Moving on from Residential

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zcanyonboltz

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denver
Just looking to get some people's thoughts that have done both residential and commercial. My good friend did residential for 14 years went to commercial a few months ago and keeps telling me how great commercial is and to go work with him. I've been in residential and multifamily for over a decade. My inspector told me to get into commercial as well as some past foreman. We wired a house the buyer happened to be the electrical department supervisor for a large local hospital and got his start in residential, after talking with him he told me to go learn commercial. I feel like there is nowhere to move up to in residential except the next house. Thanks.
 
You don't have to compete with as many handymen or other "hacks" in non residential work. Not that there still won't be any, just normally not as many. You still have full time maintenance men at some places that try to do more then they should though.
 
ptonsparky said:
Tract residential is dead end if you are the cable puller. We have guys here that have done both and now,as owners,do custom residential only, vs commercial.
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Owning and doing high end residential or tracts I know is good for the person with the company for sure. I have done a lot of customs as well and I feel like tract or custom its the same situation for the cable puller.
 
I'll break it down.

Residential: Romex, plastic boxes, recessed lights, hot attic, basement full of junk, crawlspace full of ???

Commercial: Pipe, wire, switchgear, work in all weather conditions, crowded jobsite, get it done now.
 
peter d said:
I'll break it down.

Residential: Romex, plastic boxes, recessed lights, hot attic, basement full of junk, crawlspace full of ???

Commercial: Pipe, wire, switchgear, work in all weather conditions, crowded jobsite, get it done now.
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Residential in winter is work in a freezing house with maybe missing windows roof just dried in not complete so a lot of heat goes right out the roof, hot upstairs all summer, get it done yesterday.
 
peter d said:
I'll break it down.

Residential: Romex, plastic boxes, recessed lights, hot attic, basement full of junk, crawlspace full of ???

Commercial: Pipe, wire, switchgear, work in all weather conditions, crowded jobsite, get it done now.
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Residential : baseball cap, shorts, tennis shoes

Commercial: Hard hat, safety glasses, boots.

If I were working for someone else you couldn't beat me with a club and get me to wire a house.

It's much easier to be your own boss in residential and light commercial.

If I were this guy and going to stay in residential I would start learning service work. More money and half the work.
 
growler said:
Residential : baseball cap, shorts, tennis shoes

Commercial: Hard hat, safety glasses, boots.

If I were working for someone else you couldn't beat me with a club and get me to wire a house.

It's much easier to be your own boss in residential and light commercial.

If I were this guy and going to stay in residential I would start learning service work. More money and half the work.
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I was going to say almost the exact same thing, you beat me to it.
 
growler said:
Residential : baseball cap, shorts, tennis shoes

Commercial: Hard hat, safety glasses, boots.

If I were working for someone else you couldn't beat me with a club and get me to wire a house.
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This goes with what my buddy is telling me that the pace is so different not running around like a chicken with your head cut off blowing out house after house after house....
 
growler said:
Residential : baseball cap, shorts, tennis shoes

Commercial: Hard hat, safety glasses, boots.

If I were working for someone else you couldn't beat me with a club and get me to wire a house.

It's much easier to be your own boss in residential and light commercial.

If I were this guy and going to stay in residential I would start learning service work. More money and half the work.
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Bingo.

I started in commercial doing v/d/v in new-con hotels.

Cons: Lot of travel, and sometimes two+ projects overlap where you have to be in two+ places at once, it's often hot or cold, and work is boom or idle. Very little learning of troubleshooting techniques and nada of programming software or setting up PBXs, etc.
Pros: I was my own boss to a large degree, work the hours I wanted, scheduling down to the hour wasnt necessary, and for the most part I had the freedom to do the project the way I saw fit. Good money.

Residential, Pros: Home every day. Steadier paycheck. Projects are much smaller, and so are the headaches.
Cons: Oh boy. Tight crawlspaces and hot attics, especially in summer. Lot of hand trenching. Changing gears very fast (e.g., canned lights in the am, generator PM around lunch, troubleshoot something in the evening vs pulling wire for a week). Scheduling is much tighter. It's MUCH nastier work. Lot of driving compared to commercial new-con projects. Money isnt great or guaranteed. Requires more tools/knowledge, especially on service work. Codes seem to change faster. Bidding jobs is harder.

Being unorganized in either isnt good but istm to hurt you much more in residential.

Overall, I would rather do commercial over residential, tho troubleshooting and service work in resi is its one saving grace imo.
 
JFletcher said:
Bingo.

I started in commercial doing v/d/v in new-con hotels.

Cons: Lot of travel, and sometimes two+ projects overlap where you have to be in two+ places at once, it's often hot or cold, and work is boom or idle. Very little learning of troubleshooting techniques and nada of programming software or setting up PBXs, etc.
Pros: I was my own boss to a large degree, work the hours I wanted, scheduling down to the hour wasnt necessary, and for the most part I had the freedom to do the project the way I saw fit. Good money.

Residential, Pros: Home every day. Steadier paycheck. Projects are much smaller, and so are the headaches.
Cons: Oh boy. Tight crawlspaces and hot attics, especially in summer. Lot of hand trenching. Changing gears very fast (e.g., canned lights in the am, generator PM around lunch, troubleshoot something in the evening vs pulling wire for a week). Scheduling is much tighter. It's MUCH nastier work. Lot of driving compared to commercial new-con projects. Money isnt great or guaranteed. Requires more tools/knowledge, especially on service work. Codes seem to change faster. Bidding jobs is harder.

Being unorganized in either isnt good but istm to hurt you much more in residential.

Overall, I would rather do commercial over residential, tho troubleshooting and service work in resi is its one saving grace imo.
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Myself and my buddy have both done service work... working for someone else its okay a lot less labor intensive compared to roughing tracts, pay is better the only con is they load you up with calls and and not knowing what your getting into at each job the day can quickly go from 8 to 10 or 11+ hours to get them all in that day. I do like troubleshooting and remodel more brain less brawn, I would like to do that work for myself but need to test for ME, thinking go to commercial for a few years get ME try to go residential service remodel for self eventually.
 
That’s the drawback with industrial work.

When we married I warned the wife not to expect me home when my shift supposedly ended. A plant breakdown and you can say goodbye to any personal plans you may have had.
 
A lot of good advice so far. I would like to add that commercial work will probably send more $$ your way but make sure you're well capitalized. The $$ is better but in many cases you'll have to wait longer to get paid, depending on the company you're doing the work for.
 
zcanyonboltz said:
My good friend did residential for 14 years went to commercial a few months ago and keeps telling me how great commercial is and to go work with him. I've been in residential and multifamily for over a decade.
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zcanyonboltz said:
This goes with what my buddy is telling me that the pace is so different not running around like a chicken with your head cut off blowing out house after house after house....
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I think you will find that commercial work is more interesting (more to learn) and this makes the time go faster. The next job you go to after spending 6 months or a years at one job may be completely different and have a whole different set of problems. You don't get burned out by repitition or doing the same old thing day after day.

The only bad thing I can think of about making the change is that if you ever get laid off and can't find another job in commercial and have to go back and do some residential you will then think it really sucks.
 
One think about resi work that makes you look like a hero is learning how to snake in wires with minimal/no damage to wall and ceilings. That's a lot more satisfying than wiring tract houses.
 
peter d said:
One think about resi work that makes you look like a hero is learning how to snake in wires with minimal/no damage to wall and ceilings. That's a lot more satisfying than wiring tract houses.
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We had a cable company call us to get a new feed from the attic to basement apartment in an older apt bldg. Owner said No to exterior cables or conduits. Took some fishing but got it done. That was fun.:)
 
peter d said:
One think about resi work that makes you look like a hero is learning how to snake in wires with minimal/no damage to wall and ceilings. That's a lot more satisfying than wiring tract houses.
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ptonsparky said:
We had a cable company call us to get a new feed from the attic to basement apartment in an older apt bldg. Owner said No to exterior cables or conduits. Took some fishing but got it done. That was fun.:)
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On rental properties, I often get the opposite, run EMT on the walls and get it done as quick and cheap as possible. Maybe try to follow baseboards or run through closets if it doesn't take too much extra effort. Done many second floors with primarily bedrooms, knee walls, little or no attic in older houses with surface mounted EMT, Wiremold might look nicer but is too expensive for this application.
 
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