I have a new business in North Carolina, and have been following this forum for several years off and on. One thing that concerned me was hearing about the general contractors not paying and deadbeat customers. I decided after working for other people here in the Wilmington NC area, that I had to go into business to survive. Contractors will not pay a decent wage down here. I am retired from Uncle Sam, and get benefits and a small pension, which helps me through the lean times, but my aim is to make enough contracting to earn as much as I was when I was working up north. I specialize in residential service work. Home construction is cutthroat and I have no established business connections anyway, so I signed up as an electrical installer with a major home improvement chain. The work is easy, and I usually earn 50 to 75 dollars an hour for the same jobs that I was paid 12 dollars an hour for working for a local electrical contractor. The work is sporatic, and I can't rely on it to pay the bills yet, but when the jobs pick up it may be a goldmine.
The other contract I have is for an electric company doing home wiring service work, as well as surge protection equipment installations. Customers have the option of paying 3.95 a month added to their electric bill, and most of their wiring is covered. This involves troubleshooting and repairing bad recepticles, breakers, and switches mostly. I have a set price per hour that I invoice the company for payment. The company then deducts the payment from the customers allotment. The customers are grateful that the service was free to them, and some would not be able to afford an electrician without this service. Non covered services are paid by the customer directly to me, and I insist on them using a major credit card for payment if they seem shakey financially.
I have been told that my business will grow to the point where I will need to hire help. After experiencing the quality of the workers available here, ex-cons, fly by night guys that take off after they get paid, drug users, boozers, thieves, and malcontents, I decided that I will only hire pre-screened IBEW members. I have to have a background investigation as well as drug testing for myself as well as any employee of mine to work for the electric company, and pay for it myself too. I also want employees that are experienced as well.
I just signed a partnership agreement with the local here. They will assist me with providing quality help, as well as possible business contracts, and I can help them by breaking the ice down here by going with union labor. They have a new program that allows the union workers to get paid for piecework . No set hourly rate, but a percentage of the profits as determined by square foot building costs. This seems like a win-win situation for all involved, and I will try it if I can get some home construction projects. For now though, I will stick to service work.
