Electrician's Success International???

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm not sure some of you are understanding the point I'm trying to make.

We don't sell receptacles.
We don't sell light fixtures.
We don't sell wire or boxes.

Anyone can go out and buy these things for themselves.
They don't need us to purchase these things.

What we're selling is our time.

People are paying for our time not a $.50 part.

The only question is how much are you willing to sell your time for.

If you're doing side jobs. How much is it worth for you to sell the time that you could be spending with your family?

Time that you can never buy back at any price.

I guess I believe my time and other people's time is valuable. That's why I don't have a problem with paying someone over a hundred dollars just to come out and fix my little problem.
 
It all comes down to price vs value.

But 2 companies who pay the same pay/benefit packages (think union just for fun) and co. #1 is not watching the other costs and efficiencies but co. #2 is really on it watching waste, purchasing etc, It's easy to see that #2 can charge less and make more. That's what happens here when the economy slows down; we either become like #2 or we throw in the towel. The capitalistic freemarket system is the most honest and moral system there is.

Now throw in the "retired" electrician who wants to make a few exrta bucks on the side to suplement his retirement. Here in CA he can work as a handyman on jobs up to $500 without a license. He is very qualified/experienced, has low overhead and doesn't need to make much. Many of you out there act as though there are no market forces out there - and maybe that's so where you live - but here in the wild west the competition can be pretty sobering. Your not wrong in what your saying but your not here either.
 
bkludecke said:
It all comes down to price vs value.

But 2 companies who pay the same pay/benefit packages (think union just for fun) and co. #1 is not watching the other costs and efficiencies but co. #2 is really on it watching waste, purchasing etc, It's easy to see that #2 can charge less and make more. That's what happens here when the economy slows down; we either become like #2 or we throw in the towel. The capitalistic freemarket system is the most honest and moral system there is.

Now throw in the "retired" electrician who wants to make a few exrta bucks on the side to suplement his retirement. Here in CA he can work as a handyman on jobs up to $500 without a license. He is very qualified/experienced, has low overhead and doesn't need to make much. Many of you out there act as though there are no market forces out there - and maybe that's so where you live - but here in the wild west the competition can be pretty sobering. Your not wrong in what your saying but your not here either.
Click to expand...
I'm in Utah and the $45 an hour guys are plentiful. Awhile back I even saw an ad in the local paper that read; "Electrical Work $25 per Hour."

So yes I'm here losing jobs to these people.

Most are doing side jobs illegally and charging these low rates.
Most of their customer's don't know they're not licensed, not insured and are doing it illegally.

Most of their customer's probably don't care either. They just want a bargain.

Then when things go wrong they call me up and want me to come out and finish or fix the other guys work at the same rate he was charging them.

Suddenly I become the crook or gouger because I won't do it for $45 per hour.
 
bkludecke said:
It all comes down to price vs value.

But 2 companies who pay the same pay/benefit packages (think union just for fun) and co. #1 is not watching the other costs and efficiencies but co. #2 is really on it watching waste, purchasing etc, It's easy to see that #2 can charge less and make more. That's what happens here when the economy slows down; we either become like #2 or we throw in the towel. The capitalistic freemarket system is the most honest and moral system there is.

Now throw in the "retired" electrician who wants to make a few exrta bucks on the side to suplement his retirement. Here in CA he can work as a handyman on jobs up to $500 without a license. He is very qualified/experienced, has low overhead and doesn't need to make much. Many of you out there act as though there are no market forces out there - and maybe that's so where you live - but here in the wild west the competition can be pretty sobering. Your not wrong in what your saying but your not here either.
Click to expand...

Here in the east we have handyman, hackers, moonlighters, and yes, even the same retired electricians, but, they are not the competition, because they don't offer the same level of service, an most of us in the business do not work the low end of the market. If your working the low end of the market, then you have these market forces out there.
 
bkludecke said:
Now throw in the "retired" electrician who wants to make a few exrta bucks on the side to suplement his retirement. Here in CA he can work as a handyman on jobs up to $500 without a license. He is very qualified/experienced, has low overhead and doesn't need to make much.
Click to expand...
He also doesn't have as much time left before he's pushing up daisies.
You would think his time would be even more valuable to him so he'd be charging every bit as much as the guys with the huge overhead are getting.

Just because your overhead is low and you don't need much doesn't mean your time is worth less and you should charge less.

You should be charging just as much as the guy with the higher overhead and putting the extra money into your retirement plan so you don't have to do side jobs when you retire. Unless you love doing this stuff so much you want to continue doing it until the day you die. I know I don't. :)
 
I often hear about how the plumbers and HVAC contractors have it together.

Has anyone visited any plumbing or HVAC forums?

If so are their posts full of debates like we have here?

I was just curious.

Maybe I'll have to visit one and find out.

By the way I just got back from a service call. Was there less than an hour. Billed $200. Ka-Ching.
Warning! Warning! We have a price gouger!
Will they call me back? I'm guessing they will since this wasn't the first time. I've been out a few times.
Some people don't mind paying for good service. Some don't want to wait a week for the $50 per hour guy to show up. They're the customer's I want. The competition can have the others.
This was commercial work though.
 
Last edited:
Whether we like it or not. Whether we admit it or not. We only have some control over our pricing, not total control. Ultimately it's the marketplace that sets the upper end of our rates. If you have 4 gas stations at an intersection and 3 of them are charging $3.25/gallon, the 4th one is somewhat limited in how much higher than that he can go. He can offer full service, wear a nice uniform and sell a better grade of fuel to get a little more but when the economy drops off so will his prices.
 
I agree, but take that same situation and suddenly 1 of the 3 stations at $3.25 drops his price to $2.00....without regard to his costs, he just drops it....does that mean that the correct price for gas is suddenly $2.00/gal?

also, don't compare a commodity to a custom service.
 
If one station can figure a way to turn a profit @ $2/gallon he will force the price down at least some at the other stations. All businesses operate with the Marketplace pushing and pulling at the profit line.

Some have said that we should make a decent wage + profit. No-one has said what that wage or profit should be. They can't because it's not the same for all of us. Some people are content with $50k/year and others don't think $200k/year is enough.

This forum is a good place to air alot of good ideas and debates. I like it here.
 
well, i ask this question....how many of us honestly went into business to be content with $50k a year? I believe after years of beating your head against a wall, many of us become content. But I believe that all of us went into business with the hope of making more money that we could working for someone else.

but that being said, there is a huge difference between pricing for service and pricing for installations.....


I'd also like to add the following thought for you old timers...

maybe you bought your house 20 yrs ago for $50,000....maybe you made your money already....maybe your only overhead is an answering machine and a 10 yr old van....but why hurt us younger guys?

we have to spend $250,000 just for a starter house...we have to pay $500/month+ for a van, etc.....

i'm not saying anything other than look beyond your own nose....and realize that we are all in this together...
 
Last edited:
It's not just us old timers that affect the market; actually we are more aware of the new young crop nipping at our heels than you might think. Here in CA we also have:

Firefighters (and other gov't employees) who are licensed ECs on the side and can work cheap and are well qualified.

Immigrants who will work really cheap and think they are rich beyond belief (they send most of thier money back to thier homeland)

New ECs who are trying to break into the market with low pricing.

Etc Etc.............

But no-one ever said it would be easy.
 
When I first started contracting in this town I was not only fairly new to contracting but I was in a brand new town with no contacts or people I knew. It was 1978 and I priced a service call at $12.50 for the first hour. I started getting some business and took the bold step up to $19.50. Now I'm at $115 and am competing against alot of $45 guys. Fortunately I have good people and a good clientel base, but things are getting pretty cut-throat nowadays and it will be interesting to see where it all goes this time around.
 
Well i am off to do a 5200.00 200 amp overhead service upgrade, this includes 5 ,15 amp dedicated circuits.
1 range and dryer circuit all open Access .
3 years ago I would only of charged around 2000.00 for this.
I have to thank Many of the members here that also visit other forums. Without these guys I would of been a frustrated, gone broke Electrical Contractor.
Thanks Satcom, Emahler, Aline and the many others that Opened my eyes about COSTS.
 
electricguy said:
Well i am off to do a 5200.00 200 amp overhead service upgrade, this includes 5 ,15 amp dedicated circuits.
1 range and dryer circuit all open Access .
3 years ago I would only of charged around 2000.00 for this.
I have to thank Many of the members here that also visit other forums. Without these guys I would of been a frustrated, gone broke Electrical Contractor.
Thanks Satcom, Emahler, Aline and the many others that Opened my eyes about COSTS.
Click to expand...

Your welcome doug,

We want to see all the new guys, and those that are working hard at making a go of it succeed, the idea is not to become rich, but to earn a decent living, and be able to provide for your family, your employees, while operating a business that can grow strong eniough, that it will be able to contribute back to the community.
 
satcom said:
We want to see all the new guys, and those that are working hard at making a go of it succeed, the idea is not to become rich, but to earn a decent living, and be able to provide for your family, your employees, while operating a business that can grow strong eniough, that it will be able to contribute back to the community.
Click to expand...
What's wrong with becoming rich?
A lot of my customers are. Why shouldn't I be? :)

That's why I went into business was to become rich.
It may be just a dream right now but hey a guys got to have a dream doesn't he.

If I shoot for getting rich I might just end up earning a decent living.
If I shoot for a decent living I might just end up getting by.
If I shoot for Just getting buy I might just end up in the poor house. :)

Oh wait. I'm already in the poor house. I guess it can only get better from here.

One things for certain.
I would rather go broke because my prices are too high than go broke because my prices are too low.
 
Last edited:
went into business to be content with $50k a year
Click to expand...

I hope to make more than that, I have electricians making $90,000.00 plus a year, then there are the beneies, holidays and 2 weeks vacation. I don't seem to get the vacation for some reason.

Not speaking for SATCOM, but I think his idea was not all of us will become rich, but to be successful you want to make enough to live comfortably and support a family, if you do become rich well all he more power to you.

As for residential service changes, when I started in the trade 37 years ago this month, a service change was a $1.00 an amp, $200.00 got you a new 200 amp service all ready for that new central AC unit everyone was installing. No idea what they go for now $2000.00 an amp?
 
Last edited:
I guess it's what you consider rich.
Bill Gates rich or hey I've got enough money I can put in a new pool now.

I'm sure everyone has there own idea as to what they consider rich. :)

A lot of my customer's that I consider to be rich have million dollar homes, a swimming pool, hot tub, home theater and a boat, Hummer, Corvette and Harley parked in the six car garage.

I consider them rich. They probabley consider themselves as earning a decent living. :)

Except when I present my price. Then they act as if they're in the poor house and my bill is going to push them over the edge into bankruptcy.
 
Last edited:
My guess would be that most of those customers that you consider rich don't really own all that stuff, they just share it with the bank.

I once had an economics teacher say that he hoped that we would all be sucessful enough in life to be at least $500,000.00 in debt.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top