CONTRACTING - A Dangerous Sport

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mtnelect

mtnelect

HVAC & Electrical Contractor
Location
Southern California
Occupation
Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
The contracting business is a dangerous sport.
On this forum we talk about codes.
But real lives are affected by this "Contracting" business.
There must be a better way, than who is the lowest bidder, and having to hire an attorney. So, after 5 years and 5 attorneys I left the bidding wars.
So, I decided to go to the service and maintenance business.
For me, it was a welcome change.
 
mtnelect said:
The contracting business is a dangerous sport.
On this forum we talk about codes.
But real lives are affected by this "Contracting" business.
There must be a better way, than who is the lowest bidder, and having to hire an attorney. So, after 5 years and 5 attorneys I left the bidding wars.
So, I decided to go to the service and maintenance business.
For me, it was a welcome change.
Click to expand...
Service and maintenance is what I've been focusing on. I did new commercial construction and maintenance for years and realized when I became self employed I had no clue on how to deal with questionable contractors and home rennovation companies. Maybe one day I'll venture into those dangerous waters but for now I'm trying to stay busy doing home and business repairs. I have multiple friends never get paid and have to sue general contractors. I'm starting to suspect many of the property devleopers in my area and general contractors hire a different electrical company for every project because they've burned so many bridges.
 
Thank You ... This is a very dangerous business.
This is not a game ... It is a very dangerous business.
It's like can you name that tune in three or less.
People get hurt.
 
hanklazard said:
Service and maintenance is what I've been focusing on. I did new commercial construction and maintenance for years and realized when I became self employed I had no clue on how to deal with questionable contractors and home rennovation companies. Maybe one day I'll venture into those dangerous waters but for now I'm trying to stay busy doing home and business repairs. I have multiple friends never get paid and have to sue general contractors. I'm starting to suspect many of the property devleopers in my area and general contractors hire a different electrical company for every project because they've burned so many bridges.
Click to expand...

Yes, I get calls monthly from General Contractors who have gone through many subs looking for fresh meat !
 
But be careful, you can get burned on service work too. I had one boss get burned at least twice on night calls. One was an apartment maintenance man calling about 8 PM. Boss sent me, I saw they needed a new disconnect for outdoor HVAC unit. He wanted a price. I gave him a price and he said do it, that he would get manager to send a check next day. 3 days later, office called for another job. Boss asked about payment for first one. Was told we hadn't submitted our insurance info & had to do that. Wound up taking about 3 months to get paid. Turned out they had burned every plumber and electrician in their town and we were next.

Similar with another job a few months later. Late night call from a business that "couldn't reach" their regular guy. We never did get paid for that one.

Demand payment up front on such calls, not even COD. Pay in advance and we start work. COD turns into "manager has car trouble and can't bring check". Lots of crooks out there.
 
mtnelect said:
Yes, I get calls monthly from General Contractors who have gone through many subs looking for fresh meat !
Click to expand...
I assume when a general contractor gets my number they're looking for fresh meat, or the main company they hire is too busy on the other jobs and they're going to hire you once for one job.
I don't have a website and my business number is not easy to find.
 
We don't take service calls from new customers without either a hard PO or a credit card. I'm pretty sure they had to get burned a few times before they decided to take that approach.

Existing customers they will usually just accept a purchase order number.

Some customers issue us a purchase order for service work and leave it open so that we can just charge to it as we go along.
 
I have five commercial customers that keep me busy full time, I stopped doing any residential, other than maybe at their houses. They don’t question any invoices, and because I do so much work for them, a couple I just invoice once a month, and get paid on the spot. The few new customers that want quotes are just not worth it. I have one job the quote was good, but the customer is inexperienced on how contracting works. He would go around and say Oh! I would like an outlet over here, or move this piece of equipment 10’ further down. Had a heck of a time getting the machinery info out of him. If someone else had bid against me, they just pulled a high number out of the air, because they sure didn’t have the info!
I wired a welding shop many years ago, the owner said the other contractor didn’t ask about any of his equipment, and threw out a number about twice of mine. Made good money on that job, and got some free welding on my truck to boot!
 
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