Generac Power Systems dealer

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dhalleron

dhalleron

Senior Member
Location
Louisville, KY
Occupation
Master Electrician/Senior Fire Alarm Technician
I'm a small one man part time outfit for now. Mostly small resi jobs and some light commercial. Since I advertise on the web I get some shady requests for things such as "if you get the permit we will do the work".

I was contacted by a salesperson from Generac with an opportunity to become a dealer. Anyone with experience with them have any pointers? Could it be worthwhile as a part time venture? First thing I know I would have to purchase one generator to start and at least one per year to stay a dealer. Other than that, I'm not sure yet what other requirements there are.

I've only glanced at the literature they sent me. And I've only wired a few transfer switches, but could learn more about the requirements of generators if I wanted to.
 
dhalleron said:
I'm a small one man part time outfit for now. Mostly small resi jobs and some light commercial. Since I advertise on the web I get some shady requests for things such as "if you get the permit we will do the work".

I was contacted by a salesperson from Generac with an opportunity to become a dealer. Anyone with experience with them have any pointers? Could it be worthwhile as a part time venture? First thing I know I would have to purchase one generator to start and at least one per year to stay a dealer. Other than that, I'm not sure yet what other requirements there are.

I've only glanced at the literature they sent me. And I've only wired a few transfer switches, but could learn more about the requirements of generators if I wanted to.
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If you have a lot of money you want to get rid of then go for it. Their catch is you must pay to go to their school to be an authorized dealer/service rep. Then to do warranty work they tell you what parts kits to have on hand that you must pay for up front. If you go on a warranty call they pay a flat rate for travel and work. Once you replace the bad part that you have paid for you ship it to them and they will replace it. If you dont have the part they tell you to stock and must make a return trip they will not pay for the return trip charge. Also as you said you must sell x number of units per year to keep dealer status. Where you make your money is selling the unit and the install its self. Also you make good money servicing the units that are not under warranty. Most have about a 100% mark up on parts, per mile trip charge and $95.00 to $125.00 per hr.
 
Thanks ceb58,

I learned a long time ago to not get too excited about something until I understood the whole concept. That?s why I am asking for opinions here before looking into it too much.

I am part time and I am looking for some kind of niche area to work in full time, but I don?t know what that might be. A friend of mine quit his electrician job of nearly 20 years and started his own business servicing parking lot lights. He?s been doing that for over 10 years and doing ok.
 
dhalleron said:
Thanks ceb58,

I learned a long time ago to not get too excited about something until I understood the whole concept. That?s why I am asking for opinions here before looking into it too much.

I am part time and I am looking for some kind of niche area to work in full time, but I don?t know what that might be. A friend of mine quit his electrician job of nearly 20 years and started his own business servicing parking lot lights. He?s been doing that for over 10 years and doing ok.
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I know what you mean. I will be going through Generac school this year but it is on someone else's dime. I have made good money selling and installing these units. I would let the home owner fill out and send in the warranty info. If there were a problem they could call Generac and they would dispatch a local certified tech. to handle the problem.
 
I just want to add to what CEB58 mentioned. Generac will sign up anyone who is willing to purchase from them. I signed up last year and attempted to purchase a generator. The price they gave me was higher than what I could buy the same unit for from Electric Generators Direct. I questioned them on it and they lowered the price. So, long story - short, make sure you check their prices against discount suppliers.

The next thing I want to re-enforce is the fact that you can buy as many generators as you wish from Generac (BTW, you're competing with HD for the same product). Try to buy a part and they'll tell you you need to go to their school in order to become a qualified technician. In addition you'll have to stock your truck with $XXXX.XX worth of parts that you may never use in a 2 year period.

The long and short of this is generator SALES - SALES - SALES

Repairs and maintenance jobs go to to trained dealers.

BTW, I haven't sold a Generac generator since I purchased the first one and I'm still on their e-mail list.
 
goldstar said:
I just want to add to what CEB58 mentioned. Generac will sign up anyone who is willing to purchase from them. I signed up last year and attempted to purchase a generator. The price they gave me was higher than what I could buy the same unit for from Electric Generators Direct. I questioned them on it and they lowered the price. So, long story - short, make sure you check their prices against discount suppliers.

The next thing I want to re-enforce is the fact that you can buy as many generators as you wish from Generac (BTW, you're competing with HD for the same product). Try to buy a part and they'll tell you you need to go to their school in order to become a qualified technician. In addition you'll have to stock your truck with $XXXX.XX worth of parts that you may never use in a 2 year period.

The long and short of this is generator SALES - SALES - SALES

Repairs and maintenance jobs go to to trained dealers.

BTW, I haven't sold a Generac generator since I purchased the first one and I'm still on their e-mail list.
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That's is exactly why I buy mine from places like Generators Direct. You can get deals like free lift gate service on the shipping truck. Have it delivered to the site and slide it off. Saves a lot on time and back pain;)
 
Generac

Generac

I don't know where the Generac negativity is coming from but I'll say this. We get pricing 30% lower than Lowe's. Lift gate delivery is $125, but we haven't needed a lift gate delivery and I'd tell them to eat the charge or lose the sale and I'm sure they would. Package prices are better than components, and they have offered a ton of help here with the new paperwork requirements in NJ. They verify my load calcs to make sure I didn't miss anything. School is in Wisconsin or Minnesota but only applies to Service techs. It's pricey and you have to buy a parts kit for about $2k but it's worth it if you have the maintenance demand. And you can re-buy the parts kit and get your most common parts for about 80% off. You get listed on their site as a dealer for enrolling and you listing priority correlates with your annual sales. I haven't dropped a dime, sold and installed 10 units since the fall, and couldn't be happier. They provide the advertising material, customer leads, and training. It's been a win -win for us.
 
I have been a Generac dealer for 2 years now. I had a customer who wanted one and I was doing their house so signed up to be a dealer. The good side for me
is I live in a smaller population area so when people go to their website to look for someone to sell/install them I am one of only 3 others on the list. I have installed 5 for them so far and just got 4 calls within the last week for bids on them. I cant compete with HD on price and to be honest don't really care if they buy them from me. I charge $300 over my price just for pushing the buttons on ordering it on line for them. It has been a great free advertising tool for us. By the way it cost nothing to become a authorized sales person.
 
If you're thinking of joining Generac as a service dealer expect to be beaten up on warranty work. Also expect to wait to get paid. I've waited over a month and a half to be paid for warranty work in the past. I'm currently waiting for two checks for work I performed the first month of March. They supposedly cleared the checks on March 13 and they're supposed to send them out the following Friday. I've called four times over the last month and have been told a different story each time. The last time I talked to the accounting department was yesterday morning and the guy told me the checks were sent on Monday April, 4th. Our mail came in today and guess what? No checks. I'm waiting till after lunch time to call them again.

Also, expect to be beaten up on the time you spend on certain jobs. This winter I spent six hours in blizzard like conditions to work on a generator and they only paid me for two. I complained and their answer was basically too bad for you, go pound sand.
 
Generac not a good company

Generac not a good company

I am a fairly new generac dealer .I have installed 4 air cooled units of both types
main switch and prewired. They offer no help with installation or to answer service questions. I went to the 2 day service school in Akron Ohio am now certified to try
and figure out whats wrong. I know they had a series of bad control boards on 2 of my 4 installa. Also as the other fellow said you can buy them Centurian from Lowes
cheaper and get free delivery right to the slab to boot. I don't know why they doen't seem to care they have a tremendous market potential. wbculley
 
you don't have to keep anything in stock to be a dealer.

they might tell you that, but we keep nothing in stock.


i have been disappointed in their support channel lately. DOA parts, wrong parts, incorrect build sheets, etc. . . etc. . .

if you're going to install generators, pad it with enough extra for a few unnecessary trips down the road that generac won't compensate you for.



wbculley said:
They offer no help with installation or to answer service questions. I went to the 2 day service school in Akron Ohio am now certified to try
and figure out whats wrong
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They have varying levels of dealership. You have to attend the 10-day generac university to receive full tech support from generac on all models.
 
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Sounds like Generac has a firm grip on the residental market. So where does

Generac land in the pecking order of generators? Are they a Yugo or a Ford or

Chevrolet? I know that they are not up there with Caterpillar & Kohler.
 
John120/240 said:
Sounds like Generac has a firm grip on the residental market. So where does

Generac land in the pecking order of generators? Are they a Yugo or a Ford or

Chevrolet? I know that they are not up there with Caterpillar & Kohler.
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The thing is now if you buy a CAT gen. and it is 100kw or lower it is nothing but a Generac with a CAT paint job. Same with a Cuttler-Hammer gen. Eaton bought into Generac and they are building there Gen. with the C-H name. As far as pecking order who knows. We have over 200 Generac's at our communication sites. Ours are the commercial/ industrial rated units. The most are diesel units with a John Deer engine. So far the engines have given no problems. Our LP units run a Mitsubishi engine and so far they are good also. The most trouble we have had has came from the H- panel controler and the HTS transfer switches.

LarryFine said:
Okay, now what about units already in use?
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From what I have read and heard people got kinda screwed. The problem usually showed up after warranty had ran out. The problem was, for the most part, people who had these installed were not doing a maint. check. The charger would boil the water down below the plates and then one day the battery would go boom. This is not to say that there was not a problem with the charger,there was, but it was the way it went. Most people wound up by passing the charger and installing a battery tender charger to eliminate the problem.
 
brantmacga said:
did they ever publicly admit to having a problem? we had one explode, and generac claimed improper installation.
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One I installed for one of my boss's exploded a couple of years ago, the problem is the chargers boils the battery dry, and that's with the battery Generac spec's. I tell all of my customers to keep an eye on the fluid level, but most forget about it, and two years later I'm replacing the battery.
 
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