Incompetent or Dis-Interested Sparks of Today.

Earlier this evening I spoke to an electrician who is just the sort of guy who should be setting up as an electrical contractor and registering with the NICEIC or NAPIT, he is the right age, suitably qualified and has enough experience. 

He has left his former employment,  however he is setting up as a window cleaner rather than as an electrical contractor. 

A few years ago I would have been surprised, but not anymore, as I know of another electrician who has carbon fibre pole window cleaning gear along with a big tank of water in the back of his van and I also had a conversation with a Gas Safe registered plumber whilst he was actually cleaning windows earlier this year. 

Well that's what I call good business. If you have enough customers to turn it away, all well and good, but don't take it for granted.

Good reliable tradesmen are hard to find. Step-daughter has had a right old nightmare getting them to turn up even for repeat business. If business is that good, why don't these people take on more staff? Then they could be rich as Croesus just like Mr Pimlico Plumbers.

If you've ever employed staff you'd know full well Chris!

I think though Chris, they simply need to get better at communication with customers rather than using the 'ignore them and they'll go away' tactic. That's what infuriates customers the most! 

If the job is too small or too complicated or it's just not something they want to do then they should say so. It doesn't have to be an in-depth explanation, even just a 'Sorry I'll have to pass on this one' would suffice as it's not leaving the customer in limbo for days wasting their time waiting for something that's never going to materialise. 

Maybe that should be part of the training  'How to let down your customer when you don't want the work' 

@LisaMiles

You would be surprised how difficult it is to tell some people you don’t have the time available to do work for them, simply saying “I do not know when I will be able to do it, I am fully booked for the next couple of months” does not deter them, they then start to argue that you can really fit them in.

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.

Oh I know Sparkingchip! My partner is a building surveyor and has his own building company. We get it all the time!  

A good reason for not attending a job request are 1. images taken of the positions of the CU - those too near the ceiling where the rungs of the stepladder mean lengthy periods of body contorsion, or at floor level where you have to lie down and support yourself on your elbows. 2. requesters posting "just a simple job", "shouldn't take long", "reasonable rates only". 3. CU's boxed in needing keyhole surgery. 4. Those who profess to know electrics/treat electricians as of lower class/lower intelligence/hired help.

I attended an emergency callout last week since the caller seemed elderly, it took a long time just to remove the C.U. plastic cover without causing damage , because it had been boxed in, in the kitchen and the RCD test trip wouldn't work. Trials and tribulations, I'm sure this is a typical experience for most, and the user doesn't appreciate the inconvenience caused.    

Jaymack

A job has just been given to me a couple of hours driving from home, which involves the roof being taken off a garage to build a new roof with lift shaft from the garage to a balcony above, installing a lift from the garage to the balcony, replacing the garage door with a self opening door, installing power supplies to the lift and door, adding lighting and provision for charging a mobility scooter with a new consumer unit.

Five years ago I would have turned the job down, but after four years of doing work all over the country there doesn’t seem anything odd about being asked to do this job, because it’s highly unlikely that a local electrician will be found who can or will do it within the timeframe.

Long term though things are going to have to change, because electricians and other tradespeople are not going to be so mobile in the future, unless electric vans are going to have a massive increase in their range.

The apparently inevitable restrictions on traveling for work will mean that in future more electricians and tradespeople will be working closer to home, but that doesn’t mean there will be enough of them.

I recently knocked back a job in a convenience store, extra sockets behind the counter, tills & lottery power cannot be switched off, two assistants behind counter plus me on my knees trying to work around them, no thanks