Free Estimates & $40/Hour

[peter d]

You've got to be joking or ....

drunk? ....

 

[bradleyelectric]

drunk? ....

that would explain it.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

Your liability carrier won't cover you for work subbed out.

It cost me $28,000 this year to learn that.

 

[Sparky555]

As a one man show what expenses do you really have that you would not have as an employee? As a business you can now use those expenses to offset income.If you are working for $20.00/hr that works out to around $41,000 yr for a forty hr week now you become self employed charging $40.00/hr even at just 5 hrs per day that works out to $52,000 yr or $11,000 more than you were making working for someone else.

This guy is more likely to get 5 hours/week with a little newspaper ad in residential service. How long will he last on $10k/year less expenses?

 

[bradleyelectric]

This guy is more likely to get 5 hours/week with a little newspaper ad in residential service. How long will he last on $10k/year less expenses?

yeah, but with word of mouth that there is an electrician working for free and some hard work he's up to $20K/yr. Couple months. Than his friends will hear "It's a pain in the ass ownign your own business".

 

[jrannis]

I dont think I could live on 40K

Truck 7896
Insurance 1548
Fuel 7500
GL 750
WC 0
Cellphone 750
Advertising 0
Tools 2000
Health Ins 9600
Pension 8400

Total $38,144

Pretty much barebones

 

[ramsy]

You've got to be joking or ....

Or, I prevaricate on you.

 

[growler]

Speaking of workers comp. in california that's a big joke to say the least...If you get hurt on the job in calif..bend over ,your screwed ..thank our goverment for that...been there done that ? YOU will need a lawyer right from the start ..trust me ..good luck..

I have found that there is some confusion about workman's Comp. insurance. Many people just assume that it's there to protect the employee but that's not what it was intended to do. Workman's Comp. was started to protect the employeer from being sued by his employees.

 

[satcom]

I dont think I could live on 40K

Truck 7896
Insurance 1548
Fuel 7500
GL 750
WC 0
Cellphone 750
Advertising 0
Tools 2000
Health Ins 9600
Pension 8400

Total $38,144

Pretty much barebones

78K would the barebones in most cases, and way low for a metro area, but then if your in business you usually want to do better then below average income.

 

[emahler]

78K would the barebones in most cases, and way low for a metro area, but then if your in business you usually want to do better then below average income.

nah, I do it so I can take a day off to play golf or fish whenever I want....oh wait, i can't afford to do those things anymore...oh, well...at least I have a business card with "President" under my name

 

[BryanMD]

78K would the barebones in most cases, and way low for a metro area, but then if your in business you usually want to do better then below average income.

dipping my toe back int this cesspool...

In an earlier post I suggested that this guy (or similar) may not be a complete idiot by this "marketing" approach. Granted there are many complications to overcome and it's less likely to be effective in a large market... but in a small market he could very well squeeze out enough of the existing (&poorly run) EC's to make the effort worthwhile and then have much freer latitude to adjust his prices up while filling his rolodex with the names of a LOT of satisfied customers.

In the right set of circumstances, like f'rinstance a tightening economy, price will be an even greater factor and in a year or so when (hopefully) the economy stabilizes what are then HIS customers will be less sensitive to price.

Point is... it *could* work and could work very well.

 

[emahler]

dipping my toe back int this cesspool...

In an earlier post I suggested that this guy (or similar) may not be a complete idiot by this "marketing" approach. Granted there are many complications to overcome and it's less likely to be effective in a large market... but in a small market he could very well squeeze out enough of the existing (&poorly run) EC's to make the effort worthwhile and then have much freer latitude to adjust his prices up while filling his rolodex with the names of a LOT of satisfied customers.

In the right set of circumstances, like f'rinstance a tightening economy, price will be an even greater factor and in a year or so when (hopefully) the economy stabilizes what are then HIS customers will be less sensitive to price.

Point is... it *could* work and could work very well.

if a guy has enough money to pull a Microsoft move (lose money until you outlast your competitors) he is probably smart enough to not get into electrical contracting....there are other industries with a much higher success rate, and higher ROI.

most small contractors start on a shoestring budget, that's why we are in the trades...we don't have enough money to do anything else...

 

[Sparky555]

yeah, but with word of mouth that there is an electrician working for free and some hard work he's up to $20K/yr. Couple months. Than his friends will hear "It's a pain in the ass ownign your own business".

Word of mouth isn't that big a factor. More likely his customers will just think that all ECs are only worth $40/hour. He'll get the same amount of work either way. This is speaking from experience running a similar ad in the same paper many years ago, although I think I charged $48/hour in 1994. It probably wasn't enough then.

 

[peter d]

In the right set of circumstances, like f'rinstance a tightening economy, price will be an even greater factor and in a year or so when (hopefully) the economy stabilizes what are then HIS customers will be less sensitive to price.

If your only selling point is price, what can you do to win work other than beat everyone else price? Seems like a losing game to me.

 

[celtic]

I have found that there is some confusion about workman's Comp. insurance. Many people just assume that it's there to protect the employee but that's not what it was intended to do. Workman's Comp. was started to protect the employeer from being sued by his employees.

There may still be some confusion.
I am under the impression WC was meant to protect injured workers.

The goal is to make sure that somebody who is injured at work receives appropriate medical care, lost wages relating to the on-the-job injury, and, if necessary, retraining and rehabilitation, so as to be able to return to the workforce.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/workers_comp/workers_comp.html


If WC was created to protect the employer from litigation, why are there WC lawyers?

 

[BryanMD]

if a guy has enough money to pull a Microsoft move (lose money until you outlast your competitors)

No one said anything about "losing" money in the exercise and no one said it was failproof (ftr I don't think it will work for most either)...but all he has to do is "cover his nut" for a year and $80,000 is plenty enough to do that with.

most small contractors start on a shoestring budget, that's why we are in the trades...we don't have enough money to do anything else...

Exactly my point. And if this guy (or similar) has thought it through he'll know what costs he needs to cover now and what he can postpone. No question it is a risk, but in this declining economy and in the right (read smaller) market where presumably he has knowledge and some contacts... I'd be looking over my shoulder hard if I had the OH of most struggling EC's.

 

[emahler]

if a guy has enough money to pull a Microsoft move (lose money until you outlast your competitors)

No one said anything about "losing" money in the exercise and no one said it was failproof (ftr I don't think it will work for most either)...but all he has to do is "cover his nut" for a year and $80,000 is plenty enough to do that with.



Exactly my point. And if this guy (or similar) has thought it through he'll know what costs he needs to cover now and what he can postpone. No question it is a risk, but in this declining economy and in the right (read smaller) market where presumably he has knowledge and some contacts... I'd be looking over my shoulder hard if I had the OH of most struggling EC's.

ok...more directly to the point....i think you are giving the guy way too much credit...i don't think there is any ulterior motive, or thought behind this marketing campaign...

 

[celtic]

I dont think I could live on 40K

Truck 7896
Insurance 1548
Fuel 7500
GL 750
WC 0
Cellphone 750
Advertising 0
Tools 2000
Health Ins 9600
Pension 8400

Total $38,144

Pretty much barebones

Your math is off.
The total comes to $38,444

You also failed to include any dollar amounts for food and shelter for your self...unless someone can survive on $1556 ANNUALLY.... I thought we had minimum wage laws

 

[BryanMD]

ok...more directly to the point....i think you are giving the guy way too much credit...i don't think there is any ulterior motive, or thought behind this marketing campaign...

Maybe. Maybe not.
I'm taking the devil's advocate position here. In my earlier post I started this with the *ASSumption* that he had the skills and had the tools and reliable enough vehicle and a wife wife good pay and benefits etc...

I'm not disputing the merits of the conventional wisdom (I've posted enough on that to know my views)... I'm just trying to say don't be too quick to dismiss such a competitor if you are in a small market.

" Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous " Famous Julius Caesar quote by William Shakespeare

 

[peter d]

You also failed to include any dollar amounts for food and shelter for your self...unless someone can survive on $1556 ANNUALLY....

You can survive on $1556 annually....in China.