So, now that we are almost three months in to it, has 2010 been better or worse than you had hoped it would be so far?
Personally, I think it smells like the same dung... just a whole new pile.

On the plus side though, I believe I have found a guaranteed way to loose any small resi bid that comes around these days.
It's the last line on my estimates, which reads, Electrical Permit/Inspection Fee: City or Town of...

Almost every one of the potential resi service customers that I meet with lately to give that "free" estimate to has the same reply when I bring the subject up... You mean you need to pull a permit for this... really...? Oh, I didn't know that. That statement alone is a sure sign that they won't be calling me back for that work.

I don't mean to sound bitter, but unfortunately it seems like the '08 NEC is more of a hindrance than an ally to legitimate EC's in this economy, at least here in my area. Even if the job only involved adding a few circuits, some additional lighting or simply extending a couple of existing circuits, that represents an additional $150.00 just for the AFCI cb's and TR or even WR/TR receptacles that the lowballer who got the job is not going to use or even concern himself with.
That's a pricing advantage I would like to have in this tight economy.

2010 has been absolutely horrible here. January is usually weak for us anyway, but February has ended up being even worse. Sadly, I don't see any movement on the frontier until the November mid-term elections. The past year hasn't been filled with the "change and hope" that I was expecting.

We have focused on the servioce side for the last several years no our repeat customers are keeping us going

Business not so good here , like other poster , we are trying to focus on service , unfortunately it is slow too .
I think we can make it , but like you say , bidding seems to be futile these days

FWIW, I hear from many EC's that the comm market here is brutal for bids. Comm reno & tenant fit-ups is extreemly tight bids, and there's no 'loyalty' to any EC's.

I see guys traveling from all areas of the state, even for small resi jobs.

The advantage to service is you tend to get a more loyal customer as most have been burned by the fly by nite guy. My repeat customers know what I charge so no bid wars.

This has been the worst 2 months i have ever had.We have 3 employees that i hope tuff it out with me. Going from40 hrs plus to 24hrs plus is really tough on us all.

weather finnally breaking so we are starting a new church this week the phone is beginnig to ring and work is starting to pick up. I have called one guy back and hope by the end of the month to bring back another.Caution is still the watch word but survival looks better each day.

So far this year is as slow for me as last. See no signs of any improvement on the horizon. Hope it picks up soon.

The combination of nice weather and income tax refunds has improved the work picture

Very weak the last couple of months. A little short term improvement with some of the wind damage and generator sales. Hanging in there.

just caled another tech back to work monday,full speed ahead and dam the torpedos.

this is yr 12 on my own, and definitely the worst one yet. I'm thinking of going 'green' here. I know it's very politisized, but regardless of one's politics, there is business to be had. For instance the Vermont senate voted to have Yankee nuke shut down in '12, so there's going to be one heck of a rate hike comming....etc etc....

~S~

the warm weather and tax refunds have helped. The phone is ringing again and we are booking work.

In the last 3 years I've worked for 12 general contractors. Recently I checked their license status with the Contractors State License Board. Every single one has had their license revoked or suspended.

The life expectancy of a GC is normally 5 years but this recession has really cleaned out the industry. Since I primarily work for general contractors this means I'm essentially out of business.

Tight credit and lack of home equity means that homeowners will for at least the next 3 or 4 years be unable to finance remodels or additions.

The massive inventory of vacant homes means the residential new construction market will not return for another 2 years.

Most economists expect the recession to continue through 2011 and into 2012 before recovering and many are saying the the recovery will not include the construction industry.

My wife is a well paid scientist with a 6 figure income. For the last 2 years she has funded $40,000 into marketing efforts for my business that has essentially resulted in zero sales.

Last week a potential customer asked what I would charge to come out and replace a Zinsco single pole 20 amp breaker (the handle had snapped off). I know the breaker is about $25 so I quoted a total price of $75. He asked "why so high?" and said he had a price from another electrician for $40.

The golden age of electrical contracting is over. I'm spending all my new found leisure time riding bicycles, lifting weights and will be starting college at the age of 53 this June.

Sometimes we must learn the hard way that electrical contracting takes a greater skill set than just being able to read the code and twist wires.

I have said this before and I will bring it up again. There are plenty of HOAs and gated communities who still have money and are trying to upgrade their communities. I understand that may seem daunting but if you can find HOAs with decent site managers the checks cash and the work can be steady.
This might be a bridge until the building business recovers. It is the kind of business where word of mouth between these various community managers is your best advertising.

The fact of the matter is, economists claimed this was an L shaphed recession over a yr ago. We've outsourced most manufacturing due to free trade, and the only thing that's kept us going here is that we are a 70% service GDP.

The disparity now is approaching the gilded age, so expecting other factors to follow suit isn't a stretch.

An inflationary cycle would be one element to consider in our near future. This hidden tax can be a healing phenomenon for our general economy, yet that Zinco might go for $45 next yr, and all the contractual hullabaloo that goes with it

~S~

Obviously this snide response is meant to insinuate that due to some personal flaw or lack of business acumen, I am responsible for my current financial difficulties.

Your smug and condescending attitude is exactly what I expected from the brain trust of this forum. It would be difficult to over state the contempt I have for know-it-alls like you.

Did you read your own post? 12 contractors who all have been suspended or revoked, I check who I work for because what they do reflects on me I dont get blinded by dollar signs. 40 grand to promote your business with 0 return After the first grand Iwould be rethinking my strategy and sought help.It is easy to run a contracting business when times are good but when times are tight the entrpeneur will succeed were the tachnician will fail.sorry things didnt work out but not everyone is cut out to do this.

This is just more of the war on ourselves going on here, and the thing is , we really didn't consiously set out to create another gilded age.

Not that it would help economically, but it would sure feel good if we could pitch a few of those banksters responsible in the closest volcano

~S~

It was great when people without money could still buy things but these days you have to find the people who still have some money and sell them something. They are out there.
They are generally mature people in mature communities who are not upside down on their mortgages.
This is going to be a word of mouth business more than putting out ads. The electrician who works for my wife's country club community started by doing a few odd jobs around there. This year she gave him $100,000 worth of work and a hook into a few other similar communities. You get a few customers like that and you can get by.

FWIW, over 25+ years, I had one (1) yellow page 1/4 page ad, for a year contract, and received squat in return!

I survived (with at least four (4) FT 'sparkies', who never missed a paycheck. Yes, I missed a few paychecks, but that's life.

Word of mouth, and as Greg said above....a few good contacts. Plus staying far away from the 'booming' resi in this state. A lot of guys abandoned the comm work to jump on the resi bandwagon; some were successful, some joined the $$$ fight and lost.

Recently the resi bust hit one EC really hard & 43 guys lost their jobs; the EC worked for one (1) major resi player (developer) and we all know what happens when all your marbles are in one bag.

Fini

what to many dont do is sit down and write a business plan and then follow it.

My business is starting to pick up finally .
I figured out how to get busy , you plan a vacation , then the phone rings off the hook .
Seriously though , I am moving more into service calls , res and commercial . Cutting overhead , it's just me now , no employees .
I don't think being hard on the guy who is not doing well is appropriate .
I am an electrician , not a business man . Consequently , I make a living , but I don't get rich . Fortunately , in America , if I want to start a business , I don't have to pass someone elses qualification test . I just try , and succeed or fail . Thats the American way , or it used to be , before our gov began deciding who wins and loses . N844AA , good luck , you just have to decide if you will stick it out or not . All in or all out , right ?

If you are an electrician and not a business man you dont own a business you own a job. When someone fails at business it is always easy to blame it on government or bad economy or even the lowballers but the harsh truth is if your business fails it is squarely on you.I have seen it happen many times over the years a good economy brings the wannabe contractors out of the woodwork but just the slightest bump and the fall like dominoes.Another thing that use to be the American way was when you failed you didn't whine about it

I agree the responsibility is on the owner completely , I merely said being hard on him is not productive .
You sir do not know my business , or balance sheet , so please don't comment on it .
I have been in business for 8 years . It is a small business , granted , but I make a living . I've done jobs up to 250,000 , made money on most , lost on a few .
I don't think you have the right to examine his credentials and decide if he should be in business or not .
Many people writing on this thread are probably just venting , you can't really take that to mean they should not be in business .
Just saying , business is tough , have a little compassion , not trying to start a fight here .

Now that we have covered the inexperienced businessman, Lets try and move onto greener pastures, this thread will end up in a flaming war and that isnt what we want at ECN.Lets post ideas that will help us be better.

Gentlemen/Members:

As Doug said above, let's not turn this thread into a flaming situation.

Let's try to stay within the scope of the topic, and pass on any suggestions that we may have to assist each other.

well i haven't written myself a check in over a month, and the majority of calls here are either from collection , or debt cosolodation agencies wanting to know if they can do biz for me

i'm also owed more than anytime in my tenure being a biz man, nothing like having to work for other businesses that are going down the drain

sadder still, are all the calls from apprentices with 'less than 1000 hours to go' here. I really wish i could tell them something other than hang in there

i'd go back to doing some shift work in ems at this point, but one look at me says 'over the hill' , and given there's so many younger (1/2 my age) go-getters that'll run circles around me, why bother.....

i've put together flyers , new cards, a web site with monthly suggestions (nice spam, if you will) and shaken more hands in the last year than a local politician

so yeah, any suggestions are more than welcome

~S~

CDS,
I am where you are. Just me doing service calls and small stuff. I have done larger comm and resi jobs. I really enjoy the service calls more and think the money is better. I am looking at expanding to only service and leaving the world of new comm and resi behind. I do not have a "business degree" and sometimes don't know if I make or lose money on a large job. Service is plentiful, perpetual and easy to keep up with from a bookeeping standpoint. Doing this I can bring my business to a level that I can handle and still earn a living.

I have just started getting busy , just this week . I am actually getting most of the week booked up . That has not happened for me in a while .

Suggestions
1. Service companies : the ones that do maintenance for the chain stores . There are some good ones and bad ones , just try them . Biggest problem with some is they take forever to pay .

2. I just spent a good bit of my down time getting listed in search engines ( yelp , google , yahoo , merchantcircle , etc ) . You can pay someone to do it for you , if you don't have the time , inclination , or know how . I actually got a call today , from a internet source , yelp I think .
It is the future I suppose .

If your looking to do construction , I don't have suggestions , I am pulling away from that aena for awhile .

yeah, got into FM mainteneance, they're a bit socially retarded , everything seems to be crisis management, and they invent more paperwork than the pentagon....



CD, those 'internet help helpertons' (if that's what your refering to) actually sell you a detrimental barrier. All one needs do is have a good understanding (or have a webmaster that does) of Metatags to assume even a better position than you could pay them for.

PS~it takes time for them to get indexed...

~S~

pointers

~S~

Things have been really good for us here in many parts of Western Canada for the last year or so. It's because we are less reliant on the US economy as we used to be although many sectors here are hurting like forest, pulp and manufacture.
In BC economy is good and house prices on the rise at least while interest rates are low and lots of people moving here so everyone is busy at least in this business anyway. We have a severe shortage of 10+ year experience tradespeople. Hopefully some of the depressed industries will see some improvement and things pick up in the US.
I think as the US dollar is allowed to collapse further this will bring employment back to those in export related business including auto and hopefully get people back on the job but It will never be the same again. Not it our life time.

just one more bubble, we'll inflate it slow this time....~S~

Roughed in a new house last week. 2600 sf with garage. I almost forgot how enjoyable it was to do a new house. It sure did feel good just to be able to work long days for a week without scheduling, going from job to job, etc. One week work, one bill. Have another to start in 2 weeks. Two small commercial projects at the same time. 15K - 20k each.

It seems to be feast of famine. Two weeks ago I was hanging around the house waiting for the phone to ring. Sometimes I feel lazy not doing anyting for work. But if there isn't anything then there isn't anything. I hope this is a trend.

I'm about the same here schenimann

on a good note, i've one h*ll of a garden going this year, 1800 sq. ft of it, i aim to fill the freezer (i'd like venison, but i'm a lousy shot)

anywho, it's the same for anyone we would ask here now>>

http://www.economyincrisis.org/content/recession-forever-altering-americans-lives

~S~

Situation in Twp I work in seems good to better. 6 months ending June 30 resulted in 2000+ permits issued & 300+ updates. Yes, it's very little new resi, but it's work after all. Yes, there are still a lot of guys sitting in the 'halls'. carps especially. Hopefully, things are on the way back to 'level' or 'steady'

BTW, it's not only the trades that are hurting, the municipal sector is poised to take a further beat down here. Furlough days are in effect is a lot of towns, lay-offs, shared services, etc. The education sector is on the stove too; cuts in some towns affected 10 year people.

very much so HotOne, I'm in the process of trying to nail down a few bids for the town here in fact. Used to be municipalities were an easy touch

no more....

~S~

Slowly ticking over here, hoping that once winter becomes Spring, things pick up a tad.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking around for work, but at the end of the day, I have a guy that was an apprentice that has just finished his time and is now qualified, it's a bit harder finding enough steady work for us BOTH.

All of my work is effectively word of mouth, however I'm not sure how much longer that is going to last.

Hang in there folks.