How much do one man shop guys make

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AC\DC

Senior Member
Location
Florence,Oregon,Lane
Occupation
EC
Platt,
CED around here sucks I carry more in my trailer than they have in store, and they don’t have overnight shipping and charge for a lot of items shipped from other stores.
North coast is alright.
1hour away from any supply house so Platt’s 24 part delivery is really nice.
I would like to switch from platt
 
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MattG0311

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Apprentice Wireman
VirutalElectrician said:
Don't you watch Electric Pro Academy? He's pushing this "million dollar truck" philosophy....1 truck, 2 guys, 2K(gross) per day per guy.

I saw one video where he mentioned installing a surge protector for $600. I know in the past he's talked up the Siemens FS140, those are about $250, so he's making $350 for the 10 minutes it takes to add a surge protector to a panel swap.
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Man…I don’t think I could charge that with a clear conscience.

That said. I’m sure the contractor I work for has no issues charging exactly that.
 
P

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
I would be willing to bet for every guy that's netting six figures there's probably three or four guys who are barely breaking even if they're honest about it. That's the way it tends to be with small businesses.

The guys who are working 80 hours a week to net $400 are probably not on this forum though.
 
V

VirutalElectrician

Senior Member
Location
Mpls, MN
Occupation
Sparky - Trying to be retired
MattG0311 said:
Man…I don’t think I could charge that with a clear conscience.

That said. I’m sure the contractor I work for has no issues charging exactly that.
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It's interesting that he does that in a public video. If the customer watched and saw him bragging about upselling a $600 SPD, I'd be pretty pissed.

I used to really like his videos when he first started out, but like most successful YouTubers, he's just turned his channel into a commercial/self promotion podium.
 
V

VirutalElectrician

Senior Member
Location
Mpls, MN
Occupation
Sparky - Trying to be retired
D

d0nut

Senior Member
Location
Omaha, NE
VirutalElectrician said:
Don't you watch Electric Pro Academy? He's pushing this "million dollar truck" philosophy....1 truck, 2 guys, 2K(gross) per day per guy.

I saw one video where he mentioned installing a surge protector for $600. I know in the past he's talked up the Siemens FS140, those are about $250, so he's making $350 for the 10 minutes it takes to add a surge protector to a panel swap.
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There is so much more that goes into that cost than just the material cost and labor to install the item. That price also includes costs like the licensing, insurance, time spent on projects he didn't win, costs in other projects that lost money, fuel, tools, wages, benefits, profits, etc. The jobs you win have to cover all the operating costs plus some profit or you won't be in business very long.

It is a similar fallacy to the people who complain about an emergency department charging $60 for a single aspirin. You aren't paying for the aspirin. You are paying for someone to be there 24/7/365 to dispense that aspirin as well as all of the other people in the emergency department ready to jump in at a moment's notice if you come in with something that an aspirin can't fix.
 
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letgomywago

Senior Member
Location
Washington state and Oregon coast
Occupation
residential electrician
d0nut said:
There is so much more that goes into that cost than just the material cost and labor to install the item. That price also includes costs like the licensing, insurance, time spent on projects he didn't win, costs in other projects that lost money, fuel, tools, wages, benefits, profits, etc. The jobs you win have to cover all the operating costs plus some profit or you won't be in business very long.

It is a similar fallacy to the people who complain about an emergency department charging $60 for a single aspirin. You aren't paying for the aspirin. You are paying for someone to be there 24/7/365 to dispense that aspirin as well as all of the other people in the emergency department ready to jump in at a moment's notice if you come in with something that an aspirin can't fix.
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Still 600 bucks for a surge arrestor I'd be selling at most with 100% mark up and an hour of labor if in town. I use things like this to get people to call me back and recommend me not something I do expecting to loose a future customer.
 
mtnelect

mtnelect

HVAC & Electrical Contractor
Location
Southern California
Occupation
Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
My business plan is to take a service call and convert it into a HVAC Maintenance Contract. Of course, this does not make sense for an Electrical Contractor. I have been doing this since 1976, and it has been very successful.
 
D

d0nut

Senior Member
Location
Omaha, NE
letgomywago said:
Still 600 bucks for a surge arrestor I'd be selling at most with 100% mark up and an hour of labor if in town. I use things like this to get people to call me back and recommend me not something I do expecting to loose a future customer.
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If the SPD is a $250 device as was stated earlier, a 100% markup and an hour of labor would put you right around $600, just like the other electrical contractor.
 
V

VirutalElectrician

Senior Member
Location
Mpls, MN
Occupation
Sparky - Trying to be retired
d0nut said:
There is so much more that goes into that cost than just the material cost and labor to install the item. That price also includes costs like the licensing, insurance, time spent on projects he didn't win, costs in other projects that lost money, fuel, tools, wages, benefits, profits, etc. The jobs you win have to cover all the operating costs plus some profit or you won't be in business very long.

It is a similar fallacy to the people who complain about an emergency department charging $60 for a single aspirin. You aren't paying for the aspirin. You are paying for someone to be there 24/7/365 to dispense that aspirin as well as all of the other people in the emergency department ready to jump in at a moment's notice if you come in with something that an aspirin can't fix.
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I think we all know that. The context here was an "upsell" on an already contracted job, where all that should have already been covered. He bragged about doing this upsell while he was already on site doing a panel swap. This wasn't a stand alone upsell with a truck roll for just an SPD install. This was a pure $450 profit for a 5 minute conversion.
 
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