The lowballer wins again !!

[emahler]

as a sub chapter S corp, corp profit is taxed at the personal rate, so it makes no difference either way, I just sink what i would normally pay in truck payments into interest bearing money markets. when i need something the money is there. why pay the bank interest when the banks can pay you.

oh i almost forgot, some think i work harder not smarter.........

if that is what you are doing, then you and I are on the same page...the only difference is that I would figure the payment into my overhead...so the customer pays for it...rather than take it out of my profit as you are doing...

 

[satcom]

hopefully one day you can pay off your debts too, there comes a time (40yrs old) where you want to start living stress free, one less stress is knowing you owe no-one.

THat is great not owing anyone, but you still need to charge your customers for your expenses. I think everyone is trying to get you to rethink your potential profits.

 

[e57]

Not going to break out or down any fancy math - but I would love if he'll drive up my way and learn a new meaning of 'contract compliance' from some 6-7 figure lawyers as clients....

One told me a while back - "it is not what you think you mean - it is what I think you mean by...." (And subsequently what how much you'll pay to find out what he thought you meant by...)

Everything not excluded is included etc.

 

[e57]

Sorry that rely was for page one - not the 'I'm gonna whine about living in the south' page 2 of this thread... :roll:

As for living in the south - bill and collect what the market in your area will bear. But remain - "contacting is about contracts" if you sold it - provide it. And if you provided it - stand in front of it and collect.

And as I realize I'm PWI - I'll stop...

 

[bjp_ne_elec]

scwirenut - not sure which town you live in in SC, but I ran a salary comparison (they're are many of them that can be found on internet - I used http://www.bestplaces.net ). I ran Florence, SC and compared it to Worcester, MA - close to where I live. If you making $150K in Worcester, it shows you'd have to make $125K in Florence - so that's not a huge difference.

I was starting to think you were being picked on, as I was thinking - "OK maybe the avg salary is very low - say $25K - but unless you live in a much more depressed area than Florence, this says you should be charging (somewhat theoretically) 83% of what an EC in Worcester is charging - and although I don't live in Worcester, I'm pretty sure they would be well over $2,500 for the job you're talking. In fact, the service alone would be $2K+.

I guess really the bottom line is, if you're happy making what you're making, then that's pretty much all that matters. And that's what it sounds like your at.

 

[IrishRugger]

material $450, helper $150, me $500 = $1100
2 guys , 1 day,

Ill do it everyday at that price.

5 a week is $2500

over $125k/yr.

thats all you can ask for in the south

How do you get $450 in Materials?

 

[LarryFine]

 

[c2500]

Larry,

I was gonna post that tonight...but you beat me to it. I about fell down laughing this morning when I read it.

c2500

 

[aline]

I'm completely shocked. I gave a guy a price to relocate and upgrade the electrical service from the back of the home to within 10ft. of the front corner of the home as required by the power company. 200amp service with 15ft. 2in. GRC mast. 50ft. 200amp SER cable fished through an attic not big enough even crawl into. Replace two existing fuse boxes with a one new 200amp panel. My price $3,585.

The guy decided he wants the rest of the house completely rewired and calls to see if I'll give him a price to rewire the whole house and bring it up to code. It's about 2,500 sq.ft. with old knob and tube wire and some old ungrounded romex. Some walls are sheetrock and some are lathe & plaster. He gutted the basement walls and ceiling but the upstairs is staying and will have to be fished.

The guy is a real estate investor and bought the home to fix it up and sell it.

I was supposed to meet him tomorrow morning to look at the job and give him an estimate. He called back and cancled. He said he found an electrical contractor in the phone book that said he would do the whole job including the service upgrade for $6,000. The guy advertises he's a small job specialist.

I didn't know what to say I was in shock. The guy must be nuts. I sure hope he enjoys himself because he sure isn't doing it for the money.

Oh well. I just completed a couple of service upgrades for $3,000 each and just received a deposit to start another one next week for $3,500 plus I'll be doing a few other things for a total of $5,500.

It's not that customers aren't willing to pay more for service upgrades. It's that contractors aren't willing to charge more. On one of the service upgrades I did for $3,000 the guy received a bid of $2,000 but went with me anyway even though I was a $1,000 more.

I'd really like to be getting $5,000 for service upgrades. Which wouldn't be that hard to do if contractors weren't giving them away for $1,500.

By the way I don't consider it a service upgrade if you just replace the meter and leave the old rotted wire from the meter to the panel and leave the old fuse box or FPE panel inside. A service upgrade for me means a new meter with main breaker relocated to within 10ft. of the front corner of the home as per the power company requirements here, new SER cable from the meter/main to the inside panel location and a new inside panel. There's no way I can do this for $1,500.

 

[sparkyjim]

I agree and follow scwirenut's thoughts; although we are a c-corp. We are debt free, have never opened a credit account at a supply house, and pay more than the prevailing wage. We too are losing numerous bids, mainly to those who employ the "recent immigrant" work force. But yesterday lost a bid for a 4K sq. ft. house by a few thousand dollars. I had used #'s low enough I thought I was using a price book from the 80's. I know it's diversify or die, but man......

 

[ItsHot]

third world wages?

third world wages?

I agree and follow scwirenut's thoughts; although we are a c-corp. We are debt free, have never opened a credit account at a supply house, and pay more than the prevailing wage. We too are losing numerous bids, mainly to those who employ the "recent immigrant" work force. But yesterday lost a bid for a 4K sq. ft. house by a few thousand dollars. I had used #'s low enough I thought I was using a price book from the 80's. I know it's diversify or die, but man......

It is hard to compete with "third world wages"!

 

[steelersman]

It is hard to compete with "third world wages"!

especially in a 1st world country!

 

[growler]

It's about 2,500 sq.ft. with old knob and tube wire and some old ungrounded romex. Some walls are sheetrock and some are lathe & plaster. He gutted the basement walls and ceiling but the upstairs is staying and will have to be fished.

The guy is a real estate investor and bought the home to fix it up and sell it.

I was supposed to meet him tomorrow morning to look at the job and give him an estimate. He called back and cancled. He said he found an electrical contractor in the phone book that said he would do the whole job including the service upgrade for $6,000. The guy advertises he's a small job specialist.

I have never met an investor that cared one way or the other if a house was wired right or not. They just want it to look as if the wiring is in good shape to fool a home inspector.

This can be done without removing all the old wiring and it's legal if there is no contract for a rewire. They may list it as repair as needed.

I'm willing to bet that these guy will pull a permit for the service only and then have that inspected and do any cosmetic wiring under the radar.

A few years back I saw a 2 million dollars house that had been rigged that way. It was good enough to fool the home inspector but still had 50% of the old wiring. The new owner was not a happy camper when they found out how much it would cost to get the job done right.

 

[scwirenut]

By the way I don't consider it a service upgrade if you just replace the meter and leave the old rotted wire from the meter to the panel and leave the old fuse box or FPE panel inside. A service upgrade for me means a new meter with main breaker relocated to within 10ft. of the front corner of the home as per the power company requirements here, new SER cable from the meter/main to the inside panel location and a new inside panel. There's no way I can do this for $1,500.

thats one reason our numbers dont match. my service upgrade is no more than ripping down the old meter and se cable off the wall and installing a new 200amp combo, hub, 2in pvc, wh, add a rod and new #6.
60-100amp breaker back on old feeder $900. 2 guys 4 hrs.

this is usually done because they are upgrading hvac to central.

changing out the outside service and inside panel here is considered more than a 50% upgrade to home electrical, which means the entire house must be brought up to current codes. bigggg $$$.

rewiring an existing home as you decribed would easily be $8-10k

 

[tonyou812]

I wouldnt go lower than 2500 even for a basic back to back set up. 1100!!! what a shmuck. I say let him do it. I bet he works out of a station wagon. Doing it for that price is like smaking yourself in the balls. Some customers up here acually get quotes for 4500 for a basic set up. I only hope that someday I can start doing them for that price. Service changes are like one of our few certain money makers and some guys just dont get it. There happy if they make a few bucks and some left over for a case of Shlits. Im doing a 150 amp service change this Sat for 2750 and thats cause the guy told me what his other quotes were.

Some guys are just ment to sign the back of checks. What a jackass 1100. 500 for me, wopie now you can buy that boat you wanted.

 

[tonyou812]

Ill bet anything that the guy doing it for 1100 is as a red blooded american as anyone, but he doesnt realize that in a sense he is like China and other low balling, crap making countries. He is in the same categorie as illegals working for cheap. HEY BUDDY WHY DONT YOU TRY DOING SOME REASEARCH before you decide to play buisness man. You are killing the industry you freaking moron . Yea I said it so go ahead and erase it but maybe someone will see it before it vanishes.......

 

[scwirenut]

Some customers up here acually get quotes for 4500 for a basic set up.

quality EC's are standing inline ready to wire your entire home for that price here

 

[Sparky555]

One of the basics of business that none of us did is researching our prospective business in our territory. If you can't have a profitable business in your territory try something else.

Dave

 

[SEO]

Contracting prices vary all over the country. Some seem out of line in both directions. Nobody knows what is going on in somebody elses life. Different parts of the country have different costs of living. Desperate people do desperate things. I like to keep my price on the high side and not compromise on quality.