So...what happened to your other electricians?

[George Stolz]

the job I just looked at, the Homeowner said the last guy would show up work an hour or two and leave,

The last guy I worked with was notorious for doing this. "Make an appearance." "Keep kicking that can down the road." "Let them know we're still alive, we're available, we're not blowing them off."

The problem is an utter lack of sense when it comes to scheduling. If you have to make an appearance, you need to figure out how much time to devote to the task. Half a day? All day? An hour? Always leave enough time to get something substantive done. Don't show up at all if you're waiting on the GC or HO to finish something so you can get your job done. Get that laundry list of little calls done that day to free up the rest of the week.

Anyway, that's been my experience with a guy showing up an hour or two and then leaving. He's got too much going on, and is too scared to tell someone that they are on the schedule for a week from now, for fear that they'll find someone else who's available right this second.

 

[CopperTone]

My other electrician got to expensive.
My other electrician started off good but then after some time, he stopped showing up.

the reality is - he started charging what he should have been charging in the first place - then when they stopped paying him - he stopped showing up.

Seriously - has anyone really just stopped showing up on a job you were in the middle of for no reason at all?

Most of the time the electrician way under bids - manages to get most or all of the money out of the owner and then decides there is no more money left in the job so why finish? Or - the electrician never gets a progress payment so he packs up to cut his losses to wait for a payment that isn't coming.

Most of the time it is a money issue. I am always weary of taking over for "the last electrician" and I think it is a very good idea to ask what happened to the last guy. with that being said - I have a couple of great gc's i work for that fired their last electrician for legitimate reasons (couldn't show up when asked to, sloppy work, hard to get along with, unorganized, etc)

Lastly - my favorite one - when I ask what happened to your last electrician - I listen to the response - I then ask - what was his name?

Most of the time - they forgot his name. who does that? no one does - you always know the name of the guy you screwed or who screwed you.

Just be professional and up front - remember you are interviewing each other when being considered for a project. They need to sell themselves as well as you need to sell your company. You need to be good at reading people and keep everything in writing - even if it is just email. I've walked away from many a job because "I just knew"

 

[jaylectricity]

Most of the time the electrician way under bids - manages to get most or all of the money out of the owner and then decides there is no more money left in the job so why finish? Or - the electrician never gets a progress payment so he packs up to cut his losses to wait for a payment that isn't coming.

Is that a valid business strategy? Would he continue to make a profit doing business that way?

 

[danickstr]

The other electrician? He finally figured out how I have been ripping off subs on every job and stopped lining up for the financial beating.

 

[LEO2854]

So...what happened to your other electricians?

he wanted a large progrees check we gave it to him and never came back.
who is the "GC" for all this unfinished work?
well he took money to and never came back. Oh.
So you give them a high quote and they say yes now you should know your in trouble, but you take the job and be fore you know it .,it is change order after change order after change order ,and each time you give them a price they give you a hard time and play the ware down game and you will get sick of it. then you end up being the last Electrician:roll:

 

[jsmalone1]

Of course I just went through an issue of collecting my money but I get an incredible amount of work where another contractor either never showed up, was doing substandard work, unorganized, etc. But I do only small jobs and I know this is very different than many situations