ACB

Just wondering if any of you gentlemen out there have seen this in your local home depot.
I was in my local which is in stCatharines On. (a little west of Niagara falls) Was there to pick up a couple fixtures for a job. I Ocassionaly pick up supplies there sometimes they have sales, and on a few everyday items they are cheaper than our local wholesalers (due to sales volume) I walked over to the fixture section, and what did I see bold in the open on a revolving sign, I would not have even noticed it but it stood out blatently, was an advertisement for an electrical contractor. now aperently home depot has or at least use to have a policey of no advertising, and their employees were not suppose to refer anyone from any trades. Now I see this instore advetising, I asked the casheir about that and she was not aware of that sign, and said that they have a policy of not recomending. the next day I called head offices complaint line and they were not aware of this advertising and said they had policies against that and referals. she took down the info I gave her and said someone would get back to me.
The issue I have with this is I had asked before about putting up a flyer and was told "no way", home depot sends me all kinds of stuff in the mail and through email wanting me as a contractor to shop there, offering deals and discounts, I have refered tons of clients when asked where to buy fixtures to home depot, and now they are giving special treatment to a particular francise contractor, which to me if I was a regular off the street customer says "this is who home depot recomends to do your wiring". Wether they realize it or not this is a dirrect stab in the back to all the other electrical contractors that shop there and refer people there to get fixtures. Big deal some may think, however for some of us smaller contractors get a certain amount of our work from people who go and shop buy fixtures and look in the phone book and call one of us to come and install them, and even wire for them, and that also can lead to other work in the clients home and referals to people they know which is more work, now they will get their fixtures and a phone number for that one contractor saving them from looking up someone trusting home depot's referal (in advertising) for that contractor, rather than their usuall "instalation services" in which everyone knows it costs more to have a middleman (home depot) involved.
I don't think that this will be detrimental to my business but I know I will loose work because of it, and that guy now has an unfair advantage over everyone else. if they are going to let him advertise they shouls allow everyone to advertise, I would gladly pay a couple thousand a year for a nice little sign in the lighting and electrical isles, but it seems no one else is welcome to do so. Perhaps they need to loose a little business from contractors and their referals.

Speedy Petey

I would not want the business I would get from advertising in HD.

You "would gladly pay a couple thousand a year for a nice little sign in the lighting and electrical isles". Seriously???
Do you honestly think you would get that much work to offset that cost?

ACB

the initial work obtained would more than likely brake even but following work and the referals would be where to make the money, I get a fair number of calls to do one thing and end up with more from the same client and have had alot of referals from customers to their friends, even 5 or more years later I have gotten calls from people that say so and so from 5 years ago recomended me. in this area 2 grand for advertising is cheap, if that leads directly and indirectly to 30 or 40 grand in work its well worth it. competition is tight here and any advantage is a good one. I am a small size company (by choice) and little service calls do very well to fill the gaps on my schedual.

william1978

Yea that would be very agrivating dealing with the clients that you would pick up from HD or lowes.

brian john

Yeah, but I understand being upset with Lowes or HD advertising the competition in a place that receives a chunk of his/your/my change.

William Where in NC are you from?

william1978

Charlotte N.C.

nolabama

why advertise with em when you can join em
https://www.hdserviceproviders.com/H...tC!-1259410687

bobelectric

I have magnet business cards I stick around the electrical lighting aisle when i am at h.d. they last about 1 shift.

jbfan

Our HD and Lowes have a small bulletin board where you can put your card.

__________________
GO JACKETS!

electricguy

Is this a MR Electric Franchise Advertising at HD
I wonder how many years it will take for this Franchise to to a recognized brand in Canada like Roto Rooter

gilbequick

I had a Mr. Electric franchise try to hire me.....holy crap, there's no way I'd work for that place.

william1978

At one time Mr. Electric didn't have an license electrician that worked in N.C. he was somewhere in G.A. or Florida.

william1978

You made the right choice I think.

gilbequick

Yeah that job is a sham. The way it worked at this particular place was a 70/30 split on profit, 30% going to the man doing the work. The company supplied a van and one extension ladder, THAT'S IT. And you were on call 24/7. You were required to bring in a certain $$ per week, and the way the service calls were structures was total BS. Some of those guys that work for them can make a lot of money, but if you compare the money to the BS and your time, it's really not much at all.

william1978

I've heard that from alot of people.

bobelectric

I saw a couple of Mr.Electric trucks around last year.Haven't seen them around much lately.

william1978

Thats a good thing.

oldman

why is it a good thing?

remember, it's a franchise. while there is a recommended way to operate, each location chooses how they operate. The problem is, a bad location becomes the ipso facto standard...

there are many Mr. Electric, and Mr. Sparky, franchises who operate better than your average residential electrician...some locations do work the way described...some offer straight hourly rate...others offer a base pay plus commission...some offer fully stocked trucks (including all tools)...some don't...

but it's not uncommon for resi techs for both franchises to earn $70,000+ (plus benefits) working an average of 50 hrs a week...some earn more, some earn less...

but overall, if you run resi service, thank these companies for raising the rates in your area and allowing you to make more money and live better lives...

brian john

My .02 cents.

Franchises are a good thing on the face. But when a franchise starts to do good or the mother company wants to maximize profits they start pressuring the franchises, with increased fees, hoping the franchise owner will sell back to the corporation.

Look at gas stations and McDonald's, both have forced owners out of the market. And are we any better off when mega corporations take over the local market.

Where are the locally owned pharmacy's
Where are the locally owned hardware stores
How many Mom and Pop restaurants are left.
What does downtown look like after Walmart built on the edge of town.

Boy's we are next.

oldman

we are next....and it's a shame...but the truth is, it's too late to stop it...

for us personally, they are hitting a market that most local electricians miss. now, if more independent shops would stop showing up looking like the stereotypical tradesman, then they wouldn't have such a big advantage...

but, there is a line item in every McDonald's P&L for owner compensation...and that number starts at $250,000 for each store...

and Brian, they are already working on it in your industry...I believe TEGG is only the beginning...