warranty work

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Re: warranty work

No Jim, we do more remodels than new work, and we do about 30-40% commercial. The biggest part of our remodels are T&M. However, there is not that many "call backs" as I call them. But when they come, I jump on them. 'Cause if you play it right, the customer says, "can you do this?" or "what would it cost for that?"

I just believe that you need to serve to do service. :cool:
 
Re: warranty work

Originally posted by jimwalker:
Can you really afford to do non warranty work like reset a gfci for free ?
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No, no one can afford to do anything for free. It is the free advertising that pays. There is the "gray network," you know senior citizens, who have nothing better to do than talk about contractors who work in their homes...
Originally posted by jimwalker:
I have never been able to write up the ticket and drive to a job ,go inside push button leave and go back to the shop in 5 minutes.Am i driving slow or what ? What if job is an hour away ? Should we be required to do things like this ? Not talking about the job thats really next door and even they take 15 minutes.
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As luck would have it that day, her house was on the way to the first estimate of the day. But you are correct. You can almost bet each job takes, at the minimum, one man-hour. Receive call, write ticket, dispatch electrician & vehicle, drive to job, perform work, fill out paperwork, drive to next job, fill out time card, enter data on computer, then payroll.
Hopefully on some of these "freebies" the advertising will bring in new customers or like Minuteman says:
'Cause if you play it right, the customer says, "can you do this?" or "what would it cost for that?"
I just believe that you need to serve to do service.
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Re: warranty work

The downside is that they will tell all their friends, who will then expect you to do their work for free, or very cheaply.
 
Re: warranty work

He didn't do the original work for free or at a reduced rate. All he did for free was the "warrantee work."
 
Re: warranty work

mike holt sent out a letter many years ago explaining the fact that electrical contractors are basically pricing themselves "broke"!! and i believe he was correct. many of the associated manufacturers and manufacturer's installers are charging OVER twice the labor rate, we, electrical contractors are charging. look at simplex fire alarm company. last time i saw their labor rate it was like $158./hour... or how about johnson controls ---asco transfer switch---notifier---etc..

old time electrical contractors will tell you "in our days, you knew you were gonna make money on a job, but sometimes you just didn't know how much"!! today, too many people are in business, i think (?), just to be in business! when your operating at such a narrow margin that you worry about serving your customer with a complimentary call---go back to working with your tools. i always believe in "paying back" to the industry some "good will" form the profits it sent to my business. i once decided not to charge a "none profit" organization for about $500.00 in service work. somehow the super bowl commitee found out about it and every year the super bowl came to our area --we were called for their needs!
 
Re: warranty work

If you charged a flat fee of say fifty dollars to process warranty claims you could weed out the problems rather quickly.

J.Lockard
 
Re: warranty work

Originally posted by charlie b:
I can only imagine the homeowners who pay for service calls, only to be told it was something that simple.
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I usually try to get the customer to check the simple stuff first, on the phone, and that our one-hour minimum applies even to 'push a button'. It's amazing how many people don't know a breaker has to be pushed to 'off' to reset it, or which receptacles are protected by which GFCI device.

A few weeks ago, we got a 10:00 PM call to a Chinese restaurant for lights out. They assured us they tried all of the breakers already. We made it clear the charge would be $125 for the emergency rate, and they agreed. Sure enough, it was a breaker.

(I sometimes see breakers that trip without the handle moving. A gentle touch on the handle, and it then moves to the tripped position, while a non-tripped breaker takes more of a push.)

At their request, and because it was only a 10-minute drive, we agreed to accept a $65 gift certificate for dinner instead. They wanted to make it for only $50! It took abut 5 minutes and a reminder of the $125 for them to agree to the $65 value.

By the way, the dinner was great.
 
Re: warranty work

We do a quiet "Christmas present" every year. We always seem to get a service call around Christmas from someone who has little and legitimately needs the work done. Typically, these folks have been brushed off by one or more other contractors. 2005's Christmas present customer was actually in tears when she called us because the first 11 (yes, 11) contactors she called wouldn't come. I found out later that one actually told her that they didn't come to that neighborhood because the residents were all "deadbeats." I was there for about an hour and a half. When she asked how much she owed, I said only, "Merry Christmas." She fed me, thanked me, and sent us a Christmas card. Oh, and 3 paying customers who called us because that sweet old woman told them what happened.

Bottom line: We are in business to make a living, but a little charity now and then often will increase that bottom line we worry about so much.
 
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