Contractor or Inspector

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Boats831

Member
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Hello Everyone, I am just looking for some opinions. I live and work in PA, I am currently working as an estimator for a residential electrical contractor. I have been thinking about becoming an inspector. However, recently my side work seems to keep increasing by the day. Should I start to consider opening up my own contracting business or should I focus my energy on becoming an inspector. What do you guys think? :confused:
 

ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
The inspectors I know teach when laid off, which is most of the time.

If the inspection is too thorough they eventually get fired for aggravating property developers, and slowing economic progress. If they are too polite, or don't pay for their own lunch, they get canned for accepting gifts. In my opinion the common backup plan of teaching apprenticeships is also competitive and tenuous for these periodic inspectors.

Committing to any self-employed venture, such as contracting, may be dramatically different than surviving as an employee, but I don't believe anyone can generally promise success with either route.
 

bikeindy

Senior Member
Location
Indianapolis IN
Boats831 said:
I am currently working as an estimator for a residential electrical contractor. ...recently my side work seems to keep increasing by the day... Should I start to consider opening up my own contracting business or should I focus my energy on becoming an inspector. What do you guys think? :confused:

I think it sounds as though you are stealing work from your employer and deserve to go into business for yourself and have the same done to you. Or become an inspector and tell all the customers that there are code violations and you would be happy to fix them "on the side" it seems this could be pretty profitable for you.

Oh yeah welcome to the forum.
 

Boats831

Member
Location
Philadelphia, PA
I should have given a little bit more background about me. The company that I work for does all new residential construction. My side work is all service work, mostly on commerical retail buildings. Also I have insurance, I get permits and I am licensed in the townships that require it. I am just trying to figure out what might be the best route for me in the future. Everyone I know has their input, but I would like to hear from those who are in the trade and actually know what being an electrician is all about.

Also it is nice to be here on this forum.
 
bikeindy said:
I think it sounds as though you are stealing work from your employer and deserve to go into business for yourself and have the same done to you. Or become an inspector and tell all the customers that there are code violations and you would be happy to fix them "on the side" it seems this could be pretty profitable for you.

Oh yeah welcome to the forum.


That is some assuption you have garnered from the post...you must have special powers.

In your 'book' it must be guilty until proven innocent, I have read a different book.
 

bikeindy

Senior Member
Location
Indianapolis IN
Pierre C Belarge said:
That is some assuption you have garnered from the post...you must have special powers.

In your 'book' it must be guilty until proven innocent, I have read a different book.

Just one of my special skills,, He asked what I think and I started my statement off with "I think it sounds as..." Not having any background info I can think what i want and that is what I thought. Now with some more background info I can think more clearly"
 

bikeindy

Senior Member
Location
Indianapolis IN
I wouldn't think of being an inpector If I was you which I am not, IMO inspectors have to spend their whole day looking for the bad in people and I think it wears on them and then that is what they are always doing. I would continue on the path towards becoming an EC. But that is a no brainer since that is what I have done.

The real question i think you need to ask yourself is, "What do I really enjoy doing?" I think you will descern your answer from there.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
Boats831 said:
My side work is all service work, mostly on commerical retail buildings. Also I have insurance, I get permits and I am licensed in the townships that require it. I am just trying to figure out what might be the best route for me in the future.


You are already an electrical contractors. Now you just need to decide if you can come up with enough work for a full time operation.

On all the part time contracting ( sidework ) are you making a decent profit or are you doing it on the cheap because you have a day job.
The reason I ask is because if you have been doing really cheap work then you will lose some of these customers when you have to raise rates.

If I were you and already had the business going I think I would give expanding the business into a full time thing a try. The worst thing that can happen is that you may have to get a job sooner or later and go back to the part time thing again. If so, you are no worse off than you are know.
 

nakulak

Senior Member
get yourself a piece of paper and list the pros and cons of each. also the pitfalls of each. If you haven't worked for yourself (solely) before, talk to some people that are in business and when the chips fall into place make your move. consider the economy also. consider the worst case scenario if things go to hell in a handbasket (what have you got to lose - your house, etc etc)

good luck whatever you decide
 

radiopet

Senior Member
Location
Spotsylvania, VA
bikeindy said:
Or become an inspector and tell all the customers that there are code violations and you would be happy to fix them "on the side" it seems this could be pretty profitable for you.

Sounds like that statement would be a "BIG" conflict of interest. You could not be an electrical inspector and report code violations only to come back and fix them " on the side "....yeah I see a problem with that concept..;)
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
You should ask yourself how motivated you are by money. An inspector will never be rich. A contractor who is a good business man could become very wealthy. I don't see inspectors around here driving Benzes and living in multi-million dollar mansions, but I do see many contractors living that way.
 

satcom

Senior Member
infinity said:
You should ask yourself how motivated you are by money. An inspector will never be rich. A contractor who is a good business man could become very wealthy. I don't see inspectors around here driving Benzes and living in multi-million dollar mansions, but I do see many contractors living that way.

That is funny, i see many inspectors making a better living then most small contractors, the jobs posted for full time inspectors range from $65k to 120K with paid benifits, medical plans, paid vacations, retirement plans. where some small ECs may not come near that.
 

brian john

Senior Member
Location
Leesburg, VA
radiopet said:
Sounds like that statement would be a "BIG" conflict of interest. You could not be an electrical inspector and report code violations only to come back and fix them " on the side "....yeah I see a problem with that concept..;)


And working for a contractor and doing side work is not a conflict.

Nothing makes an EC work for sucess like only having one job (his company), and not having a fall back like a full time job.
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
satcom said:
That is funny, i see many inspectors making a better living then most small contractors, the jobs posted for full time inspectors range from $K to K with paid benefits, medical plans, paid vacations, retirement plans. where some small ECs may not come near that.


That more or less depends on where in NJ you're doing business and if you have to capability to move from being a small contractor to a larger one. If you're going to be a small 2 man operation than the two trades (EI/EC)incomes should be rather equal. $65K/year as a contractor and you can't afford to live around here.

IMO you don't need great business skills to be a small time contractor. If you do possess them than you can move on to larger commercial work where the profit margins are much higher and of course so are the risks. These are the guys I see around here in northern Bergen County with huge homes, boats, cars and houses at the Jersey shore.

And getting back to the OP, my point was that as an inspector you'll never be rich. Your income will be finite due to the number of hours in a day. As a contractor your ability to make a lot of money is infinite.
 

Huevos

Member
bikeindy said:
I think it sounds as though you are stealing work from your employer and deserve to go into business for yourself and have the same done to you. Or become an inspector and tell all the customers that there are code violations and you would be happy to fix them "on the side" it seems this could be pretty profitable for you.

Oh yeah welcome to the forum.

Right or wrong, that was pretty funny. Thanks for the laugh... :grin:

As far as the OP, I don't know what it's like in your area but around here inspectors don't make much money. I might consider it when I retire but wouldn't think about doing it for a living now.
 

ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
infinity said:
IMO you don't need great business skills to be a small time contractor.

That may change with Home Improvement write offs requiring receipts, IRS auditing more bank transactions, and referral services, such as ServiceMagic, requiring full licensing.

infinity said:
If you do possess them (Bus. skills) than you can move on to larger commercial work where the profit margins are much higher and of course so are the risks. These are the guys I see around here in northern Bergen County with huge homes, boats, cars and houses at the Jersey shore.

IMO EC's are limited by GC's who exploit both ends. Solid profit commercial projects for an EC may be limited to public works, and Multi-million $ NECA territory. Good luck competing with them.

If you look closer at the McMansion-trophy homes on the shore line you may find fewer EC's, relative to General contractors, who clean up by exploiting both ends of the food chain.

infinity said:
And getting back to the OP, my point was that as an inspector you'll never be rich. Your income will be finite due to the number of hours in a day. As a contractor your ability to make a lot of money is infinite.

As a contractor the laws of nature permit more bending of the rules, and access to the rule makers. Such as, including round-trip tickets to HAWAII for the entire family, redeemable after the bid is awarded.
 
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ohm

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, AL
The OP didn't say how old he/she was and the "junior member" is no indication so the persons financial status and number of dependents comes into play. If he/she lives from payday to payday risk is a big factor. Also, how good are his/her estimates, if they are all "right on" perhaps taking the plunge into full time EC is a good choice (was for me). As far as becomming an inspector is concerned some of my best friends are inspectors. I don't expect any favors or try to "just get by" or hide things and they appreciate that. One even corrects minor items for needy homeowners rather than fail them, which I'm sure is quite satisfying.
 
bikeindy said:
I wouldn't think of being an inpector If I was you which I am not, IMO inspectors have to spend their whole day looking for the bad in people and I think it wears on them and then that is what they are always doing. I would continue on the path towards becoming an EC. But that is a no brainer since that is what I have done.

The real question i think you need to ask yourself is, "What do I really enjoy doing?" I think you will descern your answer from there.


I cannot see how that is remotely true. I know you said it is your opinion, I hope it is not most inspector's daily routine.

If, and I mean if there are mistakes on a job that an inspector may find, that does not mean the person who installed the work is a bad person.

I find in the area that I work in the 'guys' are some of the hardest working, funny, vivacious people I have the pleasure to meet.

As with any part of life, there are always some bad apples....they may come to the top, but that is a small percentage of my weeks work.


That is the ultimate work day...doing what one enjoys. Once a person finds that, it is no longer going to work in the morning, it is another day of living. :wink:
 
Most inspector's are the nicest peolple to ever meet, they may find corrections on a job , but they are just doing there job. I have become good freinds with a few of them but when they come to "Inspect" freindship is out the door till the inspection is over. They also will talk a lot of the code changes and what to expect now.
 

ivsenroute

Senior Member
Location
Florida
I live in PA and I do both.

I can earn a good living doing electrical work.

I can't make as much money doing electrical inspections.

I know of about 6 local code inspectors that were doing both electrical and construction code enforcement that were laid off.

Example:
I do residential electrical code inspections in 1 city and 2 boroughs.

This week by doing inspections I made about $125.

Doing electrical work I made about $950 because it too is slow.

Do the math
 
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