One of the hardest things to over come is home improvement contractors taking on all phases of work. Some are not licensed but give the appearance they are. They undercut our prices to obtain work and make us (licensed contractors)look like the bad guys. Yet most have little or no overhead to contend with. There is little or no enforcement from the consumer protection offices from the state that we work in from budget cuts. Up here in the northeast, price talks until a house burns down and then they talk about safety. How do I compete? The working class is trying to survive while the rich get bailouts. What happened to America?

Hay Mike. have not talk yo you in a couple of years. Because of the recession and health issues I am shutting down my business of 37 years actualy the business was staeted in 1948 by my father I can not kept up with cute throat electrical contractors and builders who shop your bids. Last September 5 I had a heart attack, I actualy died 4 times on them they told me they kept the hightest setting on the d-hibulater that the could I was in the hosiptal 51 days the first time and 11 days the second. The first time they did 4 bypasses,maze,and a main value repair the second time they did 5 stents because one of the bypases failed. Its hard working 14 to 17 hourd a day 7 days a week and having to quite.I had 11 to 20 men we did service work,track homes,custom homes and light commerical to a tune of $700,000.00 to $900,000.00 a year. I said all of that to say this when the man upsairs calls your number every thing you had built, everthing you had done does not matter.Unless you plan for the future you lose. I did not think what happen to me would, I did not think the year of my heart attack we would go into a recession, I think of all the years of service that I did I wish I had spent more time with my family and more time in church.Thanks for binding an ear and thanks for your years of service and your stedfastness with God If I never see you again kept doing what you are doing its wright Joe

MIKE I ALSO AM A CHRISTIAN AND IN BUSINESS I PUT GOD FIRST. GOD HAS BLESSED ME AND MY BUSINESS SO MUCH. TIMES ARE A LITTLE HARDER NOW BUT I PUT MY TRUST IN GOD TO WORK THINGS OUT. PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. CORDIALLY GARY

Our company in S. Texas has been in business for 25 yrs and the two biggest problems we have expierenced has been getting full payment when due and competition from either bootleggers working on the side or UNLICENSED "so called electricians". Thankfully the State of Texas has a enforcement arm and are doing what they can to stop unlicensed work. I laways said when you see contractors driving new pickups and flashy toys the bottom is fixing to fall out. I got caught in that position once years ago a learned a really good lesson from that. We have seen this 2 times in the last 25 years. All the ones that were chasing the new housing market have now FLOODED the small job and service/repair jobs resulting cutting into our bread and butter work. Don't worry though....many of thos guys will be out of business soon because they didn't plan for the long haul. remember they have the trucks and toy payments to make. Yes it is going to be a tough winter to survive this year but rely on your repeat business and referrals from word of mouth. If you do a good job at a fair price your customer will call you again. Its ok to make a profit, nothing wrong with that, but please don't give it away. That ruins the market as a whole. If you can't make a profit you are better to stay at home and let the other guy lose his fanny and few times till he is out of business. Slow times are also likely times to catch people in their office who are normally busy and not available. It never hurts to seek new business. You lose some customers each year for a number of reasons so alway be on the hustle for new opportunities. Hopefully the reputable contractors will survice this mess. When life feeds you lemons, break out the tequila !.. ...

We live in a great country, but for the last 30 to 50 years we have been deindustrializing ourselves in the name of quality, greater profits, and helping the third world countries. For years people have said this day would come, when we have very little GNP of any real value made in America. We must either stop purchasing products that are not made in America or tarrif their import so that our national companies can compete. These other countries do not have the wages or regulations that are imposed upon us. Therefore their profits are souring at our expense. We must start manufatoring quality products in America at a resonable competative cost. It will create not only direct jobs, but also new construction and service revenues for years to come to the construction industry. Our company was what i thought to be well diversified, we do private commercial, industrial, schools, and military. I always thought that when this day came the govt. would infuse money into the economy through the normal avenues, schools, govt. buildings, and military. But upon the sight of this recession they were the first to hold onto their money. They said they feared the unknown budget cuts and the posibility of unpaid tax debts. Its almost like they wanted to fuel this recession instead of avoid it. I would like to see an emphasis placed on journeyman electrician requirements (one on the job at all times) and a journeyman to helper quota. I believe this would strengthen our industry overall tremendously. Thank you Mike for all you do for our industry. God Bless America - Again. Andy

we are having more trouble collecting on completed contracts. Payment terms are spelled out plainly, but seem to be habitually ignored. If it was only one or two, you may consider it normal, but seem to be an escalating problem. the normal excuses seems to be cash flow problem that filters on down the line . I read in the local news that local county govt. was 3 to 6 months late on payments to vendors. In speaking to our major supplier, he indicated that this was a problem that was having an impact on them as well, with several layoff

Our small company has went from 20 to 4 field employees this year. I had to let some good people go that really hurt me, they were good people. We were heavy into shopping center work and that has all but dried up. Now we are going after what little commercial work is out there with everyone else including industrial and residential contractors.

All of the jobs I am bidding now are going below cost to do them? I dont understand how these electrical contractors can continue to do this. I do expect bonding companies to be taking over several jobs soon in Alabama.

I am a little prepared for this, only because I took a beating when wire and conduit went up so bad about 6 years ago and I was under large contracts at fixed bid cost. That tought me to be a lot more conserative, so my company can hold on through this, if it dont last for years......and to be honest I am about ready to temporarly close for a while to let the people bidding below cost get their fill, or go under, then open back up when the market is better.

Example: Before I had my last lay-off I bid a $211K job at COST to keep good people working and got beat by 2 electrical contractors! After that I decided, no more. I will bid normal with a smaller profit and if I dont get it so what.....let em have it.

Good luck to all of us, maybe what few nego contracts we all have left with our good customers will keep us all going.

My business is currently suffering from a lack of consistent work. We are normally down for fourteen days without work, and when we finally receive work (or win a job), the income received doesn't pay the bills we are required to pay each month. I believe we are suffering for these reasons: 1. Lack of consistent work, or jobs that pay enough to make a profit 2. Mandatory bills paid-out each month (Example: insurance)

We are living day to day! A hand up would be real nice right now. I remember having a backlog of 4-6 weeks now we are at 4-6 hours. I have 1 2 man job scheduled for tomorrow. I have 5 field employees. 4 JM, 1 A, 1 helper. The phone has stopped ringing. Unlicensed handyman are working for less than wages, IBEW guys on the bench are side jobbing, the list goes on. We cut almost everything to stay in business, including my pay! We did however increase our marketing budget and are looking at other ways to gain exposure. The getting paid part has always been a problem. It seems worse now. We are "writing off" $15K this month as uncollectible debt, which will of course wreck our P&L for the month and then carry out to the end of the year. We'll survive but we'll be scarred.

The phone is not ringing at all some days. I look forward to hearing about stratagies that help get resolve that. We are enhaning our web site and also putting ads in some publications.

Mike, I diversify the operations. That opens up new options. The economy will become more stable in time. One of our bigger (non-union) companies has opened a Data Comm shop, and then a HVAC shop, allowing personnel to be shifted around around.

The biggest problem facing us little guys is getting paid. Most of the time, we get paid late, then later, then again later, or not at all. My men work hard, no labor problems, seems the bigger they are the least likly they are to pay on time. Always dreaming up reasons not to ay on time, so then you have to get lawyers involved, and they get paid and not you.

hi mike ,i have a problem with one of customer .she will experience headaches,extreme troat pains and her tongue gets a bad taste,when the electric lights and some appliances is on .i can assume she is affected by some kind of magnetic or electric field in her house,i redid all grounding and this help a little .now what else can i do to help out this unsual problem.

mike you are the best in the electrical info keep helping our nation , the economy is in deep mess we will get througt it soon god bless america and bless you too.

I was 5 months with no work and talked an HVAC contractor into throwing me a distant job my way. 265 miles away supervising Heat Pump installations. That feeds me so I can't complain. I did a sign rewiring for a sign company that paid me 300 in one day and he gave me 5 signs for my truck cut from vinyl. If not for networking with the local businesses and other electrical contractors I would have closed my doors.

I am reporting unlicensed electrical contractors at an alarming rate as people turn to them to save money. They are crawling out of the wood works.

I work mainly with telephone companies including celluar since 1993 all over the US and some other countries. Since last September, the industry has come to a halt as far as maintenance goes. We specialize in Grounding, Power (ac/dc), lightning protection and training. Companies are spending less dollars on new equipment installation, therefore, I receive less calls to make sure the equipment and facilities are properly grounded and powered according to set standards. The man cometh and is almost at the door of closing.

Mike,

Ours is a family owned and operated business that has been around since 1926. We have evolved a lot over the years and will continue to in order to survive. Cash flow is usually our greatest financial obstacle. Either we are waiting on payments that arrive a lot later than they should or are having to chase people down for payment. Add to that a lack of funding at a reasonable rate and it sometimes returns us to "living week to week" scenario. Other common factors include poorly trained electricians to choose employees from, lack of concern locally about proper licenseing, the abundance of "shade tree servicers and an ever increasing tax burden, both local and federal. There are times when I wonder why I am not pumping gas for a living. Unfortunatly I dont play well with others and i am forced to work for myself to keep employment. Just ask my wife and businees partner, Dottie. Seriously though, our company is no different from thousands of other small businesses struggling to stay in business. It is my opinion that small businesses like ours are the backbone of this country and like the farmers need to be acknowledged and help made available to smaller companies. We dont want a handout but a hand up would sure be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to bring this to light and I look forward to your articles. Your newsletters and website provide us with much needed information.

Norman Slover Slover's Electric Service

The biggest problem our company has is getting contractors to pay after we complete their work. Some of the smaller jobs would cost to much time and money to take them to court and they know it so will not pay.

Thank God for the older repeat customer if were not for them we would probably fold.