I don't work with GCs often please explain...

[kwired]

..the best customer, for me, is a heavy commercial or industrial
customer that has a need for an electrician on an ongoing basis.

Just about any service type business needs a few customers like that to survive. There are always periods where there is little to do and these customers always need something. Cleaning the shop - may need to be done but is not very profitable if you have a crew (even a crew of just a couple guys) doing that daily for the whole week - or longer.

 

[goldstar]

Depends on what they want and what you'll tolerate. I don't care if the GC is going to go bankrupt, I will still expect, demand, litigate, lien, use a debt collector and pursue payment when dealing with another corporation if I think I will get paid.

This is 100% correct but you won't be able to do any of those things unless you have a signed contract. In addition, unless the GC owes you about $10K or more it probably won't pay to try and litigate or put a lien on the job. BTW, if the GC goes bankrupt you'll be lucky to get 10 cents on a dollar settlement if you have a lien.

Some states are better than others with this. I just wish there were a better way to protect subs money on these jobs. BTW, I've said this before in this forum - don't hook up with a track builder. He'll always keep you behind in payment 5 or 10 houses and when the development is complete he goes bankrupt and you can't get paid.

 

[kwired]

BTW, if the GC goes bankrupt you'll be lucky to get 10 cents on a dollar settlement if you have a lien.

That is pretty high even if you are lucky. My experiences with bankruptcies even with liens on a property is that the attorneys are paid first, then the banks, and after that there is no money left to pay anyone else.

The attorneys get exactly what they wanted and the banks are lucky to get 10%.

I will add that the banks usually end up with the property and all other liens are cancelled, and the bank at least can sell the property - meanwhile the hard working contractors are left with nothing while the desk jockies get whatever they can. Can you tell who is involved in making the rules in these cases?