For ECs: How many of you are operating by yourself? - Page 3 - Electrician Talk - Professional Electrical Contractors Forum

MDShunk · 08-08-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsparky

In the industruial world there are plenty of two man three and more man tasks. We work with big eqipment all day every day. Safety is very important and we are not going to risk a life or a back.

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade.

paul d. · 08-08-2009, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade.

i do believe you been drinkin' too much of your own kool-aid.

Peter D · 08-08-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade.

So you say. Thankfully your opinion doesn't count for much in the grand scheme of things.

chiefestimator · 08-09-2009, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade. There are many jobs that suck less with extra help, many jobs that can be done more efficiently and quickly with more help, and there are many jobs that go more easily with extra help. I will maintain until my dying day, however, that there are no 2-man jobs in this line of work.

I once new a guy who tried to pull a 200a underground service with his truck winch. He started the winch, ran over to the feed end, but got the wires jammed up. By the time he ran over and stopped the winch, he had pulled down a recently framed wall. Now, this was the same guy who claimed a whole box of batteries was defective until I changed the bulb in his tester, but you get the point. There are jobs that should be done by two people.

SideWorker · 08-09-2009, 01:30 AM

He should have spent a few bucks extra on the remote control option for his winch!

Electrified · 08-09-2009, 06:01 PM

On a residential job perhaps. As far as Commercial or Industrial you are dead wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade.

Bob Badger · 08-09-2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade. There are many jobs that suck less with extra help, many jobs that can be done more efficiently and quickly with more help, and there are many jobs that go more easily with extra help. I will maintain until my dying day, however, that there are no 2-man jobs in this line of work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

Actually, you could have. Cribbing, engine hoist, Genie duct lift, bottle jacks, gut it and just mount the tub first, etc. There are tools available that could have assisted you in doing that job by yourself. Perhaps not nearly as quickly or efficiently as 2 men, but you could have done it alone. Nobody's going to ever kid me into thinking that a job must have 2 men.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

There are no two-man jobs in the electrical trade.

I could probably wire an entire 10 story office building single handedly if the customer could wait 15 years or so.

Time is as much of a factor in our work as the actually physical part of pulling wire.

ralph · 08-09-2009, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsparky

From the Home Depot parking lot?

Hey now, only for digging trenches.

MDShunk · 08-09-2009, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Badger

I could probably wire an entire 10 story office building single handedly if the customer could wait 15 years or so.

Time is as much of a factor in our work as the actually physical part of pulling wire.

Yes, of course time is a factor. I just tire of crybabies who insist that some certain task requires a second person if I don't happen to have help available for them. Just figure it out and get it done, I say.

paul d. · 08-09-2009, 07:46 PM

o.k. we got it now. you dont want to PAY for that 2nd guy to help out.

MDShunk · 08-09-2009, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul d.

o.k. we got it now. you dont want to PAY for that 2nd guy to help out.

No. Not at all. People just get spoiled sometimes and begin to think that tasks that typically have to or three men on them actually require two or three men. I'm all for giving the help when it's needed, and even sometimes when it's not. I just can't pretend like the job couldn't have been done by one man if need be.

knowshorts · 08-09-2009, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul d.

o.k. we got it now. you dont want to PAY for that 2nd guy to help out.

With what Marc pays, 1 guy SHOULD be able to do by himself.

captkirk · 08-09-2009, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

No. Not at all. People just get spoiled sometimes and begin to think that tasks that typically have to or three men on them actually require two or three men. I'm all for giving the help when it's needed, and even sometimes when it's not. I just can't pretend like the job couldn't have been done by one man if need be.

Marc I know exactly what your talking about. When I was an apprentice I got stuck working with the company cry baby for six months. It was the worst time of my entire carrer. THis guy turned complaining into a fine art. When ever we got to a new job his first order of business was to find a reason as to why we couldnt finish the job the same day. Not enough material, not enough people, not the right material, the customer is a jerk, the moon was full, the list went on and on. ANd if we were on a longer job he would milk the hell out of it. And god forbid he was left alone on a job, absolutly nothing would get done.
I could never understand why the boss kept him around.
So I know excatly what your talking about Marc. Naturally you dont expect a guy to pull six sets of five hundreds alone but its perfectly reasonable to excpect someone to snake in high hats or wire a small house alone.

MDShunk · 08-09-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captkirk

Naturally you dont expect a guy to pull six sets of five hundreds alone but its perfectly reasonable to excpect someone to snake in high hats or wire a small house alone.

You got it. By that same token, I'm sure that you and I both could figure out a way to pull in six sets of 500's if we had to do it alone.

Peter D · 08-09-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

You got it. By that same token, I'm sure that you and I both could figure out a way to pull in six sets of 500's if we had to do it alone.

Given enough time and equipment any job is possible alone and on that point I would certainly agree. My contention has been in this thread that your argument is basically unrealistic for most jobs where $$ is at stake.

MDShunk · 08-09-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter D

My contention has been in this thread that your argument is basically unrealistic for most jobs where $$ is at stake.

Yes, which is why I never said that electrical work should be done alone. My main point is that there's no electrical task that necessarily requires 2 men to accomplish (save for the time factor).

Peter D · 08-09-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

Yes, which is why I never said that electrical work should be done alone. My main point is that there's no electrical task that necessarily requires 2 men to accomplish (save for the time factor).

So we're back to square one.

480sparky · 08-09-2009, 09:59 PM

Peter D and I would both get it done with our imaginary friends!

MDShunk · 08-09-2009, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter D

So we're back to square one.

No, not really. The OP was about needing "a second set of hands", which you can quite often do without and still do the job efficiently. Wiring a 10 story office building, for instance, is something that you can't do efficiently without many, many, many more sets of hands. The OP wasn't talking about work like that. He's talking about pulling wires in pipe, specifically. You can do that alone and still not burn up too much extra time.

Peter D · 08-09-2009, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

He's talking about pulling wires in pipe, specifically. You can do that alone and still not burn up too much extra time.

And I agree.