ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Question for the veterans

I live in a mid size town. the are about 10-15 electrical contractors in my town, most of whom only do commercial and industrial.
my question:

should i start an electrical contracting business and focus on residential and commercial?

it would seem that you'd be friendly competition AMP.

TY Sparky
i should probably state here that i am not trying to run the big boys outta town. i would just like to make a good living.
so my question (more to the point) is:
do you veterans get alot of calls from residential customers?

thank you in advance

My advise would be if you have the experience and the capital to start with go for it. You'll need to start slow until you get your customer list. People want quality work and dependability and someone they can trust. It's not as easy as it seems sometimes, but if you got the money to get your name out there, you've got a chance... Hope it works for you... Just my input... Steve

TY Steve

this is why i like to post at this BBS.
there is always positive responses and respect.

My initial thoughts are (1) what experience do you have in each area? (2) What type of work do you prefer? (3) There is always room for good electricians.

We mostly do residential work and its been good for us. What is your background? I know residential is "easy", but if you have primarily industrial experience, it may be a different world for you. Our service call work comes 100% from referral. People know we come in and do a clean, neat job. I've seen commercial guys go in a house and do $1000 damage to a ceiling to add lights that we could've done with no damage.

My point is just to do what you know, if it's residential, then that's your answer.

Residenial new work can also pay good, but you can lose money if not carefull and fast. It will pay much less than commercial, but cost you less also.