LAElectrician

I have developed a excel-based price book for electricians. My company is really doing well with it.

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Kim Hopkins 818-446-0888
Los Angeles Electrician

- Flying high over adversity for fun and profit -

NolaTigaBait

You giving that away for free too?

LAElectrician

You know, that’s a really interesting question. If I were retired or sold my company or something like that, maybe I would just give the price book away. I haven’t been involved in any forums until recently on this one, but already I’m starting to become aware that some of the people reading what I write are my potential computers in LA.

Just five minutes ago I got a private massage from someone who seems to do the exact kind of work my company does, and he says he’s moving to LA soon and wants business advice. Hey, I want to help the guy, but do I want to create another business competitor?

Got any suggestions on this issue?

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Kim Hopkins 818-446-0888
Los Angeles Electrician

- Flying high over adversity for fun and profit -

NolaTigaBait

I think you are very gracious with your info. This is a cut throat business and it seems like nice guys finish last. I wouldn't post that, I was joking(though I would be interested in seeing the setup of it and not really numbers)

nolabama

career coach - be verrry pricey ie a little more than a consultant

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Peter D

L.A. is a massive city. I don't think I would be too concerned about it, unless they are moving right into your neighborhood.

LAElectrician

Great idea, nolabama! OK, that will be $500 for my review of your post.

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Kim Hopkins 818-446-0888
Los Angeles Electrician

- Flying high over adversity for fun and profit -

robnj772

I made my own excel flat rate price book but there is no way in hell would I ever post it on here.

That is just a little too much info to be giving out.Anyone can access this site with out even being a member. Homeowners can even come on here and see everything. I think sometimes guys forget that sometimes

LAElectrician

Yeah, I actually paid several hundred dollars buying several other electrical price books just so I could do research and make a better one for my own company. Then I and one of my employees spent several months developing the excel program, and then a LOT of time getting prices for all the material items, then a lot more time programing the book to be customized for different levels of material mark-up and global % increases of pricing for labor and material.

It's designed so that every one of hundreds of job tasks automatically changes when a new labor rate or material rate is entered in the master page. Etc., etc, etc.

So, even forgetting the "helping my own competitors" issue, I just doesn't seem OK for me to be giving the entire price book away for free after all time and money my staff and I put into creating it in the first place. My 20 year old book about contracting, sure. But my price book, I don't think so...

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Kim Hopkins 818-446-0888
Los Angeles Electrician

- Flying high over adversity for fun and profit -

RIVETER

What has your average gross receipts for these last four years been?

oldman

so, you are saying that you are a selfish capitalist infidel?

jrannis

He is going to be a competitor anyway!
Get him on board!
I think that our trade needs something to standardize pricing.
I would think that if someone was moving into my area, and it was a big town like LA, I would share my pricing information with a competitor. The new contractor could quite possibly roll into LA using "poor south" prices and go broke while destroying the local market.

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spdone

I just lumped several things in to catagories and gave each catagory a price, ranging from $75 to $600 noting exceptions at the bottom such as multiples and subject to change clause. I have 5 catagories. If what you want does not fit... I bid. Sa far as giving out prices, they are gonna find out one way or another anyway if they really want to. I would approach the guy a little different and treat it more like an exchange of info. You dont want him to undercut. That does no good for anyone in the trade!

knowshorts

Even if you did manage to get someones pricebook, without the knowledge of how it was created, you can easily fail. Everyone has different costs of doing business. Everyone has a different percentage for profit. Even material mark-up is way across the board. In the last week, I have seen material mark-up between 10-50% on this board.

Why wouldn't you modify it based on YOUR costs of doing business?

You do realize, T&M is illegal for residential pricing in CA. The customer needs to know exactly how much it is going to cost before work starts.

JohnJ0906

From everything I've heard, CA makes it as difficult as they can for a business to operate.

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John from Baltimore
"One day at a Time"
All responses based on the '08 NEC
It's not my fault, it's not my problem, I'm not your solution.

knowshorts

As far as the CSLB is concerned, they are there to protect the customer. There were far to many cases where contractors tried to bill T&M to resi customers, and they were just shocked with the prices.

For example, a plumber goes and replaces a water heater. Tells customer $125 an hour plus parts. Customer thinks in his head this will only be around $150. Plumber bills for 3 hours plus $60 in parts. Bill is actually $435. Big difference.

Electrician goes and replaces a GFCI outlet. Tells customer $60 an hour plus parts. Customer thinks, $50. Contractor bills for 2 hours plus $35 for parts. $155 total. Big difference.

That is why in order to legally do residential contracting, you must give a price up front. Not a guestimate, but a firm price.

It can be a troubleshooting project. You need to tell the customer that you should be able to fix the problem in x amount of time for x amount of cost. When that money runs out, you then need to go back to the customer and explain that it's gonna take more.

JohnJ0906

I've worked for different companies, some did T&M, one flat rate. I admit that I prefer the flat rate. That way I can give that firm price up-front, and not deal with sticker shock. When I do T&M, I do give a general idea of the time involved, and approximate cost before I start.
One thing I hate about T&M is explaining/arguing with customers that don't feel that travel time is part of the time involved with a job. With flat rate, it is already included.

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John from Baltimore
"One day at a Time"
All responses based on the '08 NEC
It's not my fault, it's not my problem, I'm not your solution.

knowshorts

Not just travel time, but material acquisition, inventory, invoicing, banking, collecting, etc.

That is why when I do a 30 minute service call, I charge a minimum of 2 hours. The customer doesn't know I am charging them for 2 hours, it's already factored in my price. You wouldn't believe how much time it actually takes to change out a back-stabbed 15 amp outlet.

brian john

Any information I have gathered over the years including forms are free for the asking, I would not publish them on an open forum but more than willing to email.

Good deeds reap rewards I have no problem helping others and if you screw me with my own information, shame on you as I gain my revenge.

spdone

knowshorts, You are the 3rd or 4th guy that has said basically the exact same thing: 2hr min! Man that seems like an insane amount of money for an outlet...and I understand the reasoning behind it. I am not bashing it, I just have to wonder if I am being a puss when it comes to pricing?!