gpowellpec -
well here's the deal. My big brother is one of the electricians. He and our other partner have known each other since high school and have worked together in the electrical field for about 13 years. About 4 years ago they started wiring houses for a builder who was unhappy with his electrical contractor (which was the company that they worked for).
So for a long time they were just a couple of guys making some extra cash. Needless to say the builder was making more than extra cash from them because he was getting bare minimum prices (and he still does but now its more of a "thanks for all the bread and butter" kinda deal).
So yes you are right, I am a less-than-journeyman-electrician and at the same time they were less-than-college-educated-businessmen (and I only put it that way because its the least derogatory way to put it - not to imply that electricians aren't educated - these ones weren't). So that's where I came in - I was the "well read" little brother that wents to collidge and was able to track down, read and interpret all the legal mumbo jumbo of starting a business, getting licensed, liability insurance, acquiring bonds, pulling permits, keeping books, tracking expenses, putting together bids, making sales calls, ordering supplies, faxing this, faxing that, calling him, calling her, writing checks, depositing checks, finding a truck, buying a truck, licensing a truck AND working in the field as an advanced greenbean. Advanced as in I do way more than load and unload the truck and carry around tools - i.e. I usually box while the other guys are drilling & stringing and I tie in just about everything as they complete circuit by circuit (I still need help with particular switches every now and then). This weekend I tied in my first service - under very close supervision mind you - man 4/0 SEU is a bitch to work with. Anyway, all that is so that I can actually go to a builder and know what I am talking about.
So far it is working well. Its a lot of work on top of my other job which I just recently made part-time. I went in to this expecting not to work less than 8 days a week and not to make much money for awhile. The biggest problem is getting enough business in to support our finances but not too much to get our one full-time partner too bogged down (my brother is still working his full-time job).
Anyway - probably more of an answer than you were looking for but that's my story...
[This message has been edited by Happi_Man (edited 08-07-2002).]
