Small Electrical Contractor considering changing the way we do business.

V

VE Inc.

Member
Location
Jacksonville, FL
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Hello fellow ECs, tradesmen and women,

Almost 6 years ago, my wife and I purchased an electrical contracting business with 30 years history and membership with the IBEW. With Mike Holt's help, I was able to pass my business and trade exams in 2022.

Anyhow, I'm hoping to get feedback from the trusted forum members. As of 12/1/2024, we're no longer affiliated with the IBEW, but we've been used to supplying all journeymen with trucks, tools, fuel, water, ice, etc.. Service body truck insurance in my state averaged $1,520 per vehicle. Some of that had to do with accidents my former employees caused. Regardless, insurance is an uncontrollable expense and increases exponentially each year.

We've noticed a trend with other trades in our area. They're eliminating service body trucks and moving to placing either connex containers or pull behind trailers on the job sites. These connexes contain misc materials, tools, fixture packages, gear packages, etc. We can insure each container and up to $175,000 in contents for $375 per year. We currently own three connexes. New connexes are readily available for $3,500.

What am I missing? Why would I not choose to go this route?

Any feedback, cons, naysayers, devil's advocates are welcome. As of now, the pros are far outweighing the cons.

Thanks for reading this. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback.

M Perry
 
Thank you for your reply, Action Dave. Several JW's that are working with us now would rather drive their own personal vehicles. Whether it's because they don't want to sign our truck or cell policy. Maybe it's because they want to avoid a drug test? Maybe they grab a beer for the drive home? Maybe they hit their "pen"...who knows? Just seems like things are shifting in my area.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 
You may still have some need for service body trucks for service calls or other small projects or certain limited tasks here and there related to a larger project. You possibly have only certain employees that would regularly be using them as well.

Something that seems to be common around here anymore is flatbeds with tool boxes on them instead of service bodies, not just electricians but anyone that carries a certain amount of tools and equipment with them pretty much wherever they go with a work vehicle. I have no idea if insurance would be different with those vs the service body or not. They likely take more abuse than many service bodies do when it comes to potential insurance claims as they are generally heavier steel and won't dent as easily in minor collisions. Of course not the kind of thing you probably want in a city if you are going to have things in the open portion of the flat bed and end up parking in non secured locations often or even if you don't trust some the other trades people at a project that is somewhat secure from unauthorized people being on the premises.
 
Depends on the size jobs your doing.

With IBEW it is probably common on larger jobs to have a truck for the foreman and the journeymen drive their own vehicles to the job. I like the enclosed trailers to bring tools to the job towing it with the foremen's truck and then use the connex for material.

That said again depending on the size of the jobs and the work you do you probably need a service electrician in a truck
 
VE Inc. said:
Thank you for your reply, Action Dave. Several JW's that are working with us now would rather drive their own personal vehicles. Whether it's because they don't want to sign our truck or cell policy. Maybe it's because they want to avoid a drug test? Maybe they grab a beer for the drive home? Maybe they hit their "pen"...who knows? Just seems like things are shifting in my area.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
Click to expand...
I'm all for throwing away tradition and going with whatever works.
 
kwired said:
You may still have some need for service body trucks for service calls or other small projects or certain limited tasks here and there related to a larger project. You possibly have only certain employees that would regularly be using them as well.

Something that seems to be common around here anymore is flatbeds with tool boxes on them instead of service bodies, not just electricians but anyone that carries a certain amount of tools and equipment with them pretty much wherever they go with a work vehicle. I have no idea if insurance would be different with those vs the service body or not. They likely take more abuse than many service bodies do when it comes to potential insurance claims as they are generally heavier steel and won't dent as easily in minor collisions. Of course not the kind of thing you probably want in a city if you are going to have things in the open portion of the flat bed and end up parking in non secured locations often or even if you don't trust some the other trades people at a project that is somewhat secure from unauthorized people being on the premises.
Click to expand...
Kwired, I plan to keep my foreman / supers in service body vehicles. Unfortunately, in areas of Jacksonville, FL residents have sticky fingers. I will research. Thank you for the idea.
kwired said:
You may still have some need for service body trucks for service calls or other small projects or certain limited tasks here and there related to a larger project. You possibly have only certain employees that would regularly be using them as well.

Something that seems to be common around here anymore is flatbeds with tool boxes on them instead of service bodies, not just electricians but anyone that carries a certain amount of tools and equipment with them pretty much wherever they go with a work vehicle. I have no idea if insurance would be different with those vs the service body or not. They likely take more abuse than many service bodies do when it comes to potential insurance claims as they are generally heavier steel and won't dent as easily in minor collisions. Of course not the kind of thing you probably want in a city if you are going to have things in the open portion of the flat bed and end up parking in non secured locations often or even if you don't trust some the other trades people at a project that is somewhat secure from unauthorized people being on the premises.
Click to expand...
 
Eddie702 said:
Depends on the size jobs your doing.

With IBEW it is probably common on larger jobs to have a truck for the foreman and the journeymen drive their own vehicles to the job. I like the enclosed trailers to bring tools to the job towing it with the foremen's truck and then use the connex for material.

That said again depending on the size of the jobs and the work you do you probably need a service electrician in a truck
Click to expand...
Thank you for replying, Eddie702. We just got out of the IBEW last December. We typically do decent sized projects ranging from 15,000sqft up to 80,000sqft. We plan to keep our foremen in trucks. JW's are driving their own vehicles, which is new to us. I really like your idea of having an enclosed trailer for tools and connex for materials. Thank you for the advice!
 
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