Buying luminaires on-line (100 2?2 lay-ins)

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chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
A GC buddy of mine has found substantial savings on theses fixtures at Warehouse Lighting and Texas Lighting and wants to know if these are reputable companys. Anyone have any comments or other suggestions?

Thanks.
 

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
Yeah, tell the GC to stick with buying nails and dumpsters and you will buy the fixtures. :)

Please don't push my buttons on GC's supplying fixture packages or heaven forbid "VE" packages. I still in a good mood.:roll::grin: Seems this is the state of our industry here now.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Let him buy and supply them, add a charge for lost markup, and tell him any and all warranty work on them (including during installation) is his responsibility.
 

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
tell him any and all warranty work on them (including during installation) is his responsibility.

The end user never understands this so our phone rings. Trims falling out of the ceiling, lamps failing, ballasted failing, EM ballasts failing, OS failing, need I go on?

OK, so I'm not in a very good mood all of a sudden, thanks guys.:grin:
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Please don't push my buttons on GC's supplying fixture packages or heaven forbid "VE" packages. I still in a good mood.:roll::grin: Seems this is the state of our industry here now.

I understand and will drop it. :grin:

I deal with servicing many customer that but their own lighting packages but are surprised when we bill them to repair them.
 

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
I understand and will drop it. :grin:

Just bustin chops Bob, but I like the fact that this thread is getting hijacked for my own venting. Take 15% away from us and let the customer call us relentlessly because someone else supplied some garbage that has failed.

And how does one charge to install garbage as opposed to the easy to install architectural grade that was speced???
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Just bustin chops Bob,

No problem at all, your frustration with the system was very evident.


but I like the fact that this thread is getting hijacked for my own venting. Take 15% away from us and let the customer call us relentlessly because someone else supplied some garbage that has failed.

My world as well.

There is a large shopping center that the company wired, per the contract the site excavation contractor was required to provide the site lighting that we installed. So now when a site light goes out and the customer calls me I have to explain how they have to call the guy who dug the holes. :confused:
 

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
This system works fine for me. I credit the GC my COST on the lighting package and keep the mark-up, then give zero warranty on the fixture package. Over 90% of the warranty calls on any job that we do are lighting related and most warranty periods are now 2 years on the projects instead of the old standby one year deal so I figure I'm making bank in saving warranty labor over the next 2 years when they do this :)

In all seriousness, this is not the way it ussually goes down but thought it might cheer chris up to hear how it SHOULD go down. Have a great weekend.
 

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Seriously Chris, I try to leave ALL of the mark-up, including my overhead costs, in the contract price when I issue a credit in this situation. sometimes it works fine, others I have to negotiate down a little to accomodate but I insist on making money on the package in one form or another. I would be very wary of the online distributor and how they would handle any warranty issues. Do they send a technician to replace a ballast when it fails or will they hire you to take care of it?

My version of Larry's "Crapola" charge is what I call a "D.A.T" It's a Dumb @#% Tax
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
15%, 20% maybe 30? How do you figure that Larry?
Hey, you brought it up, not me. :cool: :)grin:) It would depend on the PITA factor, which you'd have to determine for each fixture. Some are worse than others.

For example, I'd charge more to install an Emerald recessed can, and not warranty anything about it, even (especially) gaps between the trim and the ceiling.
 
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