Cold calling GC's for work

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hydeisland

Member
Location
San Diego,CA
Thanks for all the advice guys! Sounds like pounding the pavement and calling around is the way to start out for me. As far as the GC's I ve worked for as a journeyman/ foreman alot of them do work out of my league as most of my work as a foreman has been for a large EC doing fairly large commercial projects, the kind of stuff I m not financially ready to take on. I have called a couple of the supers I ve worked with and let them know I now have my license.

Sounds good, except:
Most GC's already work with 2 - 3 EC subs that (wether is true or not) they consider reliable and quality.
In order to push yourself in you have to be lowest price. Much lower. They won't take your word that you're more reliable and do better quality till you work for them a few times. And those few times you'll have to be WAY lower than their normal EC, as if you're close they will give their EC's the opportunity to be the lowest.

This sounds like what I might have to do but all I ve heard in contractors school and in all the books I ve read is that this is the number one reason for contractors failure:low bidding. I wonder how i could avoid the trap of "well you did it for this much last time, why the higher price"
 

readydave8

re member
Location
Clarkesville, Georgia
Occupation
electrician
Sounds good, except:
Most GC's already work with 2 - 3 EC subs that (wether is true or not) they consider reliable and quality.
In order to push yourself in you have to be lowest price. Much lower. They won't take your word that you're more reliable and do better quality till you work for them a few times. And those few times you'll have to be WAY lower than their normal EC, as if you're close they will give their EC's the opportunity to be the lowest.
What you say is true. But when trying to establish a business I think the more different things the person tries the better, like a shotgun, most of the shot misses? (sort of) but the ones that hit is the reason to do it.

And I have gotten work refered to me by builders that I don't work for, their electrician is too busy or to big or sometimes not capable of doing the work.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
"I will not presume to know what he is ready for, unlikely he is ready for Whiting Turner or Suffolk etc. But he may be ready for 'Fred's General Contracting and Carpentry'"

that s exactly the kind of companies I was talking about. the smaller ones like my self. I was thinking along the lines of calling the guys who advertise on craigslist or in my local circular. The guys who do small remodels and kitchen and bath kind of stuff. I realize there are a lot of shark gc's out there but I tend to believe most guys just want to get the job done in a timely and efficient manner and will reward those who help them do it. Hope I m not being too naivie. I want to build good buisness relationships but don t know if it is out of line to just call out of the blue. I know I don t like it when soliciters call me.

Most guys like this do everything from the footings to the tile work and that would include their own plumbing and electrical work. Usually hire out the AC and the carpet, but other than that I don't think you're going to get much out of them.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Most guys like this do everything from the footings to the tile work and that would include their own plumbing and electrical work. Usually hire out the AC and the carpet, but other than that I don't think you're going to get much out of them.

In my area the GC cannot do that stuff themselves, they must hire licensed trades. But I see the OP is from your area. :)
 

kwb

Member
Location
Salt Lake City
I'm with the guy that said he'd rather have a "steak knife root canal".

Sure, you can cold call the GC's in your area - no law against it. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to see what number you come up with on a bid. The more bid numbers they get the happier they are.

I have never had to cold call the GCs but from my experience GC's whom you've never worked with before will shop you all day long and never award you the bid.

Try calling the people you know, who have seen your work or jobs that you can reference.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
In my area the GC cannot do that stuff themselves, they must hire licensed trades. But I see the OP is from your area. :)

Here a GC cannot pull just an electrical or plumbing permit, but if he is doing the framing, he can pull a combo permit and do all of the work himself.
 

Strife

Senior Member
Another thing with cold calling GC's you'll be dealing with one of the three:
1: The EC's that GC work with know what he can get away with, so from the start you have a slight handicap on being the lowest price.
2: The EC's are comfortable that they'll always get the job from their GC's so they might get comfortable giving them higher prices. In which case is easy to be the low bidder, but the GC will give his EC's a chance to be the lowest. But more often than not you're just keeping the other guy honest.
3: One last scenario would be the GC is totally disgusted with their EC's and is willing to try anything.

#3 is the least probable one, but is your best bet to make some money. I landed a few accounts accounts this way in the last year (two great ones, one good and one so so). So try to talk a little with the GC, if you talk more than a few minutes eventually they'll spill out how they feel about their subs.
A 1hr lunch is a lot less expensive (time and dollar wise) than 100 bids just to keep someone honest.

This sounds like what I might have to do but all I ve heard in contractors school and in all the books I ve read is that this is the number one reason for contractors failure:low bidding. I wonder how i could avoid the trap of "well you did it for this much last time, why the higher price"
 

kiddrock

Member
Location
VA
Here a GC cannot pull just an electrical or plumbing permit, but if he is doing the framing, he can pull a combo permit and do all of the work himself.
Around here there is no such thing as a combo permit (Thank God). What does being able to frame have anything to do with being able to install an electrical system or plumbing system? My 4th year instructor who is now a member of a code making panel had a rant one evening in class about the term sub-contractor (the word sub meaning less than). He went on to say that the general contracting world actually thinks that that we are below them just because we hold a different license. That was over 8 yrs ago and I still remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I still fully agree with his statements and probably always will. To answer the OP's question, No I would not call them, Make them call you. In all reality they need us , we don't need them.:)
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
Here a GC cannot pull just an electrical or plumbing permit, but if he is doing the framing, he can pull a combo permit and do all of the work himself.

Here the GC can pull a permit for the job to include electrical, plumbing and HVAC But they need to get a signed affidavit from licensed contractors stating that they are doing the work (skilled trades). Unless it's done in person this affidavit must be notarized and even if you are there in person they want to see some ID to make sure that you are really you.

All this really does is let the GC act as the prime contractor and the subs are sub- contractors and not dealing directly with the owner.

I would hate to see what would happen if they started to let GCs do electrical and plumbing here. I have seen one where a s GC got a license holder just to sell him a permit and then he hired his own electricians. It was a real mess.
 
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