finish someone elses work

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Rewire

Rewire

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Lake of the Ozarks
We got a call today from a general contractor wanting to know if we would finish the trim out on an additiuon his EC started but walked off the job. I assume he was going through the phone book calling every EC to see who would bite . He used the classic line I got more work lined up. I declined the job as we have all the clients we need and this just had an uncomfortable feel. I wouldnt even know how to approach such a job . Would it have been to much to ask what happened with the other EC?
 
kwired said:
IMO, absolutely not. It also would be interesting to ask the other EC what happened, maybe the GC was the real problem and not the EC.
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Why not ask them both. It would be hard to make an informed business decision about what happened without hearing both sides of the story.
 
Rewire said:
I wouldnt even know how to approach such a job . Would it have been to much to ask what happened with the other EC?
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You can ask anything you want in a situation like this. Only an idiot would jump in there blind.

To be legal you need to transfer or get a new permit. The only job I have ever taken over after the walls were finished I was able to leave the rough inspection in the original ECs name.

Even though it passed the rough-in in a county known for hard inspections there were many things left out and many boxes buried.

I think I ended up charging more for troubleshooting and moving devices than what the trim cost.

One thing for sure is that I'm not giving a fixed price for a job like that.
 
Who cares why? If the pay is right and it seems likely you will actually see the money go for it.

Otherwise, you are too busy right now.
 
petersonra said:
Who cares why?
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It's allways better to know what you are getting involved in. There are many jobs that are better to walk away from than to ever start.

Just like playing poker it's better to fold many hands before putting much in the Kitty.

Contractors don't normally walk away from work that pays so right off you have a "Red Flag".
 
growler said:
It's allways better to know what you are getting involved in. There are many jobs that are better to walk away from than to ever start.

Just like playing poker it's better to fold many hands before putting much in the Kitty.

Contractors don't normally walk away from work that pays so right off you have a "Red Flag".
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I did one of these jobs about a year ago. Someone did the ruff and supposedly the owner fired him.

Not sure what went on, maybe a little of each side. What I do know is the guy ran all the homeruns and didn't mark any of them.
Also, I couldn't find a couple of them. I broke out my toner and found them just dead ended hanging under the house, connected to nothing.

I told the owner to start with that I would do this on T&M. He didn't like that much and wanted a price. I tried to come up with a worst case scenario price and he didn't like that either.

Finally he said go ahead with the T&M. He said he and one of his guys would help to keep the hours down. I didn't like that but reluctantly agreed.

After I was finished, the total T&M was more than the set price I gave him. This was mostly because they neither one knew what they were doing and I had to constantly stop what I was doing and show/help them.
Also, when I powered up everything, there were a couple of circuits that only part of them worked. I found some buried boxes behind the sheetrock that weren't tied in.

So I learned from that if I ever (doubt it) do that kind of job again, it will be T&M or not at all!
 
Little Bill said:
I did one of these jobs about a year ago. Someone did the ruff and supposedly the owner fired him.

Not sure what went on, maybe a little of each side. What I do know is the guy ran all the homeruns and didn't mark any of them.
Also, I couldn't find a couple of them. I broke out my toner and found them just dead ended hanging under the house, connected to nothing.

I told the owner to start with that I would do this on T&M. He didn't like that much and wanted a price. I tried to come up with a worst case scenario price and he didn't like that either.

Finally he said go ahead with the T&M. He said he and one of his guys would help to keep the hours down. I didn't like that but reluctantly agreed.

After I was finished, the total T&M was more than the set price I gave him. This was mostly because they neither one knew what they were doing and I had to constantly stop what I was doing and show/help them.
Also, when I powered up everything, there were a couple of circuits that only part of them worked. I found some buried boxes behind the sheetrock that weren't tied in.

So I learned from that if I ever (doubt it) do that kind of job again, it will be T&M or not at all!
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What these people don't understand is it is very hard to estimate what it will take to finish when you have no idea what is done, what may not be done correctly, and what it will take to complete the job. Quite often you will not know without actually doing the work to finish the job. I guess you can bill them T&M to do the estimate, and by the time you have the estimate figured out you will not have much job left to estimate:cool:
 
We got called in to help another electrical contractor that fell behind at a Walmart. A week later, all the electricians walked off the job and we get called back to finish the project. Three weeks to turnover to Walmart and only half of the store was wired. What a nightmare. Lots of long days for three weeks straight. Turns out the first contractor wasn't paying his employees and that was the reason they left. That contractor is no longer in business.
 
growler said:
It's allways better to know what you are getting involved in. There are many jobs that are better to walk away from than to ever start.

Just like playing poker it's better to fold many hands before putting much in the Kitty.

Contractors don't normally walk away from work that pays so right off you have a "Red Flag".
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I did not suggest going in blind. My post suggested this:

Who cares why? If the pay is right and it seems likely you will actually see the money go for it.

Otherwise, you are too busy right now.
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If you do not think the pay will be worth the effort, just pass on it.
 
Beyond just being curious, I could care less what happened to the last contractor. In fact, I would simply tell the owner or GC that I'm really not interested in what happened to the last EC because it's really none of business.

Of course it is my business, but IMHO, taking the position its "none of my business" gives me permission to set the terms and require I be paid in advance. That includes any administrative work such as reapplying for permits, etc. I'm just not taking any risk and frankly I don't really care for this kind of business anyway. If you do this, be certain demanding payment in advance is permitted in your state.

I don't have any statistics to support whether this really works or not because I think only once, maybe twice, in 27 years did anyone ever agree to those terms.

You can decide why that is. I don't know why.
 
Rotary

Rotary

my theory is that if you can safely make money at it go for it. if the risk is high for some reason, you are too busy.
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I like that. There are always "reasons". Making an egocentric decision after someone tells you the last guy left is not a social problem it is a business decision. We all go through the "should I stay or should I go" decision making process. It is how you address the problems and protect your assets that make your business a success.

It is definitly an oportunity. There are always money and definition of work issues. Get all these together addressed and finalized and you are going to make money. If you do not feel competent to make these decisions then walk away. When it is an adversarial position on the scope of work and payments, that is one of the many things that make up a contract. That is what we are "Contractors." The "meeting of the minds" clause is one of the elements of a contract.

Description of work,
Dates to start and finish by,
Payments.

If you and the buyer of goods are not in agreement and they are waffling, obfuscating and prevaricating then you are going to loose by risking your assets based on a miscommunication. There is no open truthful communication at the outset and there cannot be any agreement between parties. Knowing when to walk and not look back is the smart business decision when this happens. :happyyes:

The local Rotarians have a saying
Is the agreement fair to you?
Is the agreement fair to them?
Is the agreement fair to both parties?
 
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