So...How's it going?

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electricmanscott said:
The good news....my house is getting painted finally. The bad news...I am doing it. Don't you guys just hate DIY's. ;)
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Let's hear it for DIY hacks. I'm weathering the recession by rebuilding the front porches on my house and sending large checks to the lumber yard. :) Or is that :( ?

Work is steady enough, but it's mostly a bunch of little stuff lately.

Oh, yeah. My house needs painting, too... :(
 
We've been hit and miss the last month or so. About the time you consider getting another hand it goes dead again. We're starting a job changing services for about a 20 apartment complex tomorrow so that should tide us over for a day or two. After that and in the meantime? Who knows?
 
iwire said:
I am at home reading your post .....
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iWire,

I am at home, reading your post,
and waiting for SS to start next month.
I have my own van and enough tools for two men.
I've been filling in the time with reading,
and little repair jobs, a lot of 'handyman' stuff.

My long-time 'master EL' friend has called several times
wanting some leads on business. One job every two weeks, he says.
He is a really great guy to work with, always has good advice
and understands the 'intent' of the NEC.

But, he is the type not to return phone calls,
and I suspect that his old customers think he has passed away.

glene77is
 
I'm very busy again. Taking a couple of minutes to visit you guys before I go fishing this evening. Doing lots of different stuff lately. Data cable, ran a lot of pipe in an office complex, put in a three phase service, home now and doing some Block Grant projects. And I'm going fishing!!:D
 
Even as a building dept. we're feeling it, just got notice today that we are possibly losing 3 guys. We've had several project's, and not large ones, come in and reduce their scope of work. Two weeks ago I went to the circus to inspect their generator and it was the biggest electrical inspection I had done in two weeks.

It's gotta get better.
 
Its all about survival, I see several projects going to new ECs who lowballed to get he work most wont be around long but it makes it hard on trhe rest of us as we wait for the dust to settle. I just got a call from a guy wanting us to come out and fix what the cheaper guy left behind,I guess I can look forward to alot of service calls.
 
I got a call yesterday (Wed.) from a GC I work with giving me the go ahead for tomorrow (Fri.) on a bathroom remodel. Today he calls me asking if I could lower my price. The client got another estimate. The guy says he'll do the whole thing in 4 hours. I've got almost all that time pre-invested into the project already purchasing materials, writing up a proposal, on site walk through, etc.

This is just one example of what I've been dealing with. I haven't lost the job yet as far as I know, but it wouldn't surprise me.

And I didn't lower my price a single dime.
 
I just landed 4 contracts totaling about 107K - 1 of these I bid 6 months ago, 2 I bid 3 months ago, the last one I bid last month. (I was low man on 2 of them but I will make decent money on it)
Service Calls have been picking up for me as well. It was very bad for me over the winter and into March - but I see small GC's we do work for all starting to get busy again.
Sorry to say but I have enough work for 2 guys for the next 12 weeks.
I didn't really lower my pricing either - just sharpened the pencil on 2 of them and got lucky I think. The other 2 I didn't have to bid - just gave a price.

If I land another larger contract I will need another guy - it is about time. We'll see if this keeps up.
 
What I see here in lower NY is a lot of small jobs being filed. Bathrooms, kitchens, basements, small services, etc...

There are a few very, very large projects going on in my neck of the woods, with two more very large projects in the building department, which really means another year for electricians.

Some days, the inspection business is way down, other days it is slow. We have not been busy here since last fall.

Home Depot is busy though,;):mad:
 
Works been picking up some. I did get feedback on a bank branch we bid recently. The awarded electrician is getting it for wages + 1%. He is a new small contractor that has done 3 of these so far. It should be about 120K. He's taking it at 90K. We just picked up a kitchen/bath GC and swimming pools are picking up.
 
We are lucky here. I have been trying to finish up a new house and just struggle to get anyone to show up. Everyone is just to busy and that includes me.

I stopped at an office supply store, Office Max, yesterday to pick up paper, etc. I have been looking for a monotor that turns 90 deg. They had a large one and I asked about the chances of getting smaller one. Nope. That was the last one they had and they were not ordering any more because of the recession. Talk about perpetuating a problem. There I was CC in hand and not an offer to order in. Just no sale.
 
Not much going on for me either, I've seen a few new houses being built but I travel a vast area in Maine so that ain't much. I'm home today also, very few phone calls, even oil companies in this area are doing nothing. They aren't even repairing some things if they don't have to. In the past that would never happen. I'm tearing down an old shed so I can build a shop, figure I'll have time this summer:mad:
 
From ECM's website:

"
Construction employment fell by 110,000 jobs in April, with losses spread throughout the sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Over the past six months, job losses have averaged 120,000 per month, compared with 46,000 per month from December 2007 through October 2008.
Construction comprised more than one out of five job losses in the private sector for the month and the year, even though the industry employes only one out of 20 workers. More than double the 8.6% rate in the private economy, the April unemployment rate in construction totaled 18.7%. However, average hourly earnings in construction rose 4.4%, compared to 3.2% among all private nonsupervisory or production workers."
 
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