10 Tips From Your Colleagues

Believe it or not, the best advice comes from your colleagues. They know the industry, they know the market, they know the business. Review these tips and tricks your colleagues have perfected over the years and made into valuable assets for their companies.

1. Be fair and honest. To get more customers, do a good job at a fair price with your current jobs, says Damon Richardson, owner of HD Richardson Electric in Fayetteville, N.C. “Word-of-mouth is everything,” he says. “We get a lot of our work just from our reputation.”

For John Collins, an electrician for Certified Grocers in Hodgkins, Ill., doing honest work is his policy. “If you do a bad job, it’s going to spread and vice versa,” he says. “If someone tells their friend that a particular contractor ripped him or her off, then they are not going to use them.”

2. Buy quality materials. Always look for the best prices on quality materials so you can save money, but never buy cheap. You might end up having to replace that cheap product. “We’ll spend the extra money for better quality rather than using a cheap product that won’t last or work as well,” Richardson says.

3. Make safety a priority. There are a lot of hazards when doing electrical work. Before Richardson and his team start a particularly tough job, they discuss the job together and develop a plan. Once they start working, there’s little discussion. “When we’re involved in an intense job with potential dangers, we want to keep all distractions away,” Richardson says.

Collins, who has been an electrician for 23 years, recommends taking safety classes that many electrical associations, institutes or unions offer. “I just took a [National Fire Protection Agency] 70E Arc Flash Protection class, and it was the best safety class I ever took,” Collins says. “Taking classes like these is important. They show you everything, examples, what not to do, and it’s important to see and review these things again and again.”

4. Keep a neat and professional appearance. If you or your employees, and your vehicles, look sloppy, it will create a negative impression on the customer. To customers, your appearance reflects the quality of work you do. Richardson makes sure his employees wear shirts and hats with the company’s logo printed on them. “If you pull up in a ratty, dirty old van that’s going to make a big and bad impression,” he says.

5. Clean up the site after every job. Leaving a mess after you’re done with a job reflects poorly on your company. “Take pride in the work that you do and make sure it looks good,” Collins says.

6. Purchase the proper insurance. Most big clients, whether in the public or private sector, won’t hire you unless you meet their insurance requirements. Larger jobs require a bond, or a written agreement that provides for monetary compensation in case you don’t do the job as agreed upon, Richardson says. Meet with a bank, insurance agent or attorney to receive professional advice about bonding and insurance.

7. Be innovative about getting new business. To stir up new business, look beyond typical residential and commercial electrical opportunities. HD Richardson Electric has had success bidding on contracts for the U.S. military. Because Richardson did good work for reasonable prices on his first job that he performed for a military compound, he has since won contracts from the U.S. military for anything from wiring weapons cleaning machines to installing runway lights for a U.S. Air Force base.

8. Be good to your workers. To recruit and retain high-quality workers, you have to treat them right and compensate them accordingly, Collins says. “Be fair to your workers, and if you can, give them a holiday bonus,” he says. “The best employer I had gave me a Christmas bonus, and I always respected him for that.”

9. Know your costs and watch your cash flow. Get your prices for materials, labor and other costs before you bid a job, or tell a customer how much a job will cost. “You have to know your prices,” Richardson says. “Materials such as copper have fluctuated a lot [in today’s market]. Make sure you’re covered, doing the job and still turning a buck.”

Keep a watchful eye on your cash flow. “You have to cover your expenses, pay for your materials and your workers because you don’t get paid right away. Don’t take a job you can’t afford,” Collins says.

10. Get educated. If you don’t know how to do something, get properly educated about it. Knowing how a certain piece of equipment operates mechanically will help you a lot when you’re performing electrical work, Richardson says. “You should know how what you’re working on functions and operates.”