What Brand of Generator

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Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
In my experience, residential customers usually leave the choice of the generator brand to the EC, when they ask for an estimate (few have a specific brand in mind, or already have the gen on hand). My question: which of the poplular brands in the 7 to 18 kw range have been most trouble free? I have had bad luck with a particular brand, resulting in too many call backs to check why the gen does not go through its exercise cylce, does not come online on power outs, etc., hence this post. The dealer tech support has not been great either. These problems have cropped up after we had done our start up, passed inspection, etc.
Thanks in advance for your insights. e/m.
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Energy-Miser said:
In my experience, residential customers usually leave the choice of the generator brand to the EC, when they ask for an estimate (few have a specific brand in mind, or already have the gen on hand). My question: which of the poplular brands in the 7 to 18 kw range have been most trouble free? I have had bad luck with a particular brand, resulting in too many call backs to check why the gen does not go through its exercise cylce, does not come online on power outs, etc., hence this post.


This is the exact reason we only hook em up, we will not sell a customer a generator, we will guide them in a few directions, but the rest is up to them....
 

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
stickboy1375 said:
This is the exact reason we only hook em up, we will not sell a customer a generator, we will guide them in a few directions, but the rest is up to them....
That's an idea, I will have to pursue that further. Although, even when they buy the gen, wouldn't they still try to say it's the electrician's fault, as opposed to the equipment's ? What's your experience been? e/m
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Energy-Miser said:
That's an idea, I will have to pursue that further. Although, even when they buy the gen, wouldn't they still try to say it's the electrician's fault, as opposed to the equipment's ? What's your experience been? e/m

Its been fine, believe me you still get the call, but you just redirect them to who ever sold them the generator, Our good clients we will still do a trouble call depending, but generator service work really is something you either do full time or not at all IMO...
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Its really nice to hook up with a local generator dealer so people just call them to begin with, and you still get the job, of course you refer them as well, its a nice relationship, in our experence anyways...
 

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
stickboy1375 said:
Its been fine, believe me you still get the call, but you just redirect them to who ever sold them the generator, Our good clients we will still do a trouble call depending, but generator service work really is something you either do full time or not at all IMO...
Yes, I agree, and I don't want to do it full time. Now, if you do it this way, will the dealer take care of putting in the padding for it (gravel, framing, etc.), or is it normally still the electrician's job? An who takes care of the start-up procedure (dealer, or us)? e/m
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
stickboy1375 said:
Its really nice to hook up with a local generator dealer so people just call them to begin with, and you still get the job, of course you refer them as well, its a nice relationship, in our experence anyways...

that's the best advice anyone could give. i have a friend from childhood who started in this business around the same time i did. he deals solely w/ generator sales/service/installation. he's a factory direct dealer, which means he gets them a whole lot cheaper than me and the supply houses (local supply houses buy their generators from him to resale!), he pours the pad, installs the generator, does the startup, offers a service plan, etc. . .he handles everything. i get a price from him, put a slight markup on it to my customer, then get 5% of the cost of the generator back as a bonus, which is offered to any EC that refers work. i also will install the transfer switch and include my labor for that w/ the invoice to the customer. if there's a problem, customer calls me, i call my guy, he fixes. if you're uncomfortable doing that, you can just turn the whole job over to him and get your 5% cut.
 

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
brantmacga said:
that's the best advice anyone could give. i have a friend from childhood who started in this business around the same time i did. he deals solely w/ generator sales/service/installation. he's a factory direct dealer, which means he gets them a whole lot cheaper than me and the supply houses (local supply houses buy their generators from him to resale!), he pours the pad, installs the generator, does the startup, offers a service plan, etc. . .he handles everything. i get a price from him, put a slight markup on it to my customer, then get 5% of the cost of the generator back as a bonus, which is offered to any EC that refers work. i also will install the transfer switch and include my labor for that w/ the invoice to the customer. if there's a problem, customer calls me, i call my guy, he fixes. if you're uncomfortable doing that, you can just turn the whole job over to him and get your 5% cut.
That's why I love this forum, you get great advice from those who have been there and done that. I will be following through on this way of working with generators. I don't have a large number of gens that I have installed so far, but I was having nightmares, thinking about all the calls that I might be getting a few years down the road, if I kept doing it the way I have been (buying, marking up, selling and installing). I would actually be happy with just installing them, and getting my cut from dealer for referral, if he can save me all the other headaches. I will need to locate a couple of those local dealers and work with them. Do you normally need a contract with them, or is it just understood how it is done? e/m.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
Energy-Miser said:
That's why I love this forum, you get great advice from those who have been there and done that. I will be following through on this way of working with generators. I don't have a large number of gens that I have installed so far, but I was having nightmares, thinking about all the calls that I might be getting a few years down the road, if I kept doing it the way I have been (buying, marking up, selling and installing). I would actually be happy with just installing them, and getting my cut from dealer for referral, if he can save me all the other headaches. I will need to locate a couple of those local dealers and work with them. Do you normally need a contract with them, or is it just understood how it is done? e/m.

even though we're pals, its still in writing.
 
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