What do you do?

[electricalist]

When I go to a customer and fix something or do any work, I give my phone number and tell the contact person they can call me as well as the office for any questions..Then I often explain my findings my solutions and no matter what if I dont know then thats what I tell them. I get alot of calls for me to come do the work with that method..
Now there is a customer who had us work on his bldg a few times a few diff people, so I go there to work on a sign thats off,,,no voltage and its not all on the circuit. I couldnt find the circuit they werent labeled and were about 30 of them in diff locations. I told the owner the sign and other things are off and I havent found the breaker but will call someone who may know. I do that ,,,go back find something in the light shorted out and was tripping the breaker, so i disconnected it so the other things will work,,,,,,reset the breaker,,the circuit for the sign come from a conduit in a pole light but not 277,,,sign is 120.
I explain all this to the owner and the next day the parking lot lights quit working and somehow I could have done it. My supervisor says you gave him too much info I should have just said the sign needs to be fixed.
I had to go fix the pole lights yesterday and i didnt cause it and now im a little agg.
Do you give the short answer and believe its safer as opposed to tell them what you know and risk what it leaves you open for?

 

[ActionDave]

I don't talk down to anyone customers can pick up on that and they resent it. It's like talking to your kids about sex..... I keep the conversation factual, short, and I don't try to answer any questions not asked of me.

 

[electricalist]

I don't talk down to anyone customers can pick up on that and they resent it. It's like talking to your kids about sex..... I keep the conversation factual, short, and I don't try to answer any questions not asked of me.

Thats probably what I know I should do. I think I feel comfortable telling customers that much because I think im telling the truth theres nothing that can go wrong,,,but thats not true when it comes to money.

 

[__dan]

It's a minefield. Most of the time I expect the customer to be concerned and participate in the troubleshooting, work process, be knowledgeable and give good info. Most of the time the customer's expectations are the opposite. They bring their car to the station for gas and don't want to know how the pump and hose work. They want four guys to fill their tank, one to pump, one to clean the windows, one to fill the tires with air, and one to smooze them and collect the money.

As Dave said, and something unthinkable to me, the customer feels they are being talked down to. You could disagree and tell the customer they don't know the difference between arrogance and intelligence, but then you won't be prying money out of their pocket for anything.

I've actually seen successful contractors profit repeatedly on the customer's mistakes by doing as ordered (when it's wrong) then coming back next year to fix that mistake (wrong again) back next year to fix that mistake. That is a successful business model some have a gift for, which I have cited as fraud.

Look up the dictionary definition of "discretion" (maybe "finesse") and listen to the guys who say less is more (been there).

 

[electricalist]

For sure I have had problems with not letting the customer make a mistake because I'm quick to ask what are you trying to achieve.
I've been down this road before. As a musician I never cared how much we made I just enjoyed playing. The band wanted fame and fortune. Same as an electrician. I have to get paid but I do way more than I get paid for so when I solve a customers problem for 100.00 when they were gonna pay 1000.00,,,,,,,no good deed goes un punished.

 

[kingpb]

View it as the same as a Change Order process.

When you enter into a contract (written or verbal) it is for a specific scope of work and for a certain price.

If during the contracted scope of work you discover obstacles or problem that were not known at onset of the project, then you write a CO, and have it approved PRIOR to doing the work.

This protects both parties and helps to ensure everybody is on the same page. Communication is key to a successful project.

If work is done outside the original scope, and the Owner doesn't know about it, then you probably don't get paid for it, and worse you have now taken on risk and additional liability.