Electrical Contractors: Things You Need to Know

Have you ever wanted to step into the wonderful and crazy world of being your own boss and becoming an electrical contractor? In today’s episode of Electrician U, Dustin gives his top 8 things that everyone wanting to own an electrical contracting business should know.

00:00 - Intro
00:44 - Work for yourself
01:38 - Keep a balance
04:20 - Hire
07:18 - Stick with what you know
09:43 - Find your niche
14:15 - Stop using paper
18:12 - Use reviews
19:15 - Treat people well

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-Video courses on every side of the electrical trade (theory, code, safety, wiring, install, troubleshooting, leadership, and more)
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-Any business size from 2 techs to 2,000!

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✍📝PRACTICE EXAMS📝✍
-2017, 2020, and 2023 NEC versions
-Online Residential Wireman Exam
-Online Journeyman Exam
-Online Master Exam
-300 Question Online Code Cannon (not license specific, all code)
-Take as many times as you want
-All of the above come with printable PDFs

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🎧🎹Music, Editing, and Videography by Drake Descant and Rob LeBlanc🎹🎧

#electrician #electrical #electricity

1. Work For Yourself/By Yourself. When you are first starting out, you will be constantly figuring things out. How to get the work, how to keep the work, how to DO the work, how to collect your money, and how to pay your bills. Not having another person right out of the gate will take the pressure off you of what to do with employees. It will also cut down on your initial expenses.
2. Keep a Balance in Your Checkbook. Maybe it’s $10,000 or maybe it’s $20,000, but you need to keep operating expenses in your account. You will need to buy materials and pay for services BEFORE you get paid for jobs. And if you let your account run dry, you won’t be able to pay for your next job.
3. Hiring. When you DO become ready to hire (when you can no longer bid the work, DO the work, review the work was done properly, and collect for the work) consider a journey worker at first. This type of employee will bring in revenue as opposed to an apprentice that’s still learning and only costs money. A journey worker is also a much smaller drain of your time, which is already at a premium! The time will come when apprentices are needed, but at first it should be a skilled employee.
4. Stick With What You Know. Don’t go too far out of the realm of what you know. If you are great at Industrial electrical work, don’t open a residential wiring business. The learning curve while you are figuring the business aspect out is tough enough without adding to that stress!
5. Find Your Niche. The electrical industry is VAST. Find what you are good at and enjoy doing and stick with it. Try to not answer EVERY call that comes in and do EVERY job. Be the best at what you do. You can charge more and work less and be that stellar electrician that folks want to use and don’t mind paying the premium for the excellent service that you are known for.
6. Stop Using Pen & Paper. There is so much technology available in today’s contracting world. There is software available and Apps that help you develop quotes, schedule your work, and even help track the metrics of the work so that you become more proficient the more you do.
7. Use Reviews to Your Benefit. In today’s world, people have an unbelievably large number of places to search for contractors and see reviews of how they perform. Be the contractor that is in the top searches and has the most stars of their performance.
8. Treat People Well. Respect the customer. When the phone rings, answer it pleasantly, not like you are over stressed and busy. Be friendly with your customers and interact with them in a friendly way. Ask them about their lives and conversate with them in lieu of them being a simple monetary transaction.

[allenmodro]

49 years in the trade. I listened and found every word to be truth. First be a good person. Care about the customer and their lives. Do things right. Your absolutly right on the financial part. I know so many that took their 401 k to open the bussines and loans that go under in short orde. take time to build a good customer base. Keep up the good work.

[donhozy]

Great content. As a contractor, good customer service takes you much farther than expertise alone. This channel is golden.

[bradkolb]

Good stuff, Dustin. Running a business is a big thing. Most people would do well to take a class. It's good to learn about insurance & liability, taxes, "knowing your numbers" (expenses, overhead, profit margin, gross vs net profit, etc), and simple bookkeeping like excel or sheets.

[AzeveidoMateus]

I’m really glad you mentioned the way that you speak to customers is important. When I hire contractors politeness and courtesy go a long way with me. If they have an attitude on the phone like they’re doing me a favor and they can take or leave my business, not only is it unpleasant to deal with them but in my mind it tells me they’re more likely to not show up on time, not respect my wishes on how I’d like the project done, etc. If a contractor is polite and speaks to me with respect I’m more than twice as likely to hire them. Some contractors are so blunt and rude. I’ve always wondered how they can speak with clients that way and stay in business. I guess their trade is in such high demand that some clients will put up with that due to lack of options.

[IGotDT]

You speak the truth. I had my own thing in another field, but did basically everything you said. I went from just one customer to a base of over 100 in just two years by doing everything you said. Respect for the customer, knowing you limits, and honoring you word can take your business to a whole new level.

[johnhamby]

Hey Dustin, I live in North Carolina and I do mostly new residential electrical and I actually have my licensing test tomorrow. I’ve learned quite a bit from watching your videos and have a membership as well. You have a brilliant way of explaining things and I wish I had someone of your tier to work alongside to not just learn more but to better develop my own character. Thank you so much for what you do, for keeping it so interesting and having such a charismatic way of doing what you do. I truly hope and aspire to be even half as good as you are at this!

[anthonyesparsen]

the smartest move you can make is to befriend a long-standing electrical inspector who knows the code to advise you on code issues that you are not knowledgeable about

[terrenceboylanjr]

I am going to hire you just for the simple reason to speak with my employees about all these issues. So dead spot on point!!

[garyalan]

I’m a year in. I would recommend Profit First and Profit First for contractors. Both make the money side of your business easy.
Started a helper about 2 months ago doing residential. Has been a great help with new wires and rewires.
All great info. Definitely the niche and knowing what jobs you want to do. Word of mouth is definitely best. If people like you and think you do good work they will suggest you to everyone.

[Sparkedbynatty]

Great comminucation with your customer is the utmost importace. Being freindly showing that you are attentive to when they are talking and are going to handle business, and being respectful is a great way to get call backs.

[josephnicolas]

Such amazing advice as usual! Thank you for contributing to bettering the entire industry by making these videos regularly!

[Enlightn]

Excellent advice especially on not acquiring debt to get going. Use what you've got, build up steady and organically.
I'd also add


•For larger jobs especially ones with factory ordered parts like panels and lighting get a non refundable deposit from owner/rep before its even ordered. Once it ships THEY DON'T WANT IT BACK, it's yours. I had a customer change his mind in the middle of a job and I thought I was going to be stuck with about 5k worth of panels and breakers that I may or may not use on another job. It was resolved but that was too near a miss for me to not take note.

[justinscholes]

I’m literally on the cusp of starting my shop up in Idaho and this gave me a ton of confidence and somewhat of a clearer path forward.

[Philliprgarcia]

I am currently looking at starting an AV, Networking, and Security camera company. I just found your channel and have already found some good informative videos. I work in IT with little low voltage knowledge from working with ISPs and electricians. Thank you!

[wiebowesterhof]

The 10k in the account is something I agree with (and understand). I'm not in the US, but we use USD as well. I have to send invoices abroad to get paid, and sometimes stuff is slightly delayed. You still have to pay your taxes, employees, materials etc. You may also be unable to work for a brief time. It is better to have some reserve to be able to say no to bad clients or low-paid high-effort jobs.
I'm not in the electrical business [although I am licensed] these days, but the other thing is to make sure you have enough money and jobs to do, for any person you are responsible for in your team/company.

[vaulmoremack]

Bro not gonna lie ...contemplating running my own business not electrical but welding....and I honestly think alot of the stuff is transferable and I think I need to reevaluate certain decisions ....the timing of this video is god sent

[OPiguy]

Next tip: structure your company to limit liability (eg LLC)

Same with insurance

Would love to hear you opine on this.

[anthonyesparsen]

Yes, the most challenging part of owning your business is that it's all on you. You must sell your services out there, or you will be dead in the water. Many guys who start a business are not good salesmen, which can harm the company's health. You have to be really people-friendly; if you are shy or timid, it's not good for you. Another thing I see a lot is guys underselling their services, basically paying themselves to have a job like wages working for someone else.

[SeanDuffy]

Love learning about the business side of my job. you rule Dustin!

[TheOriginalJoneser]

This is not an advertisement. The whole "Treat People well" section is so important. We tried the blue crappy foot covers for a while, and I am a size 16 shoe, so that did no go well. Then I bought the Klein foot covers that could actually cover by shoes/boots. You don't really want to work on ELECTRICITY in your socks. Asian Customers where, even if you explain it to them that you cannot remove protective footwear, they are good with those. if the blue crappy ones fit your smaller shoes.. go for it!