Electric trade

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The fact of the money being tight, and my body being old, is why I no longer do field electrical work. For the past several years I have either be an electrical project manager, foreman, estimator, and now plan checker for a jurisdiction. I had to find an easier (on my body) way to make a living without just throwing away all of the experience I had in the field since 1975.
I think I am in the "electrician's graveyard" because I am seeing more and more "old-time" electricians getting into inspection and plan check these days. It's the only place that pays well anymore.
It is very distressing to see the lack of professionals in the field. Electrician used to be a title that you could be proud of, but now you tell people that you are an electrician and the answer is, "Oh, that's nice, can you install a ceiling fan for me?"
Good luck to all of the hard working field electricians and electrical mechanics out there.
 
The problem is that the average homowner is willing to pay for big, flashy, and fancy - but not for safe and adequate. Because homeowners do not care and ONLY want the lowest price that they can find, there are plenty of "bottom feeders" that will give them what they want. It is a shame that people will spend a fortune on a home, but won't spend a couple of extra dollars to have quality electrical work done. I saw a house recently - 3400 sq. feet. With a 200-amp 20-circuit panel, filled with half-size breakers and one spare. What would it have cost to install a full-sized panel? $50? Yet I lost many jobs for $50 when I was in business. If I did go back into business, I think I would ONLY do repair work. There is absolutely no money to be mde in new construction in my experience.
 
haskindm said:
There is absolutely no money to be mde in new construction in my experience.
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I would bet the guy catering to that market is making money. He would not be doing it if he was losing money.
 
petersonra said:
I would bet the guy catering to that market is making money. He would not be doing it if he was losing money.
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I would disagree with this statement.

The guys catering to the new construction market are not in business very long. They either move on to other electrical work or they hire unskilled and supervise more projects.

The price stays low, but the people move on, or up. Sorta like McDonalds.
 
They are making money by doing work that meets only the code minimum, cutting corners, having either no employees or very low paid employees (often offering no benefits) and using the cheapest materials that can be found, for the most part. New residential work is almost ALL done by "part-time" electricians in this area. They work full-time as facility electricians, or for some electrical company and then wire a few houses in the evening or on the weekends. We have three large military bases in this area which employ many "electricians", it is fairly easy to find someone that will wire a house "on-the-side". I wanted to be proud of the work that I had done and provide my employees with a high standard of living - so I am no longer in business. I could not compete in the residential market with the "trunk slammers". High volume builders usually use reputable electricians in order to stay on schedule, but even they are forced to use the cheapest materials available to get the work.
 
I would think, the ability to make a good profit, depends on one thing. A strong union presence. Maybe 2 also a strong inspection department
 
the thing that pisses me off the most, is when el cheapo electricians find out what i'm charging, and then move their price within $500-$1k (on residential) of me, while still using the cheapest material and doing haphazard installations. to be quite honest, i've been very tempted lately to make the move to the plastic boxes and wirenuts. what worries me is that the contractors i work for will say, "hey, now that you're using the cheap stuff how 'bout a price cut." then i'll be back at square one and the switch would've been pointless. i don't know. maybe doing it a little better will pay off one day; at least i like to tell myself that, but i really can't see how. no one cares anymore. cheap and fast is what they all want. and how about this; a contractor i used to work with started using an interior designer on all his spec homes. i showed up for a trim one day and found about half the light fixtures i needed, and a box full of blanks. she specified half the light boxes to be capped off so she could use that money to buy nicer faucets, paint, etc. . . but hey, that's what's selling. btw we did get the other light fixtures we needed, but i think they came from wal-mart.
 
splinetto said:
I would think, the ability to make a good profit, depends on one thing. A strong union presence. Maybe 2 also a strong inspection department
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gotta tell you that very few people outside of a few struggling ECs think that inspection departments should be used to help you make a profit.
 
petersonra said:
gotta tell you that very few people outside of a few struggling ECs think that inspection departments should be used to help you make a profit.
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My point is that if the inspectors hold everyone to task..(being picky)...everyone will end up having to charge more..I dont mind an inspector making me do something that may not exactly be in the code but is what he wants as long as he makes everyone else comply...If he sees my work and sees how neat it is and then he sees some sloppy work (diaginal pulls/more than 1 wire in a hole):grin: :grin: He hopefully will make the guy comply and make his work neat also...
 
amptech said:
What's non-compliant about diagonal pulls or more than one cable in a hole? How big is the hole?
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It was a long thread......:D

Apparently in some areas it is considered unprofessional to run more than one cable per hole. :rolleyes:
 
i've been very tempted lately to make the move to the plastic boxes and wirenuts.
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What the.....????


Have you seen those new fangled electrified hole drillers?:D

Plastic boxes are not only cheaper and easier to install, they are also safer. No chance of a short circuit thru the box and no connectors squeezing the cable.

I don't know WHAT to say about the wirenut thing.
 
splinetto said:
My point is that if the inspectors hold everyone to task..(being picky)...everyone will end up having to charge more..I dont mind an inspector making me do something that may not exactly be in the code but is what he wants as long as he makes everyone else comply...If he sees my work and sees how neat it is and then he sees some sloppy work (diaginal pulls/more than 1 wire in a hole):grin: :grin: He hopefully will make the guy comply and make his work neat also...
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Have to admit, I am shocked that Bob was not all over this statement. Maybe his meds had already kicked in.:grin:
 
Energize said:
Have to admit, I am shocked that Bob was not all over this statement. Maybe his meds had already kicked in.:grin:
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I try to know when to pick a battle. :D

splinetto is as set in his ways as I am in mine. :cool:
 
they are also safer. No chance of a short circuit thru the box and no connectors squeezing the cable.
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nope. gonna disagree with you on that one. let me know when you've successfully set a steel box on fire.
 
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