burger king/ Taco Bells

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MBLES

Senior Member
are there any money in these fast food electrical jobs? these things go up so fast there isnt any time for mistakes. any idea the best way to quote these jobs? i would assume you would have to have an experienced team already doing these to make money.
 

John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
are there any money in these fast food electrical jobs? these things go up so fast there isnt any time for mistakes. any idea the best way to quote these jobs? i would assume you would have to have an experienced team already doing these to make money.

I think you already answered your own question. Yes an experienced crew that does the same restaurant repeatedly. The layout shouldn't change significantly from one to the next. Drive thru always goes counterclock wise, bathrooms are usually in the door & to the right.

Fixture & appliance package should be similar if not exactly the same from one to the other.
 

mannyb

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Occupation
Electrician
I think you already answered your own question. Yes an experienced crew that does the same restaurant repeatedly. The layout shouldn't change significantly from one to the next. Drive thru always goes counterclock wise, bathrooms are usually in the door & to the right.

Fixture & appliance package should be similar if not exactly the same from one to the other.

LOL! you are right. I guess my question should have been: are these types of jobs worth the hastle. i assume the profit not much at all. these types of contractors are aready into these jobs for very small profits, they mostly make their money fining the subs on stuff like no hard hats or other safety violations. or not meeting milestones. thanks anyway!
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Some national chains (not just the fast food industry either) may provide certain items like lighting fixtures as well.

But when "their fixtures" arrive you are still responsible for dealing with damages, incorrect fixtures, shortages, etc. You may not need to pay for them, but they will still cause extra troubles and delays for you and you are not really reimbursed for it.
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
LOL! you are right. I guess my question should have been: are these types of jobs worth the hastle. i assume the profit not much at all. these types of contractors are aready into these jobs for very small profits, they mostly make their money fining the subs on stuff like no hard hats or other safety violations. or not meeting milestones. thanks anyway!

For those chains there are:
New construction projects,
Remodeling projects, and,
Maintenance

Sounds like you were hinting towards new construction. That usually requires travel within some region. The trick is being able to get that project done at that location on the schedule they require and making a profit.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
we do both of these. . . . there is money in both. not a fortune, but decent margins that add up.

they're probably two of the simplest fast food restaurants to build, in my opinion, and a good project to learn restaurant work on.



kwired said:
Some national chains (not just the fast food industry either) may provide certain items like lighting fixtures as well.

But when "their fixtures" arrive you are still responsible for dealing with damages, incorrect fixtures, shortages, etc. You may not need to pay for them, but they will still cause extra troubles and delays for you and you are not really reimbursed for it.

you just have to account for this time in your bid.

on these two restaurants though we typically supply all fixtures & gear.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
are there any money in these fast food electrical jobs? these things go up so fast there isnt any time for mistakes. any idea the best way to quote these jobs? i would assume you would have to have an experienced team already doing these to make money.

honestly, if you actually want to make money doing these, your
single best strategy is to go to work for a company that already
does them, as a sparky. do about three of them, and then decide
if you wish to go out on your own hook. as an electrician with the tools,
you will get a wealth of information necessary to bid them successfully.

i've seen a lot of these done. no way i'd EVER consider doing one as
a contractor.

the timeline on a lot of them is in 30 minute increments, often. it's
absolutely brutal, depending on what happens with the other subs.
a 20 x 20 room with 30 people working on everything at once.
you could have a 12 year old on a pogo stick in the middle of the room,
and you'd probably never even notice.
 

tshea

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
KFC

KFC

I bid a KFC. The "winner" said he lost his shirt. Nothing that was delivered was marked. Fixtures and lamps were broken. The biggest loss was waiting on everything. Once he had his crew on-site doing some work they needed to start installing material, of which some was missing. He ended up sending his guys home until replacement parts showed up. Then he was behind and had to work OT to catch up.

He wasn't happy.


If you know ahead of time this type of snafu is possible, you can factor it in to your bid.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I bid a KFC. The "winner" said he lost his shirt. Nothing that was delivered was marked. Fixtures and lamps were broken. The biggest loss was waiting on everything. Once he had his crew on-site doing some work they needed to start installing material, of which some was missing. He ended up sending his guys home until replacement parts showed up. Then he was behind and had to work OT to catch up.

He wasn't happy.


If you know ahead of time this type of snafu is going to happen, you can factor it in to your bid.

there was a typo. i tried to fix it. got the color wrong. sorry.

congratulations on dodging a bullet.

there was a job recently. had to certify the lighting on it. it wasn't in the
middle of nowhere, it was in the CENTER of the middle of nowhere.

an hour and a quarter to a home desperate. one way.
a wholesale house, you say? sure, wilburrr.... that's not gonna happen
for two hours, one way.

EC and his best sparky spent three days in the store.
they didn't need a motel room. just napped there from time to time,
in their trucks. they got it done.

day of lighting control commissioning.... tech rep didn't show up. oops.
will be there in two days. scheduling error.

8 hour round trip to home and back. got back there for setup. one LED
down light had a bad driver. he had a spare.
second LED downlight, it wasn't the driver, it was the element. no spare.

another round trip in two days, for a single light.

16 hours and $300 in fuel. not in the bid.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
honestly, if you actually want to make money doing these, your
single best strategy is to go to work for a company that already
does them, as a sparky. do about three of them, and then decide
if you wish to go out on your own hook. as an electrician with the tools,
you will get a wealth of information necessary to bid them successfully.

i've seen a lot of these done. no way i'd EVER consider doing one as
a contractor.

the timeline on a lot of them is in 30 minute increments, often. it's
absolutely brutal, depending on what happens with the other subs.
a 20 x 20 room with 30 people working on everything at once.
you could have a 12 year old on a pogo stick in the middle of the room,
and you'd probably never even notice.

Idk..... I've been doing restaurants for a few years now and never experienced anything like this.

It gets busy, yeh, but totally manageable when staffed accordingly.






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gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
there was a typo. i tried to fix it. got the color wrong. sorry.

congratulations on dodging a bullet.

there was a job recently. had to certify the lighting on it. it wasn't in the
middle of nowhere, it was in the CENTER of the middle of nowhere.

an hour and a quarter to a home desperate. one way.
a wholesale house, you say? sure, wilburrr.... that's not gonna happen
for two hours, one way.

EC and his best sparky spent three days in the store.
they didn't need a motel room. just napped there from time to time,
in their trucks. they got it done.

day of lighting control commissioning.... tech rep didn't show up. oops.
will be there in two days. scheduling error.

8 hour round trip to home and back. got back there for setup. one LED
down light had a bad driver. he had a spare.
second LED downlight, it wasn't the driver, it was the element. no spare.

another round trip in two days, for a single light.

16 hours and $300 in fuel. not in the bid.

Isn't that a change order? We make it clear for finals that you get one, count 'em one (1) and that's it, unless it's our goof. Every trip is going to be 4 hours minimum.
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
My experience with this kind of work has been working on a Walgreen's. It's exactly as has been described so far - very fast schedule, every trade working in the same room, very little space to set up, etc etc. You really have to specialize in this kind of work to be good at it and be profitable at it. Otherwise, you will lose your shirt.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
My experience with this kind of work has been working on a Walgreen's. It's exactly as has been described so far - very fast schedule, every trade working in the same room, very little space to set up, etc etc. You really have to specialize in this kind of work to be good at it and be profitable at it. Otherwise, you will lose your shirt.
I would think that if the same GC and same subs worked together enough times they could get pretty efficient, but that never happens.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
Problems with these fast food places too, it that they want them done in 90 days or so.

Yeh that's typical. We usually do them in 75 days, sometimes 60.

Someone mentioned above about efficiency of using the same GC and subs, and that's very true. We're pretty much always working with the same subs in a particular region. The site contractor will usually be local, but other than that it's all the same companies traveling around doing them.

The first couple you do will be tough, but once you figure it out, it's really an easy job.

We just finished a big box retail store with a 90 day schedule, and being my first one for this retailer, it was one of the most stressful jobs I've been a part of (mostly due to staffing issues because we are swamped, and partly due to lack of solid planning on my part). But somewhere there is a company doing them all the time saying how easy they are. If we were to do another one, after the experiences gained on this particular job, I'm certain we could do it with 20% less labor hours. Restaurant chains are no different.



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