Discuss No question, but i personally find domestic work more ("fun") than commercial & industrial... change my mind. in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Having been fortunate to learn my trade across the domestic, commercial, healthcare and industrial sectors I find the perceptions that some people have of the different sectors quite interesting to say the least

There is far more to the industrial sector than just the "metal munching" that some believe it is all about, the company I served my apprenticeship with and stayed with for a few years post apprenticeship quite often sent electricians and sometimes apprentice's on loan to the big industrial companies locally when they needed electricians to cover for staff holidays or just needed an electrician or two to help out with plant upgrades, the work varied from minor installation work to fault finding on machines some of which were quite complex and occasionally with the added pressure of stopped production. There is something that is quite satisfying about turning up to a machine fault, picking up the wiring diagram and fixing the problem in less than an hour never having seen the machine before
I always remember one fault many years ago, customer rang up and asked us how quickly we could fix a fault at his site as he was likely to lose a £25k machine full of glue if it was off for more than 2 hours as the glue would set solid, I arrived on site about 10 minutes later and found the main 3 phase switch fuse to the factory had a burnt out switch contact, got someone back at our office to locate a new switch fuse of the same make and model and get it to me while I started stripping out the damaged switch after persuading the DNO to let me pull the cut out fuses and prepare it as much as possible for the new switch fuse when it landed. When the new switch fuse arrived we only had about 30 mins to meet the 2 hour deadline which we did make just much to the customers relief. With domestic you don't get those pressure moments

Every sector has it's pro's and con's, it's positives and negatives and a lot of the techniques used do crossover and can be effectively adapted between all the sectors of the industry

Do I have a preference over the sector I work in and the answer is no, I just enjoy solving those faults that others have failed to find and fix

My question would be what makes a good all round electrician these days when there are those who are hell bent on splitting the the industry up into domestic, commercial and industrial etc. I'm not a ................(insert an industry sector) Electrician, I am and consider myself an Electrician as it was taught when I went to college trained so they could work in any sector they chose
 
High end domestic is nice, easier and pays better . And you get better perks
What perks have you enjoyed then over the years doing domestic?

For me I met some really nice people some who became my friends. I also met and had relationships with a couple of ladies (not at the same time, before anyone comments). I have also, though not often received a decent tip.
 
What perks have you enjoyed then over the years doing domestic?

For me I met some really nice people some who became my friends. I also met and had relationships with a couple of ladies (not at the same time, before anyone comments). I have also, though not often received a decent tip.
Firstly good friends and then picking up the kids as they left home etc as clients . Great laughs . Excellent food and gifts. Attended weddings and 2 clients attended mine . Excellent legal advice from people who charge north of 1k a hour ..!


last but never least ....Trust and Pride .
 
Firstly good friends and then picking up the kids as they left home etc as clients . Great laughs . Excellent food and gifts. Attended weddings and 2 clients attended mine . Excellent legal advice from people who charge north of 1k a hour ..!


last but never least ....Trust and Pride .
And I always walk away from any chance of a woman flirting .Its never ever worth messing around
 
I was single and the ladies were single in both cases for me, one in particular I had a long term relationship and we ended up having a child together. I also avoid the flirtatious ones, as you say its not worth the hassle.
Seen a friend do it with a very very sexy rich lady ..... And then she used the event against her Husband (absolute rich nightmare of a man ) one night in a drunken rage . Mate sleeps with one eye open.
 
Firstly good friends and then picking up the kids as they left home etc as clients . Great laughs . Excellent food and gifts. Attended weddings and 2 clients attended mine . Excellent legal advice from people who charge north of 1k a hour ..!


last but never least ....Trust and Pride .
Not questioning you Mate but does it mean that if you class yourself as a domestic Electrician, you can't do commercial or industrial Electrics?
 
I would assume those saying they are 'domestic' sparks either only ever worked domestic or mostly work domestic. It's a fair way to describe yourself in such a circumstance.
THis...Site /commercial work would never be of interest to me
 
What can be more fun than turning up at a multi-milion pound site and being asked how long it's going to take to sort the problem out, when you've not even seen what it is.
Then when you're working on trying to get machinery or lights or power back on having a constant stream of people asking Is it fixed yet, How long are you going to be, Can't you get more people in to help.
Then add it could be in the middle of the night and you're miles from home on your own on a site you've never been to, Loved it.

What's even more fun is all the above and you walk in a plantroom, press a reset or move a pile of cardboard boxes off the reset / DB Isolator etc and bingo they're back on.

If the last company that took over the contract I worked on hadn't been a complete set of A*seoles, I'd have probably still been there now instead of being sat at home in retirement.
Yeah, that's how it goes.
I remember running 4" rigid conduit up in a 25' lift a parallel run putting up 2 sticks at a time by myself. It was an ethanol plant in the midwest, February about -5 deg. F and just temp walls.
Got out of construction and into controls--sitting in the MCC room with the "Prima donna terminators" having coffee, listening to music and it was warm.
Residential isn't for me. I only work for folks I know, and I don't charge them anything. They get the lights or whatever and I install it. Most people here complain about everything and as mentioned above, you've got to be really careful.
I ought to learn more about patching sheetrock....
 
Seen a friend do it with a very very sexy rich lady ..... And then she used the event against her Husband (absolute rich nightmare of a man ) one night in a drunken rage . Mate sleeps with one eye open.
In my case I don't really meet folks doing my job.

But when someone attractive suddenly appears to be interested I am very suspicious. I know it is certainly not for my good looks and charm, and while I have done OK in life I am not that wealthy...so if I have eliminated excess alcohol the only remaining explanation is revenge-sex. I really would rather not get my fingers (or any other appendage) burnt doing that gig!

Lemon-entry, my dear Watson...
 

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