How many of EC out there specialize?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sgr1

Senior Member
Commercial, Residential, Industrial, Low Voltage, Fire Alarm the list goes on and on. I was thinking about specializing in generators. Any thoughts?
 
I would consider myself more specialized in Commercial when in regard to my experience. But as far as my business - I've been doing more residential - although I'm sensing that there is a shift to more Commercial. I think it pays better, but you tupically have to wait longer for the check - at least that's my experience. Most of my residential jobs paid when the work was finished.

I've done Fire Alarms in my past life, and found it interesting work - although I don't know how much things have changed in 15 or so years.

Not sure about your area, but there are only a few in my area that specialize in generator installations - although it could be a lucrative business. If you've got high end homes and a good number of commercial properties in your area, you've got the right clientele around you. The average "Joe The Plumber" or "Joe Six Pack" most likely won't have one installed.
 
Do you have an engine generator background, are you well versed in the Controls and operation of paralleling gear and ATS's? Do you have an understanding of fuel supply supply systems?

In addition of a factory affiliation or at least there help working on the newer units can be an issue as proprietary software is required.
 
I have done commercial generator installs before. I am a new EC just looking for options.
 
If you want to specialize, you need to be really special. What do I mean by that? You need to be the best of the best at your specialty to earn a good living. Having installed generators in the past is far from the prerequisite to be a generator specialist, unless you plan to hire diesel mechanics, go to factory schools, invest in software products, and maybe even hire a PE, etc.

I find it more useful to be somewhat of a generalist, specializing in doing work for people with money. ;) I like to do a tiny bit of everything, but nothing really involved in any particular niche area. If I have any specialty, it's mostly by default and no fault or planning of my own. I tend to do an unusual amount of big multi-tenant services and old apartment building rewiring. I'm really not sure I can tell you why that is, but I suspect that it's simply because not a lot of people like to do this type of work.
 
sgr1 said:
I have done commercial generator installs before. I am a new EC just looking for options.
Click to expand...
The way things are going around in the world I don't think anybody has the real answer. I think you should be well diversified but stay within your league.
 
mdshunk said:
Having installed generators in the past is far from the prerequisite to be a generator specialist, unless you plan to hire diesel mechanics, go to factory schools, invest in software products, and maybe even hire a PE, etc.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more, placing and wiring a generator has nothing to do with being able to diagnose why one is not working properly.
 
I think it's good to have a specialty, but you don't want to pigeon hole yourself into one niche IMO. If your in the phone book as "Joes Generator Installations" you might not get that call for general service work. Sometimes those service calls are nice when you don't have a big project going on (or any projects for that matter). If your diversified in your type of work you can adapt to changing economic booms and downfalls. Just my 2 cents worth.:)
 
The company I work for specializes in Data Centers and Cell Sites.

They do the installation and service for generators, transfer switches, UPS systems, AC units, DC plants, and the general construction of the rooms.

We sub out some of the specialty items if we cannot do it ourselves.

We have a service department that is larger than our construction dept.
Service has factory trained technicians for all of the manufactures of the generators and UPS systems that we run into.
 
Generators can be a good business. One of my longtime friends is a partner in a generator sales/service company. There's a lot of factory training required, and you've got to stock all the necessary components for all types of generators if you're going to do service. They do service contracts as well with each sale. Most of their work comes from legally required stand-by installations; I'd say less than 10% of their work comes from residential stand-by systems. There's a lot of travel and middle-of-the-night emergency calls; usually during a major storm. In our area, its not a service you can really advertise for and wait for the phone to ring. You have to get out their and sell your product, and be made aware of every project put out to bid.
 
Currently about 80% Commercial and 20% resi, but thats a moving number. In general, I try to build and skew my business toward commercial but in these economic times, beggers cant be choos'y.!!!....Currently Im swamped, but the future is questionable IMO....My experience is more industrial, but there is not that much industrial work in town. I have thought in the past about a generator service shop, but our town and area would not support it IMO, and I've learned over the years that doing the same thing over and over gets boring after a while. With that, trying to meet the customers electrical needs, what ever that may be, is my goal. So for now, my speciality is "Keeping Dinner on the Table" :D
 
we spec in commercial buildings. this accounts for 90% of all our work. we dont do any resi, I have a good friend that is VP of a toyota plant here locally and we will go and wire starters, plc's and vfd's when they have new equipment come in - that is the little bit of industrial -. And when I say commercial we do the electrical, fire alarm and telco data. We have actually done a few projects in the last year that all we did was the data or FA and some other ec wired the building. Those are few and far between and far from our specialty. So far as the generator thing goes I invested into the gaurdian thing about 4 or 5 years ago. It was like $2500 for some manuals and spare parts and so forth. We have since installed 15 gensets and 10 of them were Kohlers (guardian doesn't really compete in the large commercial stuff like we needed). If you are going to specialize in generators you really need to find out what brand you are going to link with and how many dealers are in your area. Get schooled so you can service the things.
 
sgr1 said:
Commercial, Residential, Industrial, Low Voltage, Fire Alarm the list goes on and on. I was thinking about specializing in generators. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have been a specialist my whole carrer and it has been very good to me. But, as others mentioned, you better know more than anyone else about your feild, have all of the training, all the special newest greatest test equipment (Big $$), and generally not ever need to outsource anything your call yourself a specialist for.

Good luck, I think it is a good idea seeing the direction the experts see the grid going, but you need to be 100% committed.
 
Be prepared to go to school all over again! The high end technology that only the industrial dealers saw in the past, worked its way into smaller generators. Understand that generators have to be serviced in the field. Sometimes requiring complete teardowns and re-builds. And yes, you will have to be able to trouble-shoot computer boards.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top