EC with service and construction

[mannyb]

My question is for shops that do construction and service work for retail chain stores state wide. Examples would be gas station, dollar store, etc. You build them and then service them. The challenges so far are coverage and skilled labor. How do you build them then service with so much terriroty to cover. The comapny I work for previously serviced but then asked to bid construction on the store also We are currently trying to do that but the challenge is the which one do you do first? Some EC shops build them and move on and a local EC in area will provide service for new store. Our company is trying to do both but skilled labor is also a factorits being able to service a large area and service electrician and construction electrician are not the same electrician. Service Electrician are usually T and M and you charge their time to the service call. Construction is a bid job and expected to be completed in a certain amount of time. I did only service for 10yrs and only constructruction for 10yrs IMO there is a difference. We currently have service electrician doing construction and its become a complete disaster. I dont put the blame on them but myself because we dont have the skills needed. We are trying to add Electricians familiar constrcution to complement the team but its hard during this time. I am tasked with managing teams but find myself in the field just to stay on schedule. The idea is to have a service and construction dept but its a struggle at this time If any of you guys have any adivse or strategy to implement something like this. I tried talk to the crews about this but most arent excited about the change and want to do just service and construction guys dont want to do service. Feeling Lost..

 

[brantmacga]

How do you build them then service with so much terriroty to cover.

Hire employees throughout the service area.

I tried talk to the crews about this but most arent excited about the change and want to do just service and construction guys dont want to do service. Feeling Lost..

Yeh that won’t go over well. I can tell you from experience. Guys that don’t want to do service aren’t going to just take to it.

It’s tough covering a big area. We service a lot of stores we built really because the customers just demanded it, not being able to find adequate service locally. Service guys usually aren’t expecting to travel, and that’s what makes it a tough position to hire for.


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[petersonra]

I think you're looking at the difference between oranges and apples and realistically you're right it's not the same person. The problem is if you don't have enough service work to keep somebody busy the tendency is going to be to find something for him to do which is usually something he may not be real suited for or may not want to do when he's not doing service work.

I don't know how far away you can send a guy to do service work. 2 hours maybe? That's not a very big area. Might cover a small state but if it's a state like California or Illinois or Texas you might need 10 different guys scattered along the state to be able to have someone close by.

Everybody thanks you can make a lot of money off of existing customers after a build out but realistically for the most part you probably can't because you don't have the right people to do the service.