Tis true I made the same assumption - as it is clearly written that way. But then I thought; when you lose a job you think you have in the bag you never really know why ( for me it is probably because I look too young to be trusted with electricity, even if I am actually in my 40s), as I say, I have learnt customer are fickle. It is their house, their money, and in this case, their time, so they get to decide.
If I were ED I would review the way he "order processes" jobs and also review whether he should be asking customers to help on jobs. (If the customer requests to muck in then one has not much choice). But it is to be avoided. I hate to add but I will, IMO if ED charged the right money he would be able to hire help in himself and have someone working under his direction who is covered by his PLI and his ELI rather than be in the limbo created by having a customer help. I turn down offer of help from customers to unload my van, as they probably stem from politeness rather than a real desire to become part of my work force. I have had customers that have wanted to do some bit, in which case; i clearly define the limits of what I am doing, in order that there is not a question later as to what is my work, and what is their work, in terms of what I am responsible for guaranteeing.
It is hard being a one man band, but for bigger jobs it is worth putting in the customers mind that you will be tackling their job in colaberation with some one you work with regularly and that that person is also qualified or is your employee.
I would be really interested if icraig would share with us whether the company he has chosen was more expensive and if so by what factor than ED. As this could give us an important insight of how the customer perceives value.
Regards
Martin
Hi Martin,
They were indeed a little more expensive, however they have 6 electricians at the company and we were told that they'll be able to do the rewire within a week. And this really made them appealing as they don't need my 'help' nor do I need to waste time off work when I don't need to (well can't at this time).
Plus like I said above a member of my family is disabled and their care needed to be sorted, so you can imagine either going with a bigger company with 6 sparks (not a national company may I add, just a bigger local one) or a one man band with me helping when I really don't have a clue, plus electrics scare me!
I'll more than likely need that time off later when the rest of the house needs doing anyway.
They also gave us a fully itemised quote of what work is going to be done and what parts they'll use, which really swung it for us. And they mentioned all the certs and everything. They even asked me what I wanted and where, and did give suggestions but ultimately went with what I asked for. Where as no offence to ED he was trying to get us to put things where we didn't want them nor require them. Also he was sticking his nose into business that wasn't really his to stick it into like where we site the boiler...
I know BAS posted above that I may have got him out for design ideas but thats far from it, I've lived in the house for over 20 years so I know what I'd like/need where. Obviously the sparks know if what I want is possible.
Finally with us having the kitchen done aswell it made more sense to go with a more local company, especially when it comes to do the 2nd fix in the kitchen when its finished, and I didn't like the idea of having to call someone out who is clearly busy going up and down the country to do a small thing like a 2nd fix.
Thanks
Craig
