I thought some of you might be interested in a website that has articles about running a business. http://www.pmmag.com
Click on editorial archives and type in a keyword or title in the search window. Type a keyword such as "profit" or I have listed a few titles below. Good articles to read let me know what you think.

Article Titles:
Yellow pages ads that get results
How much should a new contractor charge?
Our undervalued profession
A dear john letter
I want a breakdown!

These are just a few of hundreds of articles I found to be very informative. This is a plumbing magazine but has lots of good articles about running a business that apply to electrical also. I subscribed to the magazine just for these articles.

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 11-17-2004).]

good stuff.thanks for the link.

Thanks, A-Line. A very good business site.

Dave

Thanks

What other good links do you have hiding in your favorites A-Line? I just subscibed to the service rountable commanche marketing newsletter. It looks promising and after looking at the this first link I have no doubts it will be packed full of goodies. BTW thank you for both of the links.

www.electricianboard.com www.youresi.com www.mrhvac.com www.businessknowhow.com www.max-effect.com www.bls.gov www.sba.gov www.serviceroundtable.com

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 11-30-2004).]

[This message has been edited by A-Line (edited 11-30-2004).]

What is that Electricians Sucess International (ESI)? I've gotten post cards from them wanting me to join someting that will make me money. I end up tossing them out because it sounds like a scam or franchise offer.

Tom

Why is it that there are so many sites and organizations related to plumbing and HVAC specifically designed to increase their profitability, yet so few, if any, for electricians? Perhaps this site could morph into a site like Service Roundtable. But for now we have to read articles written for plumbers and adapt them to our industry.

(Bill and moderators, Please don't take offense. This site is awesome, but it serves a completely different function than the ones discussed above.)

ESI is an organization similiar to PSI for plumbers. Members of ESI get special rates on software, materials etc. They get help with running their business and making it more profitable. It's a fairly big expense but then so are the yellow pages. The members say it's worth every penny. I am not a member. Some of the members I know of are Rick Bruder of www.bruderelectric.com and Electro Serv www.outtoday.com
There is a lot of discussion about ESI on the electrician board website www.electricianboard.com
I feel that the residential electrical service industry is way behind the Plumbing and HVAC residential service industry. I believe that most electrical contractors avoid residential service because they don't think they can make any money there. The majority charge T&M and this makes it harder to make it profitable. I was charging T&M for service work and no matter how low my hourly rate was it was still to high for most people. Also they still wanted to know the total price before I started. I switched to a flat rate system and doubled my hourly rate and I get more jobs with fewer complaints. My customers are paying more but are happier because they know the exact price before I start the work. You have to find your break even point, add your desired profit to find your hourly rate and you will find that it's more than the going T&M rate in your area. The going rate in my area for T&M ranges between $40.00 to $60.00 Per hour. You can't make any money in the service industry at these rates unless you mark up your materials alot. Then you get complaints about how much you charged for the materials.

Eagle,

Maybe we are headed in a direction to perform some similar services. Always open to suggestions!


Bill

ubtil you have in the hvac field you will know that even though that flat rate is very popular there there is alot of contractors that don't charge flat still.

if you guys are looking for material on electrical flat rate i would recccomend trying www.mrhvac.com and ask for the free packet they have software that can be added or specialized designed for the electrical industry. Also isn't flat rate the same has giving an estimate for t&m and than sticking to it no matter the time it takes?

I also agree that the electric industry is lacking in contractor support services, but who can we blame unions ourselves? customers wanting to do it them selves??

Here is a link to a magizeen The Successfull Contractor. It has a free mailing list. I think it is connected to ESI somehow.

http://www.thesuccessfulcontractor.com/