Electrician getting paid to low

[eduardo morales]

I live in Del Rio,Texas, and most electricians here are getting paid to low, a journeyman $12.00 and hour
apprentice 8.00 an hour
Masters electrician 15 an hour
i love my job but this situation don't motivate me I have to do work on my own to survive, but this situation it's on most on all the south of Texas.
plumbers are getting paid more than we do and we are more at risk, and low voltage guys get paid more
the question is why???

 

[George Stolz]

Move?

 

[ceb58]

Move?

Become a plumber

 

[ptonsparky]

Are you licensed? Does Texas have reciprocity with other States? If so...I agree. Move.

 

[pjholguin]

Hello,
Wages in the SouthWest have always been low, even at prevailing wage jobs. Maybe it's time to the wages have the wages releveled, but that it is going to be a tough battle. In recent years I have seen wages increase but that because of supply and demand.

PJHolguin

I live in Del Rio,Texas, and most electricians here are getting paid to low, a journeyman $12.00 and hour
apprentice 8.00 an hour
Masters electrician 15 an hour
i love my job but this situation don't motivate me I have to do work on my own to survive, but this situation it's on most on all the south of Texas.
plumbers are getting paid more than we do and we are more at risk, and low voltage guys get paid more
the question is why???

 

[eduardo morales]

Are you licensed? Does Texas have reciprocity with other States? If so...I agree. Move.

Hello,
Wages in the SouthWest have always been low, even at prevailing wage jobs. Maybe it's time to the wages have the wages releveled, but that it is going to be a tough battle. In recent years I have seen wages increase but that because of supply and demand.

PJHolguin


?

Thanks for your advise.... I don't want to go to an other trade .. It's hard ti move when you have most of the family members and you happy in your town that's what bother me!!!

 

[RLyons]

Well that makes this unlicensed apprentice feel better what he gets paid. :ashamed1:

 

[ptonsparky]

Thanks for your advise.... I doncouldn'tt to go to an other trade .. It's hard ti move when you have most of the family members and you happy in your town that's what bother me!!!

We can say "move" but we also know it is not all that easy. I couldn't. At least not his week.

 

[PetrosA]

"Move" is pretty lame advice. As someone who has moved a few times I can say that it's not easy, it's not cheap and it's not something you do lightheartedly.

First off, even if you're single, it costs money to move. Someone earning $12/hr. probably doesn't have much in the way of savings to pay for a rental truck, hotels, or to take time off from work to look for a new job in another city or state. If you have a family, there's a ton of stuff to coordinate, from finding adequate housing to getting kids enrolled in new schools or daycare and taking care of all the bureaucracy steps like new drivers licenses, getting health insurance and a hundred other things.

I'm not saying it's not an option, but it wouldn't be the first one I'd recommend - especially not in the current economic situation our country is in.

 

[Fulthrotl]

I live in Del Rio,Texas, and most electricians here are getting paid to low, a journeyman $12.00 and hour
apprentice 8.00 an hour
Masters electrician 15 an hour
i love my job but this situation don't motivate me I have to do work on my own to survive, but this situation it's on most on all the south of Texas.
plumbers are getting paid more than we do and we are more at risk, and low voltage guys get paid more
the question is why???

ok. i'm not being derogatory, or trying not to be, but consider your location.

i looked on a map. you are two miles from the border of an impoverished nation
with a huge supply of labor to be had for the asking. you are also in a sparsely
settled section of a state with a historically low pay scale.

the minimum wage in texas is currently $7.25 an hour.

i googled the cost of a service upgrade in del rio texas, and it came up this:

Total Cost to Upgrade Electrical Service Panel

1 panel

$813.16

$1,146.25

that is low to high. it's less than half the price it costs to do it here.

why do sparkies get paid what they do where you are?

'cause if you want a dollar more an hour, someone else will do your
job for the pay you are currently getting.

welcome to "market driven pricing".

 

[iwire]

"Move" is pretty lame advice. As someone who has moved a few times I can say that it's not easy, it's not cheap and it's not something you do lightheartedly.

.

It is not lame advice it is direct and honest advice.

The OP is not going to be able to change the wages were he lives that leaves few options.

Move

Change careers

Learn to live on a low wage.

 

[SparkyHC]

How about increase your education? Learn motor control, learn industrial process controls, aren't there are a lot of
chemical plants in Texas? If wiring a receptacle is all you know you can't expect to much.
Never stop learning...then move if you have to

 

[goldstar]

How about increase your education? Learn motor control, learn industrial process controls, aren't there are a lot of
chemical plants in Texas? If wiring a receptacle is all you know you can't expect to much.
Never stop learning...then move if you have to

I agree. If moving is not an option then now is the time to specialize in an area within your trade (i.e. industrial wiring, PLC's, computer cabling, etc.).

Total Cost to Upgrade Electrical Service Panel 1 panel $813.16 $1,146.25

This is kind of sad. Material costs (depending on how many circuits there are, PVC or gal, etc.) could be upward of $700-$800. I doubt they're selling materials for that much less in TX. If you have to work an entire day to make $300 (that includes your salary and cost to run your business) I truly feel badly for you. But if that's what you have to do to keep your family alive then that's what you have to do.

If it will make you feel any better the going rate for a 200 amp service in my area is between $2200-$2400. Move one county over and the price increases to $2400-$2800. There are guys out there that are doing these jobs for $1600. What I can't understand is if you know the going rate why woiuld you leave that much $$ on the table. I can understand doing the job for a friend and shaving $100 or so off the job but this is ridiculous.

BTW, the advice to become a plumber is a valid one. The guys in my area won't take less than $125/hr to change a washer AND THEY ALL STICK TOGETHER ON THEIR PRICES!!! We electricians have a tendency to cut each other's throats.:rant:

 

[George Stolz]

It is not lame advice it is direct and honest advice.

I was actually going for lame, if it came out direct and honest that was not the intent. I appreciate the step-by-step instructions for how to move, I have never moved and was thusly speaking outside my experience.

:lol:

 

[George Stolz]

I would also like to point out that it is far easier to move or switch careers with the problem laid out in the OP - for example, a manager I once worked with at Wendy's is essentially pinned down to working there, because he did not make a change before his outflow matched the inflow that is far higher than other careers would pay to start. I jumped ship when it meant a 5% pay cut.

It's easier to quit and do something else when you don't take a 50% pay cut when making the move.

 

[iwire]

It's easier to quit and do something else when you don't take a 50% pay cut when making the move.

Wow that hits close to home. :jawdrop:

 

[petersonra]

you have no way to control the price the market has set in your area for the things you think are paying too little.

you can either accept that price or do something else.

that might involve moving or it might involve finding a different line of work or it might involve a shift in the emphasis of your current line of work.

my guess is that you will find that most of the wage rates are severely depressed in your area just do to geography so moving may be the only viable option.

 

[eduardo morales]

ok. i'm not being derogatory, or trying not to be, but consider your location.

i looked on a map. you are two miles from the border of an impoverished nation
with a huge supply of labor to be had for the asking. you are also in a sparsely
settled section of a state with a historically low pay scale.

the minimum wage in texas is currently $7.25 an hour.

i googled the cost of a service upgrade in del rio texas, and it came up this:

Total Cost to Upgrade Electrical Service Panel

1 panel

$813.16

$1,146.25

that is low to high. it's less than half the price it costs to do it here.

why do sparkies get paid what they do where you are?

'cause if you want a dollar more an hour, someone else will do your
job for the pay you are currently getting.

welcome to "market driven pricing".

you're right, costumers here in Del Rio, hire people from Mexico to do the crap electrical work, for a ship labor, and some times we came back to fix the mess.

 

[K8MHZ]

Also be advised that locations with higher wages have higher prices.

A place where j-men make over 20 per hour will have housing rental expenses in the 600-1200 dollar per month range.

If you move to a northern state, you can count on heating and electric bills that will run in the 200-600 dollar per month range in addition to your housing rental expenses.

Also, northern states are hard on vehicles.

If you want to buy a house, the costs will be astronomical in an area with a good economy and high wages.

Same for taxes.

Before you move for the sake of more income, just make sure that you are the one that gets it, not landlords, utility companies and the government.

 

[__dan]

How about increase your education? Learn motor control, learn industrial process controls, aren't there are a lot of
chemical plants in Texas? If wiring a receptacle is all you know you can't expect to much.
Never stop learning...then move if you have to

That is good advice. There is a lot of money and demand in oil and gas work now. It's booming in the US. Offshore oil rig electrician, instrumentation and control, PLC automation electrician. I would bet that if you made the move into oil and gas electrician you would not move back. Either that or working for the Federal govt. Software, programming, is also the job in high demand