free loaders. Just my 2 cents

 

[kwired]

No way to start a relationship for the most part with someone who is only looking to get something done cheap. In this age of Groupon, Living Social, and other simulair promotions consumers are pretty savvy as what to expect. I think they would be pretty defensive to any sort of up sale.

But it is easier to come in to install some recessed lights and then scare them into upgrading for their own safety things like GFCI where it required by current codes, inform them their smoke detectors are getting old, or maybe are non existent, find something that is in need of some repair, or was not done correctly in the first place. Even if they don't want to lay down the funds at the first visit, you maybe presented some problems that they are willing to have you come back to fix when they can afford to do so.

I dislike some upselling tactics myself but that is how business works. Go to McDonalds, place your order and often the clerk may suggest an additional item - would you care for fries or maybe an apple pie with that? That is upselling at about the simplest level and they are trained to do that. My biggest pet peeve is stores that ask if you want to purchase the extended warranty for many different items. Almost all the time it is not worth it IMO, but you may not believe how many people say yes.

Although I said I dislike upselling tactics I still will point out hazards to people not as much as an upselling tactic even though it usually means additional work, but for their own safety.

 

[emfforhire]

Angie's List

Angie's List

But it is easier to come in to install some recessed lights and then scare them into upgrading for their own safety things like GFCI where it required by current codes, inform them their smoke detectors are getting old, or maybe are non existent, find something that is in need of some repair, or was not done correctly in the first place. Even if they don't want to lay down the funds at the first visit, you maybe presented some problems that they are willing to have you come back to fix when they can afford to do so.

I dislike some upselling tactics myself but that is how business works. Go to McDonalds, place your order and often the clerk may suggest an additional item - would you care for fries or maybe an apple pie with that? That is upselling at about the simplest level and they are trained to do that. My biggest pet peeve is stores that ask if you want to purchase the extended warranty for many different items. Almost all the time it is not worth it IMO, but you may not believe how many people say yes.



Although I said I dislike upselling tactics I still will point out hazards to people not as much as an upselling tactic even though it usually means additional work, but for their own safety.

We report safety and code defects noted to our customers. I feel it is a professional and ethical obligation. We do this to of course to inform the customer of potential safety issues and also to protect ourselves from liability. We document every thing on the job invoice. I sometimes wonder if the customer thinks we are trying for a up sale which we really are not trying to do. Some times the minor code issues do not provide a real danger but we are going to really push hard to remedy those open or missing junction boxes and zip cord circuit extensions.

 

[Fulthrotl]

do you have any idea if they were in the same ballpark as others performing same work?

Were they legal contractors meaning do they follow all laws as others doing same thing are required to do? Are they insured?

There is not really that much equipment overhead in drywall work.

I am not too surprised at the speed or quality of work. If that is all you do, you eventually get pretty efficient at it, the rest is how hard you intend to work at it, and your physical condition.

legal, puppy shots, and everything.

i remarked on it, 'cause it's quite a bit better than most of what
i've seen around here... the taping crew that followed them was
even more amazing. they could tape and finish my house any day.

 

[AllCircuitsElectrical]

i buy 6" can for 10.00 per set, can, trim and bulb .....box of 6.

 

[PetrosA]

i buy 6" can for 10.00 per set, can, trim and bulb .....box of 6.

I give my customers my full name and home address. No way I'd be selling them stuff like that.

 

[Strummed]

The material for lightolier 4 - 5 in recessed, trim, lamp, lutron toggle dimmer, and about 70ft of 14/2 romex is $200 without markup. add 25% and it is $250 for material.
That leaves $50 for labor. (or $100 if you stupidly do not mark up the material)

My price for the job described here would be $700.00

An easy installation (2nd floor bedroom with open attic above - existing switched receptacle in room) should take 2 guys (electrician and helper) about 2 - 3 hrs to set up, install, clean up, bill, collect check, and be back in truck on the way to another job.

You can't worry about the hack that is either lying and doing the bait and switch, or doing a very bad job, or isn't licensed, or hammers the homeowner with extra's once they get in there, or uses those cheapo catalog recessed lights and crappy trims.

I like to separate myself from those guys. It is all in presentation and sales to the homeowner. It is up to you to convince the homeowner that you are the one to go with even though you may be higher.

What do you normally do with the existing switched receptacle? Snake a wire up from the receptacle box into the attic to feed the high hats?

 

[mjf]

What do you normally do with the existing switched receptacle? Snake a wire up from the receptacle box into the attic to feed the high hats?

I know a guy who will get all upset when he hears me say "snake" a wire. "we're electricians, we fish wires, we don't snake them". He goes into a lecture about whether I have a plumbing snake in my van or an electrical fish tape. I just laugh at him time and time again.

 

[electricblue]

I get a lot of work from Angie's list. Some of the customers are a PITA. I love when they try to renew my contract. They started at $6,000 this year. I told them $1800 take it or leave it.

 

[AllCircuitsElectrical]

I give my customers my full name and home address. No way I'd be selling them stuff like that.

My trucks are lettered ....

yep whol lotta stuff to go wrong inside a can ....LOL

Right from a National Electrical Supply House pick it up locally ....we have used about 500 kits last year have not had an issue yet.

 

[PetrosA]

My trucks are lettered ....

yep whol lotta stuff to go wrong inside a can ....LOL

Right from a National Electrical Supply House pick it up locally ....we have used about 500 kits last year have not had an issue yet.

Next time I'm in Philly I'll see if I can't find National and check them out. They must not have branches to the west of the city since I've never heard of them and I work in Chester, Montgomery, Delaware and Lancaster counties. I worked for a guy who bought cheap cans from some supplier in Florida and they were real junk. The aluminum was soft and bent easily, the rivets popped out and cans fell apart, the whips would fall out, the sockets in the sloped cans couldn't be tightened down and in general they were just plain Chinese junk. Don't even get me started on the Chinese GFI receptacles... Callbacks an hour away aren't worth ANY savings.

 

[Strummed]

At the beginning I used to use Commercial Electric hi hats from Home Depot because they were so cheap in the 6-pack with trims. I never had a problem installing them and I never had a single call-back.

I use Halos today because I get a good deal from the supply house, but I can't say that the end result is any different.

 

[John120/240]

Juno 6" cut-in cans are slick because it just takes finger pressure to engage the sheet rock clips

 

[AllCircuitsElectrical]

Next time I'm in Philly I'll see if I can't find National and check them out. They must not have branches to the west of the city since I've never heard of them and I work in Chester, Montgomery, Delaware and Lancaster counties. I worked for a guy who bought cheap cans from some supplier in Florida and they were real junk. The aluminum was soft and bent easily, the rivets popped out and cans fell apart, the whips would fall out, the sockets in the sloped cans couldn't be tightened down and in general they were just plain Chinese junk. Don't even get me started on the Chinese GFI receptacles... Callbacks an hour away aren't worth ANY savings.

I said "a" national company ... We do lotta work I Philly ... CES - City Electric Supply, the 2nd street branch, I have had them on the counter @Denney to compare ..we were in Kutztown last week lol

 

[PetrosA]

I said "a" national company ... We do lotta work I Philly ... CES - City Electric Supply, the 2nd street branch, I have had them on the counter @Denney to compare ..we were in Kutztown last week lol

I figured once I googled the name that there was a mixup. You capitalized all the words so I figured...

CES does have some good deals, but only one location 40 miles from me in West Chester. Denneys is a little closer in Kennett Square, but way off my beaten track.

I don't play in Philly. When I did (years ago...) we used Harry Horn. Long gone now...