Why so hard to find electricians

 
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swyman
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Post by swyman » Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 3:02 am

Franpipeman, I was fortunate enough while I was working at Ford to work with the "outside" trades. We had contracting firm that had their office trailers right on site and they would do some of the big jobs in the plant. I was assigned to work with these guys out of the local hall which for a in house tradesman to work with the hall guys is a very rare occurrence. Let's face it most in house tradesman have very poor reputations of work ethic and there are more of them than the guys that actually enjoy working like myself. When Ford announced they were going to close my plant, the contractor I was working with told me to go to the hall and take the test, that I would be good to go. Went and passed the test and here I am now a proud member for Local 1090 Millwrights and Pile drivers. Worked out of the hall for a year but growing up as an in house tradesman I really didn't care for the traveling/layoffs that a hall tradesman goes through. Also there is a big difference between in house and hall tradesman in normal work day. I guess it's all what your used to but seen a few hall tradesman come in house and usually don't work out. Electricians to me seem to be the biggest gap as the in house guys do a lot of PLC troubleshooting, more electrical engineering type stuff and the hall electricians do mainly installation. I guess it's all what you like or used too but there is and will always be a need for both.
europachris, I did a stint at another Ford plant as a skilled trades supervisor and I know all about the management mindset when it comes to trades.....indirect labor and they hate it! I am fortunate enough to have been put into a special projects group at FCA and I build low cost automation and they told us in a meeting that they have us classified as direct labor...granted there are only 5 of us building this stuff but it gave me a sense of pride knowing that I am actually adding value to the company and management loves what we're doing!

 
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Post by rberq » Wed. Sep. 19, 2018 4:46 pm

charlesosborne2002 wrote:
Wed. Aug. 22, 2018 7:48 pm
... now they all major in Being The Boss ... Demand for leaders is declining, while demand for followers is rising.
Yep. Whenever they wanted to promote me into managing, I said I want to be the guy that can DO stuff, not the guy that has to try to find somebody else to do stuff. Worked out well and I was always in demand. Avoid the Peter Principle: the tendency for each employee to rise through promotion until he reaches the level of his incompetence.

 
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Post by NoSmoke » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 5:35 am

A friend of the family just got done being an electrician, which was strange I thought because he was really good at it, and seemed to love it.

The real reason he got done was the cost. While he made good money being an electrician, he said to land his next job he had to always have money so that he could buy the materials. This meant he never really felt secure in spending what money he made, because the next job could be a whole house, or a simple back up generator tie in. It tied up his money, and that is saying nothing about the people that would delay in paying, or not paying at all.

Today he is a security guard at a college and enjoys it.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 5:44 am

That seems pretty odd to me. Why not just get an account at the local supply house with 30 day payment terms?

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 10:44 am

You still need to pay that bill eventually...
Get stuck with a no pay on a whole house...
I have all my customers buy the hardware direct...
I am only out time if they try to stick me without paying...


 
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Post by rberq » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 3:12 pm

CapeCoaler wrote:
Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 10:44 am
I have all my customers buy the hardware direct...
I am only out time if they try to stick me without paying...
And isn't it common practice, at least with "unknown" new customers, to get some of the money up front, so they can't stick you with quite so much?

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 4:49 pm

rberq wrote:
Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 3:12 pm
And isn't it common practice, at least with "unknown" new customers, to get some of the money up front, so they can't stick you with quite so much?
Yes. I have seen anywhere from a thousand dollars to 50% of the estimated total.

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 6:54 pm

In MA requires written contract on real property over $500...
http://kelleykeller.com/4-types-contracts-must-wr ... no-matter/
And you lay out payments at a % complete point...
I believe the maximum down is 33%...
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/required-con ... t-contract

 
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Post by KLook » Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 7:58 pm

Yep. Whenever they wanted to promote me into managing, I said I want to be the guy that can DO stuff, not the guy that has to try to find somebody else to do stuff. Worked out well and I was always in demand. Avoid the Peter Principle: the tendency for each employee to rise through promotion until he reaches the level of his incompetence.
This is me.....

Kevin

 
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Post by NoSmoke » Mon. Sep. 24, 2018 5:51 am

Rob R. wrote:
Fri. Sep. 21, 2018 5:44 am
That seems pretty odd to me. Why not just get an account at the local supply house with 30 day payment terms?
They do say that most failed businesses are not due to a lack of money, as much as a lack of cash flow.

A few years ago dairy farmers endured this when, for a period of years they got very low pay on their milk, and suppliers were lenient, but when the price of milk rebounded, suddenly all the suppliers expected...and demanded...their owed money, and dairy farm after dairy farm filed for bankrupcy, unable to pay them off.

So I can see that, but I think other issues may be at work as well, and that is just but one of many things that decided to make him get out of eing an electrician.


 
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Post by NoSmoke » Mon. Sep. 24, 2018 6:00 am

I think the real reason is...the job is just plain boring. Insert wire A6 onto terminal A6. Insert wire A7 into terminal A7...rinse and repeat.

At the shipyard electricians could be rather full of themselves, not unlike welders (my chosen trade) to which I had an affinity to knock them down and stir the pot at the same time. When they got a little prideful, I liked to remind them that electricians were "wire-fiddlers" and not electricians as they did not toy with electricity, they toyed with dead wires!

Welders on the other hand used electricity. We messed with amps, voltage, tweaked with frequency, and adjusted sinewave shapes; all in the interest of getting better melted steel. With the new inverters of today, with their digital controls over analog, welder design have really come a long ways in how we can manipulate electricity to limit distortion and get a cleaner weld.

 
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Post by rberq » Mon. Sep. 24, 2018 11:58 am

NoSmoke wrote:
Mon. Sep. 24, 2018 6:00 am
At the shipyard electricians could be rather full of themselves, not unlike welders (my chosen trade) to which I had an affinity to knock them down and stir the pot at the same time. When they got a little prideful, I liked to remind them that electricians were "wire-fiddlers" and not electricians as they did not toy with electricity, they toyed with dead wires!
:lol: And don't get me started on plumbers. Two hundred years ago, water flowed downhill, and it still does. So WTF is so hard about that??? :D

Except, why can't I get that damned valve in my cellar to stop leaking ....

 
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Post by panhead9 » Sat. Nov. 17, 2018 3:18 pm

Why you ask? All the little “entitled” Darling’s that have been raised in the last 20 years feel they should start off making the $83,700 right off the bat and have their week consist of 4 hr work days 3 days a week. (all the while living at their mothers house with their girlfriend, and her kids, as long as he’s on mommma’s. car insurance) And lets not forget “I CANT GET DIRTY” thats above my pay grade!

 
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Post by Zach92r » Sat. Mar. 16, 2019 10:36 pm

Commercial electrician here been doing electrical since I was about 15 or 16 and I'm 29 now. I can say I do not do much low voltage stuff ie wire A6 to terminal 27 and such. I deal with 120, 208, 240, 277, 480 the fun voltages.

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