Service contract for BBBY (Bed bath beyond)

[quogueelectric]

Mules Idea is what will eventually have to be done to get paid anyway and is a great idea but you should call the corp hq and bypass all this bull present them with a fair rate and you may walk away with a nice contract. Cut the other guy out asap and go right to the top. CC the CEO of the company with all corespondence as this will get immediate results. You have to ask yourself why dont they have a maintenance guy right now????

 

[emahler]

I'm waiting for ITO to chime in...I know he doesn't do much service work, but the man knows retail....

Good luck attempting to go straight to the source...remember, in addition to the company that has the contract, every other National Maintenance company is courting them as well...and there are hundreds...then to sell them on calling you just for electric, just in these stores? not likely...

some companies leave the maintenance up to the individual store, then you have a good shot...but when they use a national company, it's because they don't want the headaches and hassles of dealing with individual service companies...

JJ, there are literally hundreds of companies like the one you mentioned...some are good, some are bad...we do work for a handful, but they all give a reasonable NTE...they aren't huge money makers, but they keep the men busy and some cashflow coming in...

if you had a handful of service guys, and could really manage the paperwork, you could make money...but if you are still in the field, this one will eat you up...

 

[ITO]

Emahler- I am with the ?Run Forest, Run? comment.

The last two BBBY jobs I built had multiple rows of 4? T8 strip at 14? in a continuous strip, run diagonally to the building lines, over the gondolas, end caps, POS and other hard to reach areas. BBBY also keeps their back stock on the top shelves of the gondolas stacking up to 12?. Twenty minutes a ballast would not even cover getting your ladder in the door, let alone dealing with the obstacles.

Maybe they could put an add on Craigslist and find the right guy.

 

[celtic]

Double post....please delete

 

[celtic]

You dispatch a truck to the store which probably doesnt open till 9 am ...

Not to be annoying to you but how are you going to change 3 ballasts in an hour in a store with crap piled to the moon you cant supply the ballasts and there are 12 bluehairs in aisle 3 shopping slowly.

I cannot imagine a store allowing the lamps/ballasts/tombstones to be changed during operating times....not saying it doesn't happen, but it is INSANITY!

All you What does the estimating programs give you to change a ballast?? If the store was empty and the floors were clear no problem however they are not. Crap piled to the moon and beyond.

Estimating programs "assume" "good conditions"....an active store is nowhere close to "good conditions".


IMHO, these maint. outfits are not looking for electricians. They are looking for ECs to do the work using the lowest paid/skilled people on the planet ~ guys who can change a lamps/ballasts and not much more.
No offense to emahler and ITO.
I am sure you are not sending your a-team on these jobs, unless it's simply "busy work".

 

[ITO]

I am not doing any kind of ridiculous service contracts like that.

My service men are all first class, experienced "can do" type of men, some of which even have a masters license. Part of my business model is to use my service department for punch list/ job close out and warranty work, and when service gets slow they can run small jobs too.

No offense taken but anyone who can't make the a-team does ditch work, and hauls material.

 

[celtic]

No offense taken but anyone who can't make the a-team does ditch work, and hauls material.

I agree :smile:

There is the A-team and those that aspire to be on the A-Team

 

[growler]

Twenty minutes a ballast would not even cover getting your ladder in the door, let alone dealing with the obstacles.

That's what I was thinking but that may not be what this company is wanting.

Many of these chain stores have regularly sheduled maintenance on their lighting and all lamps any ballast that are bad get changed out. It's not really a service call because the volume of lamps and balast can be quite large.

I haven't tried this type of work but I think they only have one electrician to change balast and tomb stones and a bunch of goons to swap out the lamps ( fluorescent tubes). One of my ex-brothers-in-laws was doing that sort of work a few years ago and he didn't make very good and the people working under him didn't make anythings ( a little above minimum wage).

This scheduled maintence isn't much like a service call. If there is a real electrical problem they don't even bother with it they bring in someone else for that.

That may be what these people are looking for, a goon squad. Lamp & balast changers.

 

[quogueelectric]

Getting to the top of the food chain

Getting to the top of the food chain

Whenever I have a problem getting action and I really want to rattle the tree I google the corps officers and get the address of corp hdqrtrs.
I write a letter to to my problem and cc the ceo or coo of said company. It allways brings instant results because once the letter gets to the ceo it immediately turns a spotlight on the source of my problem.
They will start to dance out of that light as soon as it is on and will make every effort to turn that light off.
I only do this in extreme circumstances.

 

[ITO]

Sounds more like a a Craigslist job to me.

 

[quogueelectric]

I cannot imagine a store allowing the lamps/ballasts/tombstones to be changed during operating times....not saying it doesn't happen, but it is INSANITY!
.

It
It is done all the time now as the labor gets higher they want to avoid any overtime or shift work . Sometimes you get a 2 hr blitz in the morning from 7 to9 before the store opens then go behind barriers when the store opens. You drop a lamp or sidecutters and you are done. Broken glass and possibly a customer hurt. no shortcuts when doing this.Crazytown I tell you.

 

[480sparky]

My first collections I had to send out was from a huge mall company: General Growth Properties

Took 8 months, but I finally got paid, minus the 25% fee they charged...

Funny thing, the mall actually called me and tried to figure out how I calculated the interest charges.

General Growth doesn't seem to be growing much these days.

 

[Greg Swartz]

General Growth doesn't seem to be growing much these days.

Thanks for posting that!
I am getting ready to do some work with my sign company on a GGP mall (the same one that I had problems getting paid from)

I'm going to e-mail him that link!

THANK YOU!
Greg