What It Takes To Become An EC

[highkvoltage]

I'm not quite done on this subject. In my great State of Ohio you have to meet a criteria to become a Electrical Contractor. Then this is also what it takes to maintain your State license.
1. Show proof you have attended a apprenticeship and 5 years of journeyman experience and apply to state board.
2. Study many hour for a 6 1/2 hour test and pass.(Almost 30% of the people there while I was taking this test walked out or did not continue to the business and law section.)
3. Study many hours and pass a 2 hour business and law test. (Which is right after the electrical part so you are there about 10 hours. There is a lunch break in between.)
4. Show you carry worker's compensation.
5. Have a least a $500,000 liability insurance policy.(I carry 2 million)
6. 10 hours of classroom training yearly which you have to pay for.
7. Pay for a City Contractors's license for every city you work in and provide an insurance bond for that city.

After the first $6,000 for legal, accounting, licenses, insurance and bonding fees and memberships (to get construction prints) you can pick up a screwdriver and go to work.

To start a business you need to have about 6 months income and about $20,000 to $50,000 in tools and inventory and be willing to put everything you have earned after years in the trade to build a business. Battle every weekend hack that has no business twisting a wire nut on. Be willing to eat crow because nobody out there knows who you are. So if anyone made the conclusion I take this personally you're right.

 

[benaround]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Highvoltage,

Have You ever:

Changed out your own Hot Water Tank?

Fixed your own car or truck

Built a shed or a deck,or maybe a room in the basement?

Copy a computer program?

Not gone to the Doctor's when you should of?

We're all guilty of something,But there is not enough "hacks" in the whole state of Ohio to affect your business one single bit!

frank

 

[mc5w]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Ohio only require $300,000 in liability insurance. There is also a way to get around having to have a kajillion $10,000 bonds by buying one bond that is payable to Ohio Construction Industry Examination Board, Any City in the State of Ohio, and Any County in the State of Ohio. A city may try to tell you that a bond must be payable specifically to them but that is B.S. What a $10,000 bond does is to bribe another electrician into taking over the jobs if you should get run over by a semi.

You only need to do the 10 hours of continuing education once every 3 years OR retake the state test once every 3 years. Used to be that licenses did not require continuing education but somebody got a court ruling that a license was unconstitutional if it did not have a CE requirement.

You can rent things such as hydraulic conduit benders from Technical Solutions in Middelburg Heights, Ohio so I would not worry about buying those. You can rent high reaches and pipe threaders just about anywhere.

You also have to contend with the following:

1. Having to be a banker.
2. Suing the CUSStomer for a paycheck.
3. Doing a Dun & Bradstreet on each prospective customer. What I do is NO CREDIT - CASH ONLY. If somebody needs an EC who is a bank, they can go to somebody else and pay their prices. Then, they can come back to me. (I removed an offending statement)
4. Contend with someone who has enough cash flow to buy 2 years of wiring supplies at a time to ride out price gouging because of hurricane Ivan.
5.a. Places where other contractors only need to be 75% or 90% Code because the electrical inspector is not so bright or whatever.
5.b. Cleveland Public Power's work is only 60% Code not to mention that they do electrical services and house rewires for FREE!
6. Compete with people who have a million dollars in training from the U.S. military.
7. Stand around with a shotgun to make sure that drywallers do not cover up splice boxes or rip out antinailing plates. Same thing with painters.
8. Do not install wiring in outside walls until the siding is up. The nails that alledged carpenters use are way too long because they want to use the same nail gun and nails that they use for framing.
9. Put up with people who were born with a silver enema up their rear ends.
10. (I removed an offending statement)
11. The HVAC contractor changing the voltage on the rooftop units from 480 volts to 208 volts WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION and then forging a counterfeit print to show that they have the correct voltage.
12. One of your suppliers dropping off light fixtures 1 week AFTER job completion. Then, they refuse to take the light fixtures back and slap a lien on your customer's property.
13. The power door vendor claims that the time sequencer to get a handicapped access door to work off of a pushbutton or key switch is a high priced extra.
14. The boss buys a bunch of 4-wire doorbell cable that was on sale and gives you that to put in a 5-wire thermostat circuit.
15.a. The parking lot contractor digs up your conduits because you never got a straight answer before on final elevation for the parking lot.
15.b. Excavating contractors never ever see the ribbon above your underground conduits.
15.c. Even though you are on the job site excavating contractor never asks for your conduit locations.
15.d. Even though Ohio Edison put out location markers the parking lot contractor digs up the 7,200Y12,470 volts and you have to redo the conduit. To make things worse, only 2 of the 3 fuses blew and you do not have a hot stick.
16. 99.99% of real estate snots want their electrical work donw for free. Half of them are moronic enough to put up drywall before calling an electrician. The other half have ants in their pants and put up the drywall before the electrical inspector can do rough inspection.
17. Suck in drywall dust and latex paint fumes.
18. Walk in mud.
19. Plastic potties.
20. Wash your hands using a fire hydrant.
21. Drink off of a fire hydrant.
22. Ultraviolet light intensity from the mount Pinatubo eruption goes right through your shirt and burns entire backside.
23. People do not want their outdoor lighting maintained until Standard Time kicks back in. Guess who gets to freeze their fingers?
24. Supplier claims that you have remote HID ballasts installed wrong and that is why the bulbs are cycling off and back on. ( Ballst cannot get rid of heat tripping out the thermal protector. ) Stick in a different brand of bulbs and they work fine. Supplier refuses to honor bulb warranty. NB: One time in the 1980s General Electric had a bad batch of high pressure sodium bulbs escape captivity. They told the dealers to exchange the boulbs for good ones.
25. UAW says that you need 10 years of experience just to screw in a light bulb which is no different than how in 1964 New Jersey tried to say that every licensed electrician had to have a $300,000 letter of credit from a bank to get a license in addition to $300,000 in insurance. Also not that much different than how Kentucky says that you have to have 6 years of experience that is continuous and full time. As long as the military cranks out people who have those things somebody will want it.


You have to really love this kind of work.

I removed a couple of offending statements that smacked of union vs non-union rhetoric. Charlie

[ July 20, 2005, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: mc5w ]

 

[celtic]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Originally posted by mc5w:
Lots and lots of words

That's all it takes? Sure you didn't miss anything...

 

[physis]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Talked me out of it.

 

[GG]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Quite a list. You seem to have left off 26) Make alot of money, why else would we put up with 1-25?

[ July 19, 2005, 12:54 AM: Message edited by: GG ]

 

[highkvoltage]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

mc5w. You should check out the site I've pasted then call your insurance company and up your policy to the required $500,000.

http://www.com.state.oh.us/dic/documents/337.pdf

 

[highkvoltage]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Benaround,
1)No my plumbing contractor friend does this for me.
2)Only minor things battery, water pump etc. Nothing that would cause harm to the public as in brake work.
3)None of these items would put anyone at risk so your reaching.
4)Same as above.
5)Well I don't stick my thumb up my *ss to check my own prostate. But I will take a little cough medicine before running to the doctor.

Comparing any of the things to rewiring a house is really the best you can do?

 

[davedottcom]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

state application fee: $150.00
credit checks: $110.00
books and study aids for exam: $1,400.00
10,000.00 bond: $110.00
1,000,000.00 comm. liab. ins: $600.00/yr
Used truck: $12,000.00
various other fees: $500.00
tools i didn't have yet!: $3,000.00
state exam fee: $150.00 Per try!
(3x's thank you! )
local occupational license: $20.00/yr
worker's comp: Exempt (No employees!)
accountant: $450.00/yr
incorporating fees: $500.00
yearly registration of corporation: $158.00/yr
($400.00 late fee if not filed by May 1st. I forgot this year!

Dave

 

[gmreynol]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Yearly renewals and fees must be submitted with the forms provided.(note: liability insurance has increased to $500,000 per occurrence) They must be submitted to the O.C.I.L.B. no later than the renewal date. If not renewed by the renewal date, the license will automatically be expired and the licensee may not practice their trades nor pull permits, etc., until the license is renewed. There is no grace period to complete continuing education hours. A late fee of $120 may be charged for renewals processed after the expiration date. A contractor will be required to take the exam in order to re-obtain a license if the contractor fails to renew a license as outlined above. I feel ya

 

[physis]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Cause I got confused. I thought they said that being in business for myself was so easy, why, they even said they'd remove all the competitiion for me.

I can't even believe it. Gi' me a break. :roll:

Edit: I had to remove an extra letter.

[ July 20, 2005, 01:35 AM: Message edited by: physis ]

 

[mc5w]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Thanks for letting me know that the insurance requirement in Ohio got jacked up from $300,000 to $500,000. Wonder what else they have changed.

Like I said, you have to really like this work.

 

[pierre]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

I think that all of the requirements that are being asked of electrical contractors will eventually be a very good thing for the business.

Electricians who become contractors need to understand what they are getting into before they become contractors. A great electrician may be a terrible contractor - that does not make him a bad person, just not so great of a contractor.
Being a contractor takes much more knowledge than just being an electrician, as a matter of fact, a great contractor may know less than his top electrician, and still run a fantastic business - keeping his top electrician working

The bottom line is:
"Quite a list. You seem to have left off 26) Make alot of money, why else would we put up with 1-25? "
(from GG)

 

[lady sparks lover]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

God bless those electrical contractors who are really good at what they do. I know a few that are working on my job right now, and I few friends who I know are contractors.

It's a lot of hard work, and I agree a good electrician is not necessarily a good contractor. I have a friend who's fabulous electrican but the worst contractor in the world. I'll never give him one of my jobs to do again, but he's one of my best friends as long as we are not working together.

 

[physis]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

I'm not sure if I'd make a very good contractor, maybe, then maybe not. I've thought about getting a license over the last 3 or 5 years. There's a lot to weigh on both sides. For me there are still more cons than pros.

One of the major reasons is the book keeping and the accountant stuff. The tax hassles. I don't know what it must be like dealing with hiring and firing paperwork and legal issues. Yuck.

I think it might not be as bad as it sounds after you get into it but there's a lot to think about.

Edit: And I already think the government's out to get me. I'd be at war with them everyday.

[ July 20, 2005, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: physis ]

 

[charlie]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

When I taught, I used to tell the apprentices that they should take some business classes and save enough cash to live about six months with no pay after having the tools and supplies to get a business started. Assuming they have a helper, the payroll must be met and supplies and expenses met before they get to pay themselves. If anything is left over, they get to invest that money back into the business for a while.

Going into business is not for the faint of heart.

 

[bthielen]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

You got that right! There sure are a lot of people that think being self employed means sit back and collect the cash.

To be a successful entrepreneur takes long hours, hard work, and a dedication way beyond the 8-hour day.

Bob

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Originally posted by highkvoltage:
5)Well I don't stick my thumb up my *ss to check my own prostate. .

Hey hey, no need to get sexy here.

 

[amptech]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

One day I asked the old electrical contractor who I learned from if he thought I was ready to go out on my own. He thought for a moment and said, "no, you're not quite ready". I asked him what area I needed more experience and instruction in. He said, "You know your stuff and you've passed the exams to prove it. You're honest and treat the customers right. You make the most of your time and you don't waste materials." I asked him what else I needed to do to be ready to go out on my own? He said, "Go out to your truck and get your Kleins. Hit yourself between the eyes as many time as it takes to lose the good sense not to go out on your own. Then you'll be ready." I didn't take his advice but I did go out on my own and have questioned the wisdom of it off and on over the years. I've never regretted it though. Besides, I'm too old to get a real job now anyway!

 

[davedottcom]

Re: What It Takes To Become An EC

Originally posted by bthielen:
To be a successful entrepreneur takes long hours, hard work, and a dedication way beyond the 8-hour day.

That is the understatement of the year.

I would say it consumes at least 100 hours a week at the very least.
Staring at prints, Bidding jobs, calling customers, making lists, lots of lists, picking up material, stocking truck, cleaning up the shop, filling out invoices, buying stamps, ink, fax paper, envelopes & other office stuff, ordering material, keeping the books, paying the bills, keeping track of expenses, keeping all receipts, keeping files for every customer, visiting the Mike Holt Web site, pulling permits, renewing local registrations, loading the truck up, unloading the truck, loading it back up again, filling it with gas, having it serviced, lots of fast food drive thrus, chasing people down for money, making the work schedule for the week, crumbling up the schedule when nothing is ready as promised, listening to what seems like hours of bizarre messages on your answering mach. and trying to call everyone back the same day, walk thrus with home owners, calling for inspections, paying 1/4-ly taxes, continuing education classes... oh, and making time to actually DO the "Electrical work" is important too!
Oh yea, my favorite part is making depo$it$ at the bank! Well...That AND hooking up garbage disposals!

Dave