Strange question?

[Snuffy]

Hi,

My name is Tim Handy and I’m going to attempt to make electrical contracting more fun, productive and profitable. Don’t worry - This is not spam, I’m just a normal person and I’m not selling anything.

I used to work for a mechanical and electrical engineering firm and did everything from plumbing to light industrial gas fitting (supervised of course!), to PPM maintenance, and to site and contract managing. I’ve since moved to IT for the past 5 years and am now starting my own company.

I’m trying to learn about the pains, frustrations, boring/unpleasant tasks, and challenges in the electrical contracting, to see if I can identify any common problems that I could solve with software I’d like to create.

As a business owner what are the biggest administrative problems you face on a day-to-day basis?

I would love to hear back from you, even if it’s only one sentence!

Kind Regards,
Tim

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Tim Handy
[email protected]
Tim Handy | LinkedIn

PS. I’d be very happy to share with you what I learn about the challenges and problems companies are most commonly experiencing, and if there are any quality free software packages that I know of that could help your company run more smoothly I’ll happily let you know about them.

 

[Marvo]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum.

Please check our forum rules regarding advertising before you post any links and also putting your email address on the open forums is likely to get it harvested by spammers.

 

[HandySparks]

How about a job costing package that pulls the latest prices from the websites of the companies I usually buy from. It should allow me to choose where to buy an item, even if not the cheapest. Also learns which bits I usually need, eg what depth backbox I prefer for a particular accessory and offers it as a default, or what glands are suitable for a particular type of cable.

 

[snowhead]

As a business owner what are the biggest administrative problems you face on a day-to-day basis?

Trying to get the customer to pay ontime /at all, would be a good one to solve.

 

[Snuffy]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum.

Please check our forum rules regarding advertising before you post any links and also putting your email address on the open forums is likely to get it harvested by spammers.

Noted Marvo. As I stated, I'm not selling anything, so won't be posting any links. I'll do my best not to break any rules. Thanks for allowing me in. I really am just trying to find out if I can be of any value to the electrical profession.

Cheers,
Tim.

 

[Marvo]

No problem Tim, just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page

I'm sure there's plenty of scope for a software writer to create useful apps and programs for electrical contractors.

 

[gnuuser]

inventory tracking, customer data base, recording and retaining certs, automated backups,
reference material attachment links
payment registration, etc.
and the ability to be customer configurable (the spark can customize it for his/ her business
these are things i would look for

 

[Geordie Spark]

Trying to get the customer to pay ontime /at all, would be a good one to solve.

A baseball bat applied to the kneecaps usually brings the desired result.

 

[Snuffy]

How about a job costing package that pulls the latest prices from the websites of the companies I usually buy from. It should allow me to choose where to buy an item, even if not the cheapest. Also learns which bits I usually need, eg what depth backbox I prefer for a particular accessory and offers it as a default, or what glands are suitable for a particular type of cable.

Hi HandySparks, that sounds like it would be a very useful product. Do you purchase much of your stock online? Do you purchase from a small number of online companies, or many? Which websites would be the key ones? The contractors I knew at the time all seemed to purchase from local wholesalers, maybe this is changing? Or are you referring to looking up the website prices before going to the local outlet?

Thanks,
Tim.

 

[Snuffy]

Trying to get the customer to pay ontime /at all, would be a good one to solve.

Hi snowhead,

Hi Snowhead, I can understand how frustrating/infuriating that must be, and also possibly worrying about not having the cash to pay for your own overheads as a consequence! Would you say this is a common problem?

I know this does happen from my own experience of the company I worked for not paying their invoices on time. They would impose 60/90 day terms on our suppliers and contractors, and even then often not pay until chased several times. I have been in HSS and Pipe Center to name just a few when told I couldn’t get the parts I need because they had put us on stop! The finance team at the relatively small company (approx 25 employees) I worked for didn’t have a clue/care about the knock-on effect this has for contractors. One of my biggest contractors was continually giving me invoice numbers asking when he was going to get paid for them. I used to play hell with the finance team over it.

I'm trying to understand how this affects you and how you currently deal with the situation, and the following would really help me to understand if you don't mind answering, I'm not trying to pry. If you would prefer to answer privately, feel free to Private Message me.

- How many times per month would you say you don’t get paid on time, or at all?
- How much would you estimate this costs you in lost revenue and time each month?
- Is this domestic customers or commercial? Do they pay cash or electronic transfer?
- What do you do when they won’t pay? Cut your losses, or legal action? Do they pay eventually?
- Do you have some kind of process in place for invoicing and chasing? Do you do it personally or do the office or other-half look after it?
- Do you have a process in place for non-payment?
- What have you tried up to now to ensure that you get paid on time or at all?

Thanks snowhead,
Tim.

 

[telectrix]

can you write a programme to rid the earth of plumbers?

 

[Snuffy]

inventory tracking, customer data base, recording and retaining certs, automated backups,
reference material attachment links
payment registration, etc.
and the ability to be customer configurable (the spark can customize it for his/ her business
these are things i would look for

Hi gnuuser,


That sounds like quite a list, an interesting one too! Do you currently manage these things manually, or do you have an existing software/spreadsheet that you use? If you do it manually, what’s stopped you from getting a software to do this for you? Not found one? Nothing out there? Too expensive?

If you had a software that could do all this, what would it allow you to do that you can’t do now? Is it purely time you’d get back? Organisation? Would a system like that allow you to generate more revenue?

If you put your list in order from most important to you, to least important, what would the list look like?

A final question, out of personal interest, I see that you’re a Linux user, what do you use for your finances? Gnucash?

Thanks gnuuser,
Tim.

 

[Snuffy]

A baseball bat applied to the kneecaps usually brings the desired result.

Hi Geordie Spark, not sure I could work that into the software, not until I can get hold of a T-1000 to program anyway!

I take it you have the same problem? Does this cost you a lot in lost revenue? Is this domestic or commercial customers?

Thanks,
Tim.

 

[Snuffy]

can you write a programme to rid the earth of plumbers?

Sure can telectrix, I'll add it the advanced feature requests list together with the 'Kneecap' request

 

[HandySparks]

Hi HandySparks, that sounds like it would be a very useful product. Do you purchase much of your stock online? Do you purchase from a small number of online companies, or many? Which websites would be the key ones? The contractors I knew at the time all seemed to purchase from local wholesalers, maybe this is changing? Or are you referring to looking up the website prices before going to the local outlet?

Thanks,
Tim.

A lot of my electrical materials are ordered online and delivered to home or site. Mostly from a handful of suppliers.

I don't have a good electrical supplier close to me. Plus, I like to be able to choose materials in my own time, rather than standing at a trade counter with a queue behind me. Then I know exactly what's going to turn up, instead of being told that it's out of stock and to come back tomorrow. Does require some advance planning though.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Hi Geordie Spark, not sure I could work that into the software, not until I can get hold of a T-1000 to program anyway!

I take it you have the same problem? Does this cost you a lot in lost revenue? Is this domestic or commercial customers?

Thanks,
Tim.

I'm retired now so it isn't a problem, but I had very few problems with late payers and in a 12 year period I lost less that £2k (from memory)

Three of my employees were ex shipyard workers and they were quite happy to speak to late payers ......