I'm in my van at a customers house doing a service call yesterday and this truck pulls up. He asks me; Is your company a big electrical company or a small one?
I tell him a small one and his eyes light up like a kid that just met Santa. He hurries and pulls off to the side of the road and comes running back excitedly and introduces himself as a GC that does remodels and basements.
He starts telling me how he doesn't like working with the larger ECs and is looking for a small EC to take advantage of. (Oops, I meant work with).
He then asks if I do consulting work. Now I find out what he really wants. He wants to do his own electrical wiring because he doesn't want to pay an electrical contractor to do it. He just wants me to show him how to do it and then he'll do it.
I inform him that it's illeagal in this state for him to do his own electrical, plumbing and hvac unless he holds a contractors license in each of these trades and has licensed tradesmen do the work.
I told him he's be better off to get bids from subcontractors and have them do the work rather than doing it himself illegally. He then asks me how my prices compare to other contractors so I tell him it depends on who I'm bidding against. I know for a fact that my prices are on the high side even when compared to the larger ECs he doesn't like. I told him I was only interested in bidding on jobs against other licensed, legitimate and legal ECs.
I'm sure he's going to go ahead and do all the work himself without or hire anyone he can find that claims they know how to do electrical work.
I've ran accross these GCs work quite often. They don't pull permits, they do all the work themselves, the electrical, plumbing and hvac. At one service call I was on the basement wiring was terrible. I asked the homeowner about it and she said the electrician that was working for the GC was showing up drunk and reeking of alcohol. She called the GC and told him to send someone else out.
He then asks for my business card but when I ask for his he doesn't have one. Probably worried that I might watch him and turn him in for working without permits.
It kills me that guys like this think just because you're a small EC you're stupid and cheap. What a moron.
I tell him a small one and his eyes light up like a kid that just met Santa. He hurries and pulls off to the side of the road and comes running back excitedly and introduces himself as a GC that does remodels and basements.
He starts telling me how he doesn't like working with the larger ECs and is looking for a small EC to take advantage of. (Oops, I meant work with).
He then asks if I do consulting work. Now I find out what he really wants. He wants to do his own electrical wiring because he doesn't want to pay an electrical contractor to do it. He just wants me to show him how to do it and then he'll do it.
I inform him that it's illeagal in this state for him to do his own electrical, plumbing and hvac unless he holds a contractors license in each of these trades and has licensed tradesmen do the work.
I told him he's be better off to get bids from subcontractors and have them do the work rather than doing it himself illegally. He then asks me how my prices compare to other contractors so I tell him it depends on who I'm bidding against. I know for a fact that my prices are on the high side even when compared to the larger ECs he doesn't like. I told him I was only interested in bidding on jobs against other licensed, legitimate and legal ECs.
I'm sure he's going to go ahead and do all the work himself without or hire anyone he can find that claims they know how to do electrical work.
I've ran accross these GCs work quite often. They don't pull permits, they do all the work themselves, the electrical, plumbing and hvac. At one service call I was on the basement wiring was terrible. I asked the homeowner about it and she said the electrician that was working for the GC was showing up drunk and reeking of alcohol. She called the GC and told him to send someone else out.
He then asks for my business card but when I ask for his he doesn't have one. Probably worried that I might watch him and turn him in for working without permits.
It kills me that guys like this think just because you're a small EC you're stupid and cheap. What a moron.
