ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Deadbeat contractors

We were always a small contractor, but had a reputation for doing quality work, and ususlly had a reasonable price. There were those jobs where we were just outbid. I should say that this was back in the late 80's early 90. It was during that time that our area's economy was heading for the toilet. There were a number of projects that somehow ran out of funding. We had always legally pursued monies that were clearly owed to us, but the percentages quickly outweighed our ability to stay afloat. When we looked back at what our legal expenses were, the addage about lawyers were the only ones making money proved true. I remember "closing the doors" on Haloween of 1990. It was very debilitating, to say nothing of the monetary losses we incurred. We had our problems, but workmanship wasn't one of them. I believe that to be a true "contractor", knowing your trade and how to apply that in the field are only 50% of the equation. The rest must be that of "business" and "money". If you're a one man band, it's a bit different, but growing larger brings a whole nest of other responsibilities.

JohnD24:
As to your idea of, no final inspection until paid in full.....

The esteemed lawmakers in our state capital decided in the interest of consumer protection to adopt the following LAW.....

Final payment is due the contractor upon final inspection/approval. This is not the verbatum wording of the law, the law book is in my truck.

A two sided sword, without a handle???

What eloquent words have ye, Sparky???

John

John,
We were were bonded, so we could collect before inspection. The idea was if a job was incomplete, or did not pass inspection, the bond would be pulled and you were out of business. Who are these Legal &&)&&^ in Trenton. Every Electrical Contractor in the state should be mad as he77.
The Consumer law was needed for non licensed and non bonded Contractors, not us.

[This message has been edited by LK (edited 01-29-2004).]

LK:

You hit the nail dead on. Unfortunatley, the FEW bad contractors, be they of whatever trades are the cause of consumer protection laws.

Reading some excerpts from the EC Law Book, to a few EC's that needed a 'refresher', you may be surprized how many (or few) do not understand the term "professional mis-conduct", nor the consequences of that charge. "Price gouging" is also addressed, and that was a shock to someone also.

Having the GC's get a license may help, but you still have good old Chapter 7,11,13 and god help the subs.

Fortunatly, the DCA listens to both sides, as does the Board of Examiners regarding Consumer complaints.

For the members of this forum that reside and work in no permit, no lic, no inspection areas, I feel for you guys. Remember Virgil, aka Sparky66WV???

John

John,it's not all bad,but if you're just starting out,it's a tough go when you start code-thumping.

95% of the work I do is for people who don't know good work from bad,and there's no one to tell them the difference.

This is the primary reason we do plumbing,and septic installation/repair,waterlines,a few footings,and some other stuff in addition to electrical. We used to get outbid a lot until I found 3 builders that WANTED quality work,and were willing to pay for it.

If We didn't do the "other stuff" we couldn't make a decent living bidding jobs done to comply with The Nec.

Russell

What happened to Virgil?

"a few EC's that needed a 'refresher', you may be surprized how many (or few) do not understand the term "professional mis-conduct", nor the consequences of that charge. "Price gouging" is also addressed, and that was a shock to someone also."

I need a refresher too. Where can I get more info on what you're talking about?

To make a long story shorter,Virgil was an EC working in WV in an area with no code enforcement. Virgil was/is a good man,and a good electrician who was constantly striving to be 100% code-compliant.

He was constantly forced to bid against people who could care less about code compliance. Last time I heard from him,he was out of the trade.

Russell

I put in terms of payment 1/3 to start, 1/3 for rough in, and 1/3 for final. I am pretty much guarenteed 2/3 if they want the project done. If a G.C. pays you upfront usaully there good to pay the rest of the way.


[This message has been edited by wall-i-slayer (edited 01-29-2004).]

John,
Do we drop our bond now, since it serves no purpose.
The Board must have been isolated from reality, at one time, when business practices were discussed, they said that you should not mark-up your material more than 10%, well if you move a stack of 1/2 rigid conduit, there goes the 10%. This statement was made years ago at a group of new test takers. So when you say "Price gouging", this can include those of us who may mark-up more than 10%. Most of the EC's try to conduct business in an Ethical way, however Ethics, mean one thing to me, and another to someone else, you cannot define Ethics. The Board has defined Rules, which if not followed, will lead to Misconduct, for those who are licensed. I think most of us worked very hard, and long hours to get our license, and do not want to lose it for any reason.