kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Those seem to be pretty tough requirements for any job anymore, everyone wants to get paid, yet they don't want to do anything:happyyes:
Why would a customer hire a big company over a 1 man shop?
- Thread starter KVA
- Start date
- Status
Those seem to be pretty tough requirements for any job anymore, everyone wants to get paid, yet they don't want to do anything:happyyes:
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- Semi-retired engineer
It is hard for a small shop to have the wide range of skills that a larger number of people might well have. IME, smaller places tend to do much better and at less cost at the niches they are good at, but when you get past those areas they run into trouble.
They also have a very hard time staffing up. You just won't find a 2 or 3 man shop that can bring in ten people for a weekend machine install. Many of them also seem to live off rental shops, while most of the bigger places own the stuff (not a universal thing though). Makes it tough to do anything if you need something at 10:30 at night on a Saturday when the rental place is closed.
Its also harder because while few people carry much stock of anything these days, the small stock of stuff bigger places have on hand dwarfs what the little guys have readily available.
They also have a very hard time staffing up. You just won't find a 2 or 3 man shop that can bring in ten people for a weekend machine install. Many of them also seem to live off rental shops, while most of the bigger places own the stuff (not a universal thing though). Makes it tough to do anything if you need something at 10:30 at night on a Saturday when the rental place is closed.
Its also harder because while few people carry much stock of anything these days, the small stock of stuff bigger places have on hand dwarfs what the little guys have readily available.
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
That is pretty much the list of the only things I'm good at. Want to mail me an application?
rt66electric
Senior Member
- Location
- Oklahoma
Hire another or turn down jobs????
Hire another or turn down jobs????
I'm the One-man-band- with-a-backup-singer. My workload is mostly feast or famine, luckily more feast at the moment. My stress level is moderate and most my bills are paid. Previous posts have made valid points. Should I turn down jobs or hire another?? A few of my cohorts that have gone the next step to five or more people have regreted it. SO THEREFORE ??? Which is better?? Hire journeyman with a truck,or, stay small????
Hire another or turn down jobs????
I'm the One-man-band- with-a-backup-singer. My workload is mostly feast or famine, luckily more feast at the moment. My stress level is moderate and most my bills are paid. Previous posts have made valid points. Should I turn down jobs or hire another?? A few of my cohorts that have gone the next step to five or more people have regreted it. SO THEREFORE ??? Which is better?? Hire journeyman with a truck,or, stay small????
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- Semi-retired engineer
does your state require you actually hire someone to work for you to do this kind of work?
if not maybe go through a temp service, or take a legit subcontractor on.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
I'm having trouble understanding why you seem to feel anyone that doesn't own a business is beneath you and could never live up to your working standards.
We have some exceptionally hard working guys at our company that treat the company as their own. Most working men understand that if the company doesn't make money, they don't make money. And with families to support, most working men are going to do everything they can to make sure the business is successful.
The headaches can be delegated. An owner at any level is going to have them, but with the right people in place, they can be less severe. I'm sure we have issues that come up every day at our company that could be described as "serious", but most don't reach the top because they don't have to. We have qualified people in place to handle it.
I understand you are content with what you're doing, but I don't see any need to continue the degredation of other company's employees.
masterinbama
Senior Member
- Location
- Huntsville Alabama
If I had a huge project to complete, I would hire this company.
http://www.jessestuttsinc.com/
If I needed a panel replaced in my house, I wouldn't.
http://www.jessestuttsinc.com/
If I needed a panel replaced in my house, I wouldn't.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Maybe, maybe not. I worked for small company and later started my own small company. With my previous employer, we were once subcontracted by stainless guys to wire up cleaning system for pipelines, tanks, process equipment, etc. at a food processing plant. It was new plant and another larger EC was the general electrician at the site. Of course we had to coordinate with them to control associated motors that they ran power wiring for. Our control schematics were not extremely simple but at same time the portions that had to go to the MCC were simple enough - just a drawing of which motor was controlled by which wire number and maybe a few aux contacts from motor starters drawn on a page with none of the complex items drawn in there - those guys were clueless and I had to hook them up. All they could do was bend pipe and pull wire. Even the foreman seemed clueless and had no interest in being any part of it other than running pipe and pulling wire.
I'm kind of on your side of this. There is always exceptions, but the large companies are doing a lot of same things just on a different scale a lot of the time. In fact whenever the boys from larger companies come to my area to do a smaller job they seem to be much more inefficient than the small 1 and 2 man shops that are more common around the area, even if they only send one or two guys out to do the job. I can run circles around them on small projects a lot of the time, but on a larger project they have the manpower advantage when it is needed.
Rewire
Senior Member
- Location
- Lake of the Ozarks
More freedom and more money are reality. When you take the time to hire the right people and pay them well then most of the things you mention never are an issue.
the more employees you have the more people you can delegate responsibilities to. You put the right people in place and being an absentee owner is possible . I can easily take a week vacation with no interruption of the business.
actually I think the smaller you arte the more headaches you have ,I can assign someone to take on the headaces that as a one man shop I had to deal with
I like luxuries and want to enjoy the fruits of my efforts while I am still young enough to enjoy them.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
One thing that has not been said is that you need to pay them a fair amount and be good to them - especially your top dogs or they will be looking for other opportunities. Not saying you don't, but I have seen so many good guys in any job move on because there was more offered someplace else.
Rewire
Senior Member
- Location
- Lake of the Ozarks
Here is how we approach it, first the customer must win , second the emnployees must win,third the company must win. The customer must win because they pay our wages and bills, second the employee must win because it is their afforts that make it possible for the customer to win, and third the company must win and if the first two are in place then that should be easy. this is the order in which it must happen if if any deviation is made then someone in the list will lose.
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