Estimating changing T8's in grocery store

[Mule]

Anybody have any experience on how long it takes to change out T8's in a grocery store.....around 800 tubes need to be changed, 20ft ceiling, with a battery scissor lift, during store hours.

 

[Mule]

My info says .08/mh per tube x 1.1 multiplier for the height which would come out to around 70 man hours, not counting tool up, and roll up time per day, and efficiency rate. My hunch is this isn't enough time with the obstacles in the store signage, customers shopping, etc.....

 

[John120/240]

I have no idea, but when I worked in a grocery store they would change them from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am. Will your lift have an extendable platform ? One would make it easier to reach over obstacles. Drive Safe. You don't want to take out a shelf of pickles.

 

[cadpoint]

Best

2 tubes every 6 minutes

7.5 hr X 60 min/hr = 450 minutes

450 / 6 = 75 lamps per day

800/ 75 = 10.6 days
---------------------------------
Worst

2 tubes every 14 minutes

6.75 hr X 60 minutes/hr = 405 minutes

405 / 14 = 27 lamps per day

800 / 27 = 29.6 days

 

[Mule]

haha....That pickle comment is pretty funny, but your absolutely right, liability is a major concern. In truth we are starting this job on T/M, but they had another electrician do it last time and I just want to make sure we are not taking too long to get it done. We like to keep customers once we land one, especially if they have conditioned space to work in year round.......

 

[Daja7]

The issue with doing this work while open is that you will need to block off Isles and possibly have a person tending the isle closures. you will have pissed off customers etc. liability is greater. Management needs to rethink this one. It will be less disruptive and much faster for you if done after hours. which means if T & M much cheaper for them.

 

[iwire]

Of course it is really up to the customer but I pretty much live my life inside retail stores and you are better off doing this work at night. It is faster, easier and safer.

I have been working nights for about 3 months now retrofitting Fluorescent with LEDs in about 20 supermarkets in the area.

As far as knocking product down, it happens. Clean it up and notify the store, offer to pay for it but I have never had them take me up on that offer. I can tell you cleaning up a broken glass bottle of honey is a real pain and that a plastic container of pea soup can spread its contents surprisingly far. hmy:

What are you doing about lamp disposal?

You are not supposed to be just tossing them in the trash.

 

[growler]

The issue with doing this work while open is that you will need to block off Isles and possibly have a person tending the isle closures.

Of course it is really up to the customer but I pretty much live my life inside retail stores and you are better off doing this work at night. It is faster, easier and safer.

You really can't block off an isle for any real amount of time. Every time I have ever tried to block of an isle in a busy store every customer in the place suddenly wants something in that very isle.

I wouldn't even consider doing this work during the day.

 

[iwire]

I find it helps to remember that the shoppers are the ones paying my salary when I work in stores. I step aside, I am polite and respectful of them.

Most of the stores I work in gross $750,000 to $2,000,000 per week so any disruption of sales can be very costly. If I ever told a supermarket manager that I was going to close an aisle down they would tell me no or tell me to leave.

 

[Little Bill]

Lowes certainly doesn't have a problem shutting an isle down!:rant:
Even if the workers "disappear" for a while!:huh:

 

[iwire]

Lowes certainly doesn't have a problem shutting an isle down!:rant:
Even if the workers "disappear" for a while!:huh:

They really have little choice due to the fact there is very little storage areas at the receiving doors.

When we use a lift in a Lowes they require us to bring a spotter on the ground. We end up charging for two JWs while one works and the other 'spots'.

 

[Daja7]

I find it helps to remember that the shoppers are the ones paying my salary when I work in stores. I step aside, I am polite and respectful of them.

Most of the stores I work in gross $750,000 to $2,000,000 per week so any disruption of sales can be very costly. If I ever told a supermarket manager that I was going to close an aisle down they would tell me no or tell me to leave.

You have to work how the manager tells you for sure. But that also can double or triple the labor.
But that is peanuts to them in the long run. Just don't know why they would not a project of that size done durring business hours. If they pay, we do.

 

[Mule]

I talked to our electrician late yesterday....He's put up 15.5 cases..36 lamps each in 2 days. Im not sure about the exact hours, probably 14-16. He went in early friday at 5am to work over the registers. At some point he did bump a aisle somewhere in the store and pulled out a couple of screws from some partical board which we will repair. Working 20ft in the air, there's a lot of liability in this work, with customers, store shelves, product, and the like. I told him to take his time, be kind to people, whistle while he works, and talk a lot to the customers to keep any anger defused around him. I think we have 4.5 cases to go. We also were slowed down by the rental lift's batteries. It's from one of the cheaper places we rent from and their batteries aren't the greatest, as we have to plug in the lift at every break time, lunch time, and night to keep things rolling. This means a lot of dead time rolling the lift to a outlet for charging. There are no outlets on the main part of the floor, only around the perimeter at the cold boxes in this big box store. A dead lift in the middle of the store is a big big problem. We wont use that rental company next time.......

 

[iwire]

There are no outlets on the main part of the floor, only around the perimeter at the cold boxes in this big box store. A dead lift in the middle of the store is a big big problem. We wont use that rental company next time.......

Yeah, that stinks but keep in mind you can move most scissor lifts with the pallet jacks that the stores use to move product. I have had to do this more than a few times.

 

[Mule]

That's good to know iwire......I'll be glad when were done because it makes me nervous. We have two pole lights out in the parking lot yet also, then we're off to set up on a 12 week long commercial build out.....and that's a good thing in January. As for the time to change out the lamps, just rough numbers here, but looks like around a case per hour

 

[kwired]

You really can't block off an isle for any real amount of time. Every time I have ever tried to block of an isle in a busy store every customer in the place suddenly wants something in that very isle.

I wouldn't even consider doing this work during the day.

Kind of similar yet on the other extreme end of things - more than once when I was installing underground wiring to irrigation equipment in remote areas you could spend all day laying out cable/conduit and never see another soul, but the minute you have an open trench across a road someone will be driving down that road.

 

[Mule]

Working around people is a hassle for sure......But we are kinda set in our ways I guess, if a customer starts demanding us to work after hours, we start looking for another customer unless its something minor and doesn't take very long......

 

[iwire]

But we are kinda set in our ways I guess, if a customer starts demanding us to work after hours, we start looking for another customer unless its something minor and doesn't take very long......

The company I work for charges more for night work and pays me more for night work.

Seeing as generally dislike people it works out well for me.

 

[Mule]

It's America.....

 

[iwire]

It's America.....

:thumbsup: