Incompetent or Dis-Interested Sparks of Today.

Going the other way, a customer I had done several jobs for phoned as I was driving home and said a pull cord light switch had broken, I went straight there and arrived within five minutes.

I replaced the switch, wrote a bill out and stood there holding my card machine ready to be paid.

The customer objected saying I should not be charging him so much as it was “Only a little job on my way home”.

I pointed out I had charged him £30, but at the time on my website at that time I was advertising a rate of £35 plus materials, so I had actually knocked a fiver off my rate and not charged him for the switch.

It’s easy to be a fool to yourself, really I should have charged him an extra tenner and his problem was resolved within minutes of him phoning, but he didn’t appreciate it.

I would not at all be surprised if the same customer leaves decent tips in restaurants, but the thought that he might tip a tradesperson would never enter his head.

The electrician I mentioned above who is setting up as a window cleaner had what would be considered a very secure job these days with the prospect of a decent pension in thirty years time, he and his wife have also recently bought their “House for life” and will extend rather than move with it being on an amazing plot of land in a great location. It’s a bit worrying really that in the near future he thinks he has better financial prospects as a window cleaner than as an electrician, but having done work at the home of my own window cleaner who is a degree qualified engineer I know why some people are thinking like this.

Running around trying to do small electrical jobs for people is time consuming and not particularly profitable.

Bigger electrical jobs carry more risk.

Plus as an electrician generally you have to keep finding new customers, because you get to the point you have done everything they need doing.

However, tell someone you will clean their windows every hour weeks (not once a month) and you have a straightforward job to do thirteen times a year, in and out then collect the money, often in less time than it takes to do the free quote that electricians customers expect for even the silliest little job.

Going the other way, a customer I had done several jobs for phoned as I was driving home and said a pull cord light switch had broken, I went straight there and arrived within five minutes.

I replaced the switch, wrote a bill out and stood there holding my card machine ready to be paid.

The customer objected saying I should not be charging him so much as it was “Only a little job on my way home”.

I pointed out I had charged him £30, but at the time on my website at that time I was advertising a rate of £35 plus materials, so I had actually knocked a fiver off my rate and not charged him for the switch.

It’s easy to be a fool to yourself, really I should have charged him an extra tenner and his problem was resolved within minutes of him phoning, but he didn’t appreciate it.

I would not at all be surprised if the same customer leaves decent tips in restaurants, but the thought that he might tip a tradesperson would never enter his head.

The electrician I mentioned above who is setting up as a window cleaner had what would be considered a very secure job these days with the prospect of a decent pension in thirty years time, he and his wife have also recently bought their “House for life” and will extend rather than move with it being on an amazing plot of land in a great location. It’s a bit worrying really that in the near future he thinks he has better financial prospects as a window cleaner than as an electrician, but having done work at the home of my own window cleaner who is a degree qualified engineer I know why some people are thinking like this.

Running around trying to do small electrical jobs for people is time consuming and not particularly profitable.

Bigger electrical jobs carry more risk.

Plus as an electrician generally you have to keep finding new customers, because you get to the point you have done everything they need doing.

However, tell someone you will clean their windows every hour weeks (not once a month) and you have a straightforward job to do thirteen times a year, in and out then collect the money, often in less time than it takes to do the free quote that electricians customers expect for even the silliest little job.