T&m???

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77401 said:
Damn Plumbers always make more.....
Why is that?
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Good question.


Here's another one:

How come the plumbers have that calculator and electricians don't?
 
Like everybody I guess I'm not going to answer you question. I don't know other electrical shops but I know many plumbing shops. I call them, ask what they charge and that's what I charge.
 
hardworkingstiff said:
What do you want to charge? Will the customer pay it? If yes, everything is a go. If not, no problem, you can't lose money on a job you don't do.
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You also can't make money on a job you don't do. If you aren't making enough money even if you get plenty of calls, you may have to lower your prices. I'd rather make some money on a job than no money.
 
1st thing, why to plumbers get more that we do?
It is because the plumbers long ago stopped whoring themselves out and the industry as a whole has attained the level it needs to be at. We as electricains are just figuring this out. Eventually we will all be able to get a decent rate without worrying about the idiot down the block charging 30.00 per hour and going out of business (again) a year later.
2nd, if you are not making money now you are not going to make money by lowering your rates. More volume on lower rates means going out of business faster. you need to know what you need to charge and charge it. Provide the service comensurate with the cost. The most expensive guy in town is not only enduring but he is prospering.
 
I tell other EC's if we would all Unionize as EC's, not the workers/employees, we could all bill out at $300 plus per hour.
Lawyers & doctors did.
WE would have to call ourselves an association
American Bar Association
American Medical Assiciation
American Electrical Association?
Want to join?:cool:
 
shelco said:
... if you are not making money now you are not going to make money by lowering your rates. More volume on lower rates means going out of business faster. you need to know what you need to charge and charge it. Provide the service comensurate with the cost. The most expensive guy in town is not only enduring but he is prospering.
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Cool! My rate is now $500/hour, with a four-hour minimum. I should be rich in no time! :D
 
Why plumber charge more.

Why plumber charge more.

I don't know about the rest of the country but in Georgia it's easy to see why plumbers make more money. First there are many more licensed electricians than there were a few years ago ( everyone wants to be an electrician ). Second there is a lot more competition from handymen in the electrical trade than there is in plumbing. Third and I think this may really be important is the law states that they have to have a licensed plumber on the service truck to make service calls ( this is not so for electricians in this area ). The reason that A/C companies do so good is that they have larger items to sell and you need a license to buy many of these items ( just think what a difference it would make if you needed a license to buy a breaker or a little sub panel , no Home Depot sales ).
 
jeff43222 said:
Cool! My rate is now $500/hour, with a four-hour minimum. I should be rich in no time! :D
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Gee Jeff, I am now thinking of moving to MN & charging $475/hour with 3 hour minimum. Maybe I can get some of that work you're planning on.:p :p
 
dlhoule said:
Gee Jeff, I am now thinking of moving to MN & charging $475/hour with 3 hour minimum. Maybe I can get some of that work you're planning on.:p :p
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All you're going to do is run yourself out of business faster with those lowball rates. How do you expect to make a profit if you're only charging $475/hour? :p
 
growler said:
I don't know about the rest of the country but in Georgia it's easy to see why plumbers make more money. First there are many more licensed electricians than there were a few years ago ( everyone wants to be an electrician ).
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That would definitely have an effect. I ran into some plumbers on a job last year, and they told me the same thing has happened here in the last 10-15 years. Plumbers here don't do free estimates, but many ECs do.

growler said:
Second there is a lot more competition from handymen in the electrical trade than there is in plumbing.
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The handymen around here seem to do both. Of course, it's illegal, but they do it anyway. From a practical viewpoint, I would think it would be easier for a handyman to do electrical work than plumbing because plumbing generally requires bigger tools and materials. I run my entire operation out of a small truck, but I have a hard time thinking I could do the same thing if I were a plumber.

growler said:
Third and I think this may really be important is the law states that they have to have a licensed plumber on the service truck to make service calls ( this is not so for electricians in this area ). The reason that A/C companies do so good is that they have larger items to sell and you need a license to buy many of these items ( just think what a difference it would make if you needed a license to buy a breaker or a little sub panel , no Home Depot sales ).
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What good is an electrical license there? Here we need a license to do electrical work or plumbing work. It would be nice if the DIYers couldn't buy panels, but I doubt that will happen. The law here allows a homeowner to do anything electrical in his house that I can do, including upgrading the service. As long as that's true, the materials will be available in stores.
 
Jeff, you ask what good is an electrical license here? It lets you start a business, get insurance and advertise services but it doesn't protect you from the competition as much as many other states. Once licensed you can have as many unlicensed people as you want working for you. I have seen helpers with only a couple years of experience doing service calls. Most contractors will police themselves for fear of liabilty but it's up to the contactor to decide who to send out on a service call or even to run a job. I'm not all that sure that requireing a journeymans card would help because they wold probably just Grand Father in about half a million and then all those guys would probably be allowed to work independently on small jobs ( residential ). Being a service contractor usually requires more business skills than electrical skills anyway.
 
77401 said:
I tell other EC's if we would all Unionize as EC's, not the workers/employees, we could all bill out at $300 plus per hour.
Lawyers & doctors did.
WE would have to call ourselves an association
American Bar Association
American Medical Assiciation
American Electrical Association?
Want to join?:cool:
Click to expand...
Ever heard of NECA? ( http://necanet.org/about/)

Don't want to be that large a group...no problem - http://www.njeca.org/

Still to big?
No problem - we can go regional FOUR COUNTY (FCECA)

Still to big - we can go single county.
 
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