Saturday, July 22, 2017

Old School Client Communication On Electrical Issues



It appears that the days are long gone that clients and some contractors have with communication between themselves is what I hear from clients concerning their electrical projects. Having cost overruns and change orders rising the cost on labor and materials is what some contractors call doing business now days.

Personally I conduct business with the approach that I only want to do the job once and do it correctly the first time giving the client years of trouble free electrical useage whether grid tied or alternative electrical energy. The key that I find to have good communication with clients from the very beginning is knowing the daily wattage numbers that they want to operate safely, reliable and efficient as possible. Electrical energy is no more than adding clients wattage loads together for a foolproof operating system, (It's All In The Numbers).

Call it old school if you want but a Punch List is an itemized list of details that will lay out what is wrong and how to repair the problems and issues that clients are having. This eliminates most  surprises when other reports like Materials and Labor are generated for Project Cost and Quotes, Contracts and Payment Options to begin projects. All these reports take the guess work out of cost and give a clear communication between client and contractor on what will and will not be completed on original existing projects that need upgrading. But even with all this communication between client and contractor it still comes down to old school tactics like you are only as good as your word. If you tell a client that you will do something and document it then do as you say with quality professional craftsmanship thru out any project or client issue.

All to often I hear from clients that they hired X company to do such and such and they show up for a couple of hours and take off for other jobs that they are over booked on. Which to me personally is mismanagement of labor and equipment and other resources that affect the bottom line on whether a project is making profit or losing money for the contractor.

Simply put original upgrade work is a lot harder than new construction because you are working on a finished project that could be over a 100 years old. That is where Change Orders come into communication between client and contractor as closed finished walls hold many unforeseen nightmares that may need additional steps to repair.

Not only is total (email, phone, onsite) communication 100% important with any client but also having the equipment, tools, knowledge and skilled manpower, necessary materials on hand and any other requirement. Than stageing each step into the most efficient means possible for a seamless approach on completing the task at hand. That means if it takes longer to complete than do what is necessary to make the client 100% pleased with the efforts taken to get the project completed as fast as humanly possible. Being prepared for the task at hand and showing up as promised to a client's project tells a client from the very start that you are as good and true to your word for 5 star client reviews when the project is completed.

A good example of this client and contractor communication is a recent electrical troubleshooting issue that was diagnosed on a Friday afternoon for a client with the reports generated that same evening for Quote cost. With client approving the upgrade project on a Saturday and supplying necessary down payments to cover required materials and delivery transportation cost. Good luck trying to find a electrical wholesale house on a weekend so large box stores were the only choice for the necessary supplies needed and delivered that same day Saturday. Sunday was the day that the project could begin along with the necessary manpower, tools, equipment. transportation and staging. Being an original electrical service issue with the loss of one leg of 240 volt from a melted over heated Main Breaker the client had been running a gas powered generator now non stop for over 3 days with this issue to have the required voltage needed.

Discovering why the Main Breaker melted in the 1st place was related to the original wiring harness causing many overheating issues. Any electrical motor, compressor loads takes more voltage at startup and if these loads are already on other branch circuits controlling other outlets and lighting than you are starving the startup load causing more heat than is necessary. The fix was to home run each large appliance load back to it's own cabling and circurit breaker and taking those loads off the original wiring harness that was to be reused to refeed the original wiring harness. With each original wire load on it's own circurit breaker not having 3 wires or more under 1 old fuse or old circuit breaker as all to often is discovered.

OK 14 straight hours with crew on a Sunday got the client to where they could turn the gas generator off for good. With a return trip the following Monday to finish up all the Add On's that were discovered and needed corrected. Needless to say the client was 100% thrilled and left a 5 star review on Facebook business page for the professional effort that was taken to address their electrical issues.

Call it 43 years of old school customer service but 100% (email, phone, onsite) communication between client and contractor is still offered and practiced by D B Electric, we have your electrical issues covered A to Z!

Thank You For Your Time

D B Electric

Home webpage www.dbelectric.us
Email www.elecwired@live.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/D-B-Electric-131032206946094/

Office 269 254 9029











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