Want to stop working with my hands and become a paper pusher

[RetireEarly]

Hi there having been in the electrical business since Jan 1980 I now want to stop the physical part and get into design etc. I have my C&G2400/2391/ 17th edition etc. Being self-employed I have some great customers but do not know how to make this change, as my customers will no longer have a reliable electrician. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Marvo]

Welcome to the forum Retireearly.

I've moved this thread to the business section where it's better suited.

 

[Knobhead]

If you’re a one man band who are you going to give your design to?

With no design experience just who will engage you?

 

[Richard Burns]

Try to sell your business as a going concern, check out local electricians and find one you can trust and sell them the goodwill of your customers.
Explain to your customers what is happening and who is taking over your work.

However before you do this find out where you can be employed as a an electrical designer and start the process of getting a job in that area.

 

[RetireEarly]

Thanks Richard, good advice. To Tony I do not understand what you are talking about, if you had read the thread you would realise that I have been working for 33 Years only in industrial premises, three phase. The C&G2400 is design,installation,verification, which has been withdrawn because the pass rate was so low. I use a CAD program and can design any electrical installation as I have had to do for so many years. I thought this forum was for advice. I would not give my customers away after building them up for so many years. Even the smallest installation requires design, even if it is on the back of a smoke packet. Except after so many years I can do most in my head.

 

[Marvo]

I understand your plan but I'm not sure what design market you aim to satisfy. What type of design are you intending to do ie domestic, commercial, industrial, PLC, HMI, BMS, systems interfacing etc? How much of this design work have you been involved in for clients in the past and how big a market have you identified?

As for your existing business, if you can't integrate the design work and your existing customers or run both enterprises in parallel then I'd aim to sell your existing business if you're happy you've done sufficient due diligence into your new design business and it will be profitable.

You'll need to set your old business up with a new structure that will run without your involvement for it to have any value. You'll have to employ an electrician on a proper employment contract and over a few months familiarize him with the customers and the equipment/installations to the point where you can send him whenever they call and they're happy with that. At that point your existing business could be a salable entity that has some value because the employee would go with the business when it's sold. TBH the employee could be the best candidate as a buyer so maybe look for someone with that in mind as an end game.

Goodwill alone rarely translates into a salable item in my view because with most small businesses the customers aren't employing 'the business' they're phoning 'you personally' because they know you, like you, trust you, have a longstanding relationship with you and I as a 'buyer of the goodwill' can't provide them with this because I'm not you. All the restraint of trade agreements in the world and all the introductions and schmoosing still won't be able to persuade the customers that I'm you so invariably 90% of them will make other arrangements to source another service provider. From experience as well I've had several business owners wanting to 'sell the goodwill' of their business in the form of a customer list and a good word from them and I've never been tempted. Almost guaranteed I can harvest the best of their customers myself over the following months via the normal marketing channels and without parting with the ridiculous price they've valued their goodwill at.

 

[spark 68]

What you could do,
Is either sub-contract the installation work out, or alternatively assemble a team of sparks "in-house" (employed by yourself), leaving you to concentrate on the design and tendering side and possibly the commissioning and I&T side.

Sort of become your own project manager leaving others to do the installation work.

 

[jaypp]

what about employing someone (might have to go through a few) to work alongside you allowing your customer base to become familiar with them. after a while you could slowly step back, freeing yourself but without losing goodwill. pay new 'you' enough and you have your cake and eat it!

 

[atm84]

Not being funny mate, it doesn't matter how much experience you have but without 'proper' qualifications HND minimum, or Bsc or BEng no one will employ you as a design engineer. At best you may get a job as a technician. You won't be covered by insurance companies if you don't have these qualifications.

 

[tazz]

I have have done this with OND electrical Eng....plus my other Qualifications..but in my day, part of my course was design on the the old A0 drawing board, and now Cad, I have stated so many time on the forum, how cad has effected the industry. This is really the only way forward....construction companies send you building designs, and you input your electrical layout to the file for approval. Now electrical companies employ me to design their work....and I in return employ the to do our work...great partnership

 

[atm84]

Soon 2D CAD will be old hat. Everyone is turning to BIM and the likes of Revit.

 

[Risteard]

The C&G2400 is design,[erection],verification, which has been withdrawn because the pass rate was so low.

Design, Erection and Verification wasn't withdrawn. It changed from 2400 to 2391-02 and then later 2391-20, which has now been replaced with 2396. Since the change to 2396 the course has been Level 4 (previous incarnations were Level 3).

 

[Engineer54]

Afraid i'm going to have to agree, while holding a C&G qualification in design and erection, no matter how coveted by electricians, that Qualification is hardly of the professional level you would expect of anyone calling themselves an ''Electrical Design Engineer''!! I'd be very surprised if you could make a living, concentrating only on the design side of things. That sort of customer base is established over many years, and generally will be in the domain of Electrical Consultancy companies....

If your business is a very successful going concern, either sell it on, or adapt it by taking on industrial biased electricians to carry out the installation side of things, while you concentrate on the design and testing...