Reality check for wannabe electricians

[VoltzElectrical]

Hi all,

I've read numerous threads recently from well meaning people wanting to retrain as a domestic electrician and prepared to spend thousands of pounds to do so.

How much do these people REALLY know what it's ACTUALLY like to run their own domestic business?

I invite you all to post the REAL DEAL, WARTS AND ALL, on here to build up a more accurate picture of what it's like to generate business, quote, not get the job, get the job and not get paid, underquote, organise materials, chase money and walls, find faults, lift floorboards, deal with difficult customers, not sleep at night through money worries.

And the pro side too.

A call to arms guys to give these people the other side to all the advertising sold to them by course providers, thus enabling them to make an INFORMED CHOICE.

Regards.

 

[BLBelfast]

I love it. I love the problem solving, the challenges, the way that every day is normally new scenery and new scenarios.

However for me being a one man band it is tough.

I spend most of my working life trying to think of new ways to get leads, give quotes I never hear back about, try to explain to customers that they know **** all in the nicest possible way, have constant battles with clients in my quest to actually get paid, money worries all day every day and on the odd occasion I actually get to do a bit of sparking work and come home stinking and with a bad chest due to the dust and crap I have been inhaling all day.

Every single day at the moment I regret getting into the trade and personally I cant see the end of the crisis but then I am a pessemist.

 

[bugsy]

The 50K is correct, INFACT I am probably nearer the £60K however................

07:00, get up get showered, no time for breakfast
08:00 phone calls, accounts finish paper work from where left off last night............
10:00 on site pulling cables
NO LUNCH TOO BUSY
16:00 every employed person has left site
20:00 Really tired now, must get home invoices and a quote to type
23:30 Eaten dinner infront of computer whilst doing certificates, must go to bed as need to be up early.............................................................

Do a pro rata and given the 7 day 16hr days Its more likely 20K

You think you've got it tough!

I get up half an hour before I go to bed

 

[oldtimer]

Depends what your circumstances are I served my time in industrials / commercial then moved into facilities maintenance now doing domestic repairs why ? more money for less work and I have stepped down 4 gears. I have had 2 guys contact me willing to work for nowt I have encouraged them to stick in helped them with techy stuff but I wont take advantage mostly because most of my work is small electrical repairs. it also depends what type of person you are if you stick in and are organised then you are halfway there I feel that if you structure your day then no probs if not you can end up chasing your tail

 

[VoltzElectrical]

Bless you Belfast, not least for which your insightful response.

More needed, come on folks.....\

This needs to be a 'sticky' admin

 

[RWJ]

Bless you Belfast, not least for which your insightful response.

More needed, come on folks.....\

This needs to be a 'sticky' admin

I second that...... Dan, Jason, Lenny & co

 

[DurhamSparky]

i work 2 jobs!!! the one that pays the bills and teh one that i hope one day to pay the bills!! cant afford to jump fully self employed so i employed somebody to work the days i cant! unfortunately i some times have no work for a weeks and any work i do get in seem to be small works and normally only a few hours here and there!

it also does not help when people dont pay you / pay late and wonder why you get mad!

my accounts are piling up and dragging on! just converted to sage which is good but needs total attention!

i hit 20k this year GROSS!! probably made 11k for me so it shows that if you work for it the rewards are good to come by but a few of them jobs i got were commercial and probably beyond the scope of the lonely DI!

 

[Adam W]

Sorry if I'm offending anyone but my observation of what the average layperson's view of what an electrician (or 'domestic installer' which is the correct terminology) does is you spend your days sitting around in the local 'electricians' club' doing secret handshakes, reading the sun and exchanging tales of amorous adventures with bored housewives, then when you get a call, a 'good electrician' and his apprentice (an apprentice is just a helper who is too young to drive the van) will jump in the van and speed over there post-haste while a 'cowboy' will wait until he's finished his tea then slope off to his rusty old transit in a slovenly fashion.

If a socket or switch doesn't work you change it for one of the spares you keep in the van, if it's a wiring fault you plug in the yellow fault finding tester thingy which tells you what the fault is and where it is so you can change the socket/switch or tighten up the terminals, or you just push a button and it clears the fault.

Extra sockets involve deciding where it's going to go, sending in the secret gadget which burrows through the wall with the cable, under the floorboards and finds it's way back to the consumer unit, then making the final connections and screwing the faceplate to the wall; installing downlighters involves drilling the holes in the standard places then you send in the 'mole' to run the cables.

New builds are wired by builders; the electrician just swans in after the decorators to spend half a day 2nd fixing.

To get an 'electricians' card' you just have to pass the ECS test. The 6 week course is basically lessons on how to drive a van, wire a plug, tie your shoelaces etc; the only reason it takes anyone 3 years to do it is because they're uneducated working class meatheads.
Once you've passed the test you get your electricians' card, your electricians van with your yellow fault finding tester thingy and 'cable mole' in it, and you get taught how to do the secret handshake so you can get into the electricians' club and get your sockets and switches for a fraction of the price the general public pay for them in B&Q.

 

[VoltzElectrical]

Sorry if I'm offending anyone but my observation of what the average layperson's view of what an electrician (or 'domestic installer' which is the correct terminology) does is you spend your days sitting around in the local 'electricians' club' doing secret handshakes, reading the sun and exchanging tales of amorous adventures with bored housewives, then when you get a call, a 'good electrician' and his apprentice (an apprentice is just a helper who is too young to drive the van) will jump in the van and speed over there post-haste while a 'cowboy' will wait until he's finished his tea then slope off to his rusty old transit in a slovenly fashion.

If a socket or switch doesn't work you change it for one of the spares you keep in the van, if it's a wiring fault you plug in the yellow fault finding tester thingy which tells you what the fault is and where it is so you can change the socket/switch or tighten up the terminals, or you just push a button and it clears the fault.

Extra sockets involve deciding where it's going to go, sending in the secret gadget which burrows through the wall with the cable, under the floorboards and finds it's way back to the consumer unit, then making the final connections and screwing the faceplate to the wall; installing downlighters involves drilling the holes in the standard places then you send in the 'mole' to run the cables.

New builds are wired by builders; the electrician just swans in after the decorators to spend half a day 2nd fixing.

To get an 'electricians' card' you just have to pass the ECS test. The 6 week course is basically lessons on how to drive a van, wire a plug, tie your shoelaces etc; the only reason it takes anyone 3 years to do it is because they're uneducated working class meatheads.
Once you've passed the test you get your electricians' card, your electricians van with your yellow fault finding tester thingy and 'cable mole' in it, and you get taught how to do the secret handshake so you can get into the electricians' club and get your sockets and switches for a fraction of the price the general public pay for them in B&Q.

Whilst laughing my posterior off.... Can you invigorate this thread with some real life examples of good and bad experiences in the domestic field?

Thanks

 

[Adam W]

Whilst laughing my posterior off.... Can you invigorate this thread with some real life examples of good and bad experiences in the domestic field?

Thanks

I haven't done too much in the domestic field, but I would say the good points are having a sense of freedom - not getting shouted at for getting stuck in traffic, deciding if and when to take your breaks, and generally being able to do things your own way without someone breathing down your neck.

Bad points would be if you realise your way wasn't the best way or if a householder decides you need "supervising", and the fact that it's not actually anything like what I described in my last post.

 

[Electricalserv]

The only hard thing about running your own company is getting the work. Chaseing money shouldn't be a problem as I've always said. Take 3 payments materials, first fix, second fix.... U'll get an idea if the customer is any good. Its not rocket science. The hard bits getting the work.

 

[cbw]

I get discount at the burger van near the wholesalers.............................

 

[DurhamSparky]

I get discount at the burger van near the wholesalers.............................

i can tell....!

 

[RWJ]

I get discount at the burger van near the wholesalers.............................

The middle aged spread I was talking about!!!!!! lolol

 

[DurhamSparky]

i just eat teh toffee and eclairs in the dish at wholesaler!! ,

 

[cbw]

We dont get that down here, just free snears...............