How many times to bother a lead?

[electricmanscott]

man your cold. I really liked his email. You're probably right though. Probably the only people that would reply would be someone in business that would send out something like that. We do get a good number of replies to our hard copy surveys from people we do work for though.

I liked I the email too. But if it was me that it was sent to I'd more than likely delete it. I bet the majority of people would do the same.

 

[realolman]

It gripes me to say this, but I think Electricman scott is right... You submit bids, you don't hear anything..... It's part of the business.

How many contractors do you contact, or contract with who don't show up? They don't send you no flowers.


Also re: George being disparate:


Main Entry: dis?pa?rate
Pronunciation: \ˈdis-p(ə-)rət, di-ˈsper-ət, -ˈspa-rət\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English desparat, from Latin disparatus, past participle of disparare to separate, from dis- + parare to prepare — more at pare
Date: 15th century
1 : containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements
2 : markedly distinct in quality or character

 

[triplstep]

We were called out to take a look at a basement remodel. I went out, looked it over, sketched a layout, discussed it, and upon leaving, told him it would be a few days before we had a price to him, and he said ok.

Well, a couple of days wound up being about a week.........

George dropped the ball on this one. Consumers expect to have action when they are told action will happen. George did not deliver within the time frame that he set. Basic business 101, do as you say. George, I vote forget about contacting this guy any longer.

Chalk this one up to a learning experience.

 

[Ohmy]

Huh?

I don't live my personal life in man hours.

OK....how many personal minutes

 

[Ohmy]

George dropped the ball on this one. Consumers expect to have action when they are told action will happen. George did not deliver within the time frame that he set. Basic business 101, do as you say. George, I vote forget about contacting this guy any longer.

Chalk this one up to a learning experience.

That's right. Quote on the spot...close on the spot.

 

[flashlight]

" Bid high and bid often. "

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Wife called 3 electricians for a new BB install in her rental...2 did not return calls, one did...kind of. That was the preferred one,with the best rep. I finally called tham to get them on the ball. Once the quote was given, we did not hesitate. I would think in a sour economy most would jump hard on this. Yes, it's a 100 yr. old house, a PITA job, but...

 

[LarryFine]

Wife called 3 electricians for a new BB install in her rental...

Couldn't get you to do it?

 

[realolman]

Couldn't get you to do it?

Heck no, It's a PITA

 

[jaylectricity]

Wife called 3 electricians for a new BB install in her rental...2 did not return calls, one did...kind of. That was the preferred one,with the best rep. I finally called tham to get them on the ball. Once the quote was given, we did not hesitate. I would think in a sour economy most would jump hard on this. Yes, it's a 100 yr. old house, a PITA job, but...

OK...what's a BB?

 

[LarryFine]

OK...what's a BB?

I took it to mean baseboard heat.

 

[jaylectricity]

I took it to mean baseboard heat.

Thanks, your guess is as good as any.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Thanks, your guess is as good as any.

Yes it is abbreviated for baseboard...an old habit for us plumber/HVAC types.
And, Larry....here's the deal...
1. No, I don't have time to deal with it
2. Cannot write off my labor..would have to re-activate my business, do tax returns...yuk!
3. I did my sentence retro fitting HWBB (hot water baseboard) systems into older houses. I'll pay dearly someday from the old hogshair plaster dust, asbestos, PCB's I've been exposed to.

3 guys knocked this job out in less than a week...$3400, new 100 amp sub panel, baseboard heaters, t-stats, wiremold, etc. They did a fairly good job.

 

[LarryFine]

. . . wiremold . . .

Wiremold?! The hacks!



J/K I've used it aplenty when I had to.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Wiremold?! The hacks!



J/K I've used it aplenty when I had to.

Kind of unavoidable in a 100+ yr. old house....especially with those who are not real talented fishing wire or pipe thru walls. If I would have had the time to tackle the project......I would have installed hot water baseboard/panel radiators/condensing gas boiler with outdoor reset....

 

[growler]

I would think in a sour economy most would jump hard on this.

3 guys knocked this job out in less than a week...$3400, new 100 amp sub panel, baseboard heaters, t-stats, wiremold, etc. They did a fairly good job.

I can see why they didn't jump to hard on this job. $3400 for three guys for a week isn't that great.

I'll have to assume that if it took say four days to accomplish this job that there was quite a bit of work which ment a bit of materials used.

How much of that $3400 was labor?

If they used around a $1000 for material, permits and so forth that only leaves $2400 for a four day period or $600 a day for 3 men. Spread evenly that's $25 an hour. Doesn't leave a lot for overhead or operating cost.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I can see why they didn't jump to hard on this job. $3400 for three guys for a week isn't that great.

I'll have to assume that if it took say four days to accomplish this job that there was quite a bit of work which ment a bit of materials used.

How much of that $3400 was labor?

If they used around a $1000 for material, permits and so forth that only leaves $2400 for a four day period or $600 a day for 3 men. Spread evenly that's $25 an hour. Doesn't leave a lot for overhead or operating cost.

Median income in my area is around $50K/yr., average tradesman (electrician,plumber, tin knocker) makes around $15-$20/hr. All trades are hurting right now. I thought the price was reasonable, only 4 circuits involved. Still though, it's hard to get contractors to do estimates, return phone calls...Lots of people in the trades are good technically, but are lousy businessmen IMHO.

 

[growler]

Spread evenly that's $25 an hour. Doesn't leave a lot for overhead or operating cost.

average tradesman (electrician,plumber, tin knocker) makes around $15-$20/hr.

Yes I can understand the average pay of $15-$20/hr. But if you are paying the employees $15-$20/hr average and only taking in $25 for billable hours then it's operating at a loss.

There is no way that all overhead will come out to less than $10 an hour.

To operate at these prices you would have to assume that every job would pay like clockwork and that you could just 1099 the employees for actual cost and have no vehicles, insurance or office expenses.

Even in the worst of times it's not a good idea to buy watermelons for a dollar and sell them for seventy five cents.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Yes that's true, and I don't know the exact number of hours billed to the wife's house. Salaries paid must be doubled to make any real money at the game. I guess it's becoming common practice for residential contractors to take jobs on at or slightly below cost, just to keep the ball rolling, like their commercial brethren.....especially those who had been wallowing in the lushness of new work the past few years...glad I'm not in business anymore.

 

[growler]

That was the preferred one,with the best rep.

Kind of unavoidable in a 100+ yr. old house....especially with those who are not real talented fishing wire or pipe thru walls.

Kind of makes you wonder how they got the best rep. without being talented at fishing wire. Kind of a prerequisite for being a residential installer on older homes.

I would question their veracity. So you have 30 years of experience and you are only 20 years old, "remarkable". So you are the best at residential repair and never fished any cable, "interesting". :-?