The problem I have had in the past is every time I teach someone how to estimate or price jobs; shortly thereafter they start looking at me as the middleman between them and their money. Another problem I used to run into is they start adding up all their tickets figuring all the profit, then use this information to ask for a raise, at new truck or in a worst case scenario to justify dishonesty on their part.
So every time I hear about a “technicians” (is that what yall call electricians up north?) pricing work, I just cringe. Here is some advice take it or leave it I don’t really care, but if you have enough men running around and doing work, and you think you need a pricing book, take a step back and consider hiring a salesman/estimator. It’s never a good idea to mix the business end with your labor; the very most a serviceman should be doing with paper work is write up the hours worked and the materials used. If you cant support a salesman/estimator then you need to be doing it yourself sspecially if its only a part time job right now.
Again this is just how it works for me, some other business model may work you and that is fine but keep this in mind, 3 of my biggest competitors all started at my shop.
[This message has been edited by ITO (edited 01-27-2007).]
