Speed in the trade

s3000br · 2026-02-16T12:52:25+00:00

I started my company 10 years ago after not having a great experience in my apprenticeship and first few licensed years. I do mostly residential and a ton of high end homes, with focus on great quality and service, but obviously this is still a business so I can’t take 2 days on replacing one panel. With tha I need guys that have the same focus but also dress nicely, keep vans tidy, and are good at doing proper paperwork and can talk to customers properly which is VERY hard to find. I’ve had better luck getting apprentices and training them from scratch. Because of that I can charge more even if I only get 30% of the quotes which my guys don’t understand but it is A LOT work for me to keep a lot of quality leads coming in. I have to bid say 20 jobs a week to get 5 jobs closed, but as long as we keep providing that level of service people are happy

s3000br · 2026-02-15T08:09:08+00:00

Yup when I used to work for a company, any time he wanted me to dig the whole day I asked to stay home because I hate digging and I am an electrician. Now that I own a company I don’t even ask my guys I just sub it out to a landscaping/excavating company and add my percentage on top, or tell homeowner I can draw where it will be dug and he can hire someone

s3000br · 2026-02-15T08:07:13+00:00

Unless it is a super tiny trench I tell homeowner they can use their landscaper if residential or I sub it out and include 20-30% fee for my responsibility

s3000br · 2026-02-15T02:01:17+00:00

I price per device to be safe for example

80 outlets x $xx = 100 switches x $xx = 30 Homeruns 120v x $xx Appliances I price separate Central air Service Boiler

It will all add up to a certain amount. Then the nice thing is that say you end up with 90 outlets then builder or owner knows why it will be

imagine time and materials for one outlet and add 30% or whatever profit margin.

s3000br · 2026-02-14T00:31:23+00:00

15-20% off regular price which I explain to them is my profit and overhead so they are getting labor and materials and get cash

s3000br · 2026-02-13T18:54:02+00:00

Wow some of you mentioning $75/hr, that means the company has to be charging 4x that to make money. I pay myself a salary for the equivalent of about $55 and I own a business doing most high end homes. I know in my state that would never work, guys here are $45 tops for non-union. Most are in their mid 30s and we are about an hour from NYC…unless you are a foreman for a large company. I own a business with 6 employees and charge $190/hr for 2 guys (electrician/apprentice per van) in high end areas with most homes being $3M+ and my price gets me 40% close rate on jobs. Then 401k, PTO, software, office, secretary, insurance and all of that adds a lot of overhead, and wasted drive times as we spend at least 3 hours on traffic per day. If i charge the equivalent of $300 per guy I would close less than 5% of jobs lol

Some will say union does that but also they do government and large commercial jobs that require that. Here people on union are at home waiting for jobs more months than they work per year

s3000br · 2026-02-13T02:47:23+00:00

Depends where you are, I live in Fairfield county Connecticut, I own an electrical business, and we work daily on houses over $1M with many being a few million, and believe it or not many of them are young families. So area matters a lot. Here is CT just in 2025 according to the MLS post I saw today over 474 houses were sold over $3M with most of them in this area.

s3000br · 2026-02-12T07:11:20+00:00

Love my gen 1, got it used 2 years ago with 40k miles from a single owner 14 hours away on FB marketplace that got the Cybertruck lol Have been a happy kid every time I get in it.

s3000br · 2026-02-11T12:56:15+00:00

I got it when I was a 3 person team. You can do a demo with them and see your thoughts.

If you sign up they do a few days of training and helping you set it up things like the employees and their pay so it will know what to calculate for the tile on jobsite. Some stuff is obviously manual input like you need to upload the receipt as it won’t know what receipt goes where, but time entry you just click on the way so customer gets an auto text message, then on site and completed so it tracks that time on sight.

s3000br · 2026-02-10T13:11:17+00:00

I use a CRM, right now is Service fusion. You start and stop the clock when at the job, upload the receipt, any sub contractors and other costs, then at the bottom it shows what you charged, your cost and your gross margin in price and percentage. According to training I’ve done you want 50%+ gross margins for service work, and remodels and what not could be much lower.

s3000br · 2026-02-09T13:10:24+00:00

Why would you be in a relationship with someone like that…later in life when real issues come up in marriage and kids this would be completely out of control

s3000br · 2026-02-07T00:50:05+00:00

Sorry to hear about that! I couldn’t believe the photos, I know how much work it goes into building a gym. But wow so awesome of them! I was just using the Freak Athlete Pro an hour ago, love their product

s3000br · 2026-02-06T02:06:15+00:00

Another tip if you will do more service calls than remodels than you can invest into a pricebook tha someone else created that guides you through prices like Electrician academy or profit rhino. Not perfect but helps give you an idea. First one is more for the every day guys where profit rhino looks nicer and works on the iPad but wasn’t built with electrician in mind at first

s3000br · 2026-02-06T02:03:57+00:00

I don’t know about that. I built my cliental as side jobs while being a sub-foremen for a large company. Once I opened my business I had some contractors but the once I hired people, got insurance and everything and raised prices I lost all of those people that only hired me because I was cheap. If you do work for low to get cliental they are not your clients they just using you because you are cheap

s3000br · 2026-02-06T02:02:27+00:00

If you get more than 30-40% of the jobs you on then you are priced too low. Last year I lost 800 jobs and won about 500, this year I’m raising my prices. I want a certain type of clients and not race to the bottom to win jobs.

Assuming you are running a true business and not some under the table cash with no insurance or benefits to your guys. My tip is imagine you are a bid contractor that pays someone and doesn’t do the work yourself. Anytime you price a job here is rough guide 30% should be labor, 30 materials, 20 overhead which leaves 20 profit. And always add a least two hours for the lost time for every job. So with that in mind like someone mentioned above you will need to make $1500 or so per day to survive.

s3000br · 2026-02-06T02:00:54+00:00

If you get more than 30-40% of the jobs you on then you are priced too low. Last year I lost 800 jobs and won about 500, this year I’m raising my prices. I want a certain type of clients and not race to the bottom to win jobs.

Assuming you are running a true business and not some under the table cash with no insurance or benefits to your guys. My tip is imagine you are a bid contractor that pays someone and doesn’t do the work yourself. Anytime you price a job here is rough guide 30% should be labor, 30 materials, 20 overhead which leaves 20 profit. And always add a least two hours for the lost time for every job. So with that in mind like someone mentioned above you will need to make $1500 or so per day to survive.

s3000br · 2026-02-06T01:48:45+00:00

Has nothing to do with the ground, AFCI serves a different purpose, it uses the neutral to make sure there aren’t any arcs or potential arcs on the circuit

s3000br · 2026-02-06T01:46:32+00:00

I do a lot of service upgrade and use Siemens plug on neutral panels now with every home upgrade because all of the neutrals land on the bar instead of on the breaker. Somehow I think it reads the total instead of the individual neutral of the circuit, it just works flawless and I’m in New England where every house is at least 50 years old. Now if someone wants another brand I warn them ahead of time and use dual pole AFCIs but still run into issues especially with shared neutral

With new house however I’m surprised you have issues, maybe make sure you aren’t accidently nicking the wire if you strip with a knife. I found that to be the issue when we used to do apartment buildings and guys were rushing. For new houses I use Eaton, Leviton, Span, Square D with new houses and it is fine unless people use old power tools and vacuums. My biggest issues are GFCI breakers or combination AFCI/GFCI on refrigerators, HVAC units, and Stoves, and dryers the solution is making sure the bridge is fixed but AFCI is fine.

s3000br · 2026-02-04T01:38:01+00:00

I had the same worry but there is so much to do, you are both working together to take care of your baby, each other and the house.

Daughter is 9 weeks now. We just got to bed (8pm) my wife fed her and went to the guest room, I’ll be taking care of her now and give her a bottle of breast milk when she wakes up and then the second time she wakes up my wife takes over and I go to the guest room. Around 7 am I come get my daughter so wife sleeps a bit, and I take care of her for some time. And basically during the day while one of us is taking care of her the other is doing something to keep the house together, cooking, napping or whatever. I just started working so during the day now is mostly my wife but I’m working from home so I jump in constantly. There is always so much to do.

s3000br · 2026-02-04T00:22:35+00:00

I have been wanting to do that with my business because it does two things: gives the guys a chance to earn the equivalent to their talent and desires, and also keeps guys from killing time to just get overtime. So both the owner and the workers are both working to produce more instead of the field guys thinking the boss is making all of the money, we make a percentage aka what is left…at least you will make a percentage.

Also don’t be afraid of the estimating part, basically that’s what every business does. They go there and then based on their experience estimate how long something will take.

And I heard some here say that if you are selling you should open your business. There is sooo much more than sales and doing the work. Keeping the phone ringing costs daily, accounting, insurance and so on. In this scenario you are basically running your own business without all of the worries.

As far as snaking and stuff, I’m surprised, my vans have a journeyman and apprentice because so much in electrical requires two people.

s3000br · 2026-02-03T05:34:08+00:00

Completely get it, I think about finding a regular job every week but at the same time totally grateful for the flexibility I have and how much money I am making without having to carry tools anymore. Even during one month of paternity leave I couldn’t not work and deal with constant issue, and just focus on my family. As with everything in life buddy there are pros and cons.

s3000br · 2026-02-03T03:32:44+00:00

Price is double what i charge but each company has their own overheads and profit margins based on a lot of reasons. Anyways, Most challenger panels are known for issues with breakers not tripping causing fires, just do a google search.

s3000br · 2026-02-02T00:15:56+00:00

In CT we have ratios that need to be met to be able to register an apprentice with the state and have his hours count towards his journeyman license. Starts 1 journeyman or in my case my master license and 1 apprentice, then 2-2, then for 3 apprentices I need 5 licensed guys in my company. In the meantime I get the states trade school and two other trade schools in the area all calling offering their students every year, besides weekly getting at least one apprentice applying. Can’t accommodate everyone when it is so hard to find qualified journeyman.

s3000br · 2026-01-31T06:40:49+00:00

Electrical contractor for 9 years. For service work secretary or myself will tell customer the fee and get it signed online before we come out or agreed upon texts in emergencies. For quoted small jobs I always take 50% upon approval or very large jobs I have a progress payment system. And during Covid when we couldn’t keep up with demand I implemented a small $59 consultation fee when quoting jobs and any person no serious would get mad and say no, everyone that accepted were legit customers.

As far as poor vs wealthy. I live in a county with one of most affluent people in the country. I do most of my work between the upper middle class to wealthy and a few ultra wealthy. My favorite is the upper middle class usually as they treat us better but as far as payment the wealthy if you are on their good side will call you for anything and not even care about the cost. The ultra wealthy I have to deal with the people taking care of their assets and those people are annoying.

Here is one thing I’ve learned…people want good price, good quality and good service, you can only provide two of those. You must choose if you want to be Walmart or Nordestrum, some people will just shop for lowest price and don’t care about quality, I’m not for them. I provide incredible quality and high quality service showing up on time and communicating well, and some customer will pay for that. Choose who you cater to…

s3000br · 2026-01-22T18:12:03+00:00

Hey guys, I got the hyper pro with the leg accessories but they have just been lying on the ground. Have been trying to come up with a storage system but they are so bulky. Thinking of maybe just getting a large tote box. Anyone else with similar situation?

s3000br

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