Being too helpful!

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every carpenter thinks he can do the electric in our area and many do.The fire marshall inspects in the county but no license are required one of the local handy hacks stopped me at the gas station and asked what the inspector was talking about when he told the homeowner he needed "arcing breakers" in the bedrooms,I told him that yes they were needed and I always had to remind my guys to "pull the extra wire" so they would work.He looks at me and says "oh yea the extra wire,thanks" and off he went and I was smiling all day.
 
PaTerminator said:
It is frustrating when similar jobs like service upgrades have different requirements, I'm constantly changing clauses in contracts to cover myself. Very time consuming as I didn't take typing class seriously when in high school.:rolleyes:
My other least favorite thing is debating to renew a liscense in a township, If you pay the fee, there's not much paperwork except the check. But a bunch of those every year start to add up. But if you let one lapse and then go back later to renew it, everything has to be updated and in some cases, notarized.
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I am glad you were able to take the joke, I tried many years back, to get the guys intrested in state wide licenses, they were scared if they went for licensing, they would have to take a test, that they may not be able to pass, and they would be stopped from working, so state licenses never came about, just last year, the group from phily, tried to scare everyone again, sperading doom and gloom, how everyone would loose. Once the guys all get together and fight for state license, the township fees and local license will go away.
 
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i usually try to avoid telling customers how i plan on doing something just incase something like this happens. i usually just check out the job, take notes then call back with a price. and if they ask what the problem is i just tell them ive noticed a few code violations that should be fixed quickly. then once the job is done i tell them what ive actually done.
 
We charge for estimates

We charge for estimates

If a HO wants a written estimate, we charge for it, on the spot as we have laptops and printers in our trucks.
When we tell the customer estimates are X dollars they agree but never expect us to be back in 10 minutes with it from our truck or do it at their kitchen table. When they find out we can do this, 75% of them pass.
We spend less than 1/2 hour on estimates as we charge per opening.
 
220/221 said:
It is not a loss if you consider it tuition.

Everyone needs to recognize red flags. This job had red flags, caution tape and bio hazzard signs posted all over the place.

I would have quickly eyeballed it, quoted it high enough to cover anything, doubled that and got a 50% deposit.

There is plenty of good work out there. Don't settle for less.
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Best advice so far.
 
growler said:
This gun rack you speak of, would this be considered as a license or insurance? :grin:
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No, you do not need either a license or insurance where he is speaking of. There are a lot of areas of PA where no license is required. The work just has to be inspected. The inspectors are private inspectors, not county employees. The county can give you a list of qualified inspectors for the area if you inquire. The closes PA county to me is York County. The only place in York County you need a license is in the township limits of York, a very small area of York County.
 
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Two bums on a park bench

Two bums on a park bench

One of the most sucessfull contractors I have ever known had a large picture in his office. It was a cartoon of two bums on a park bench. One of the bums was saying " You know I won every job I ever bid!" It was hung in the office to remind him every day of this.
 
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