skilled trades
FREE LIVE ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR LUNCH & LEARN — OCTOBER 19
82% of Electricians Make Terrible Contractors
Leadership, hiring, accountability, delegation and the systems behind a stronger electrical contracting business.
Why Good Electricians Struggle to Build Electrical Contracting Businesses That Run Without Them
Being a great Electrician and being a great electrical contractor are two different skill sets.
The trade teaches you how to troubleshoot, install, estimate, read plans, work safely, and solve problems in the field.
Then you put your name on the truck.
Suddenly, the problems change.
You are dealing with hiring, labor costs, scheduling, customers, payroll, collections, change orders, employee performance, job costing, cash flow, and decisions that seem to find their way back to you.
The electrical work may still be familiar.
Running the electrical contracting business is different.
That gap is at the center of Energize Us EDU's October 19 Lunch & Learn, “82% of Electricians Make Terrible Contractors.”
The purpose is not to question your technical ability. It is to address what happens when strong technical skills meet the responsibilities of business ownership.
Why Does Everything Still Come Back to Me?
Everything comes back to the owner when the business has not clearly assigned responsibility, decision-making authority, and accountability.
A foreman has a question.
The owner gets the call.
A customer has a problem.
The owner gets involved.
A crew falls behind.
The owner steps in.
A material order is wrong.
The owner fixes it.
A change order is missed.
The owner finds out later.
Over time, the owner becomes the company's central operating system.
The company might have employees, foremen, apprentices, office staff, and project managers. Yet the business still depends on one person to keep everything moving.
This creates a problem as the company grows.
More work creates more decisions.
More employees create more management responsibilities.
More customers create more communication.
The owner becomes busier instead of becoming more effective.
Why Is Running an Electrical Contracting Business Different From Doing Electrical Work?
As an electrician, you might ask:
- Is the installation correct?
- Does it meet code?
- Do we have the right material?
- How do we solve the problem?
- How do we finish the job?
As an electrical contractor, you also need to ask:
- Did we price the project correctly?
- What is our actual labor cost?
- Are we making money on this project?
- Who owns this project?
- Are change orders being documented?
- Are our crews productive?
- Are customers paying on time?
- Who handles the problem when I am unavailable?
Those questions require a different skill set.
A contractor needs technical knowledge, leadership, financial management, communication, and business systems.
Why Am I Working 50 to 60 Hours and Still Feel Behind?
Long hours often become a symptom of owner dependency.
If every estimate needs your review, every field problem needs your answer, every employee issue needs your involvement, and every customer concern comes through you, your workload grows with the company.
The answer is not always to work faster.
The first question is whether the business has defined who owns each recurring responsibility.
Start with the questions you answer every week.
- Who handles customer communication?
- Who orders material?
- Who checks labor?
- Who follows up on delays?
- Who documents change orders?
- Who communicates with the office?
- Who approves overtime?
- Who handles routine employee issues?
If the answer to most of these questions is “me,” you have identified an ownership problem.
What Skills Does an Electrical Contractor Need Beyond Technical Expertise?
A strong electrical contracting business needs more than technical knowledge.
It needs leadership.
It needs financial discipline.
It needs repeatable processes.
It needs communication between the office and the field.
It needs people who understand their responsibilities.
It needs systems for estimating, scheduling, change orders, job costing, customer communication, and project management.
Your technical background gives you a foundation.
Your business skills determine how effectively you build around it.
The Electrician-to-Contractor Gap
The transition from electrician to contractor is not simply a promotion.
Your responsibilities change.
As an electrician, your primary responsibility is often the work itself.
As an owner, your responsibility expands to the people, money, processes, customers, and decisions surrounding that work.
That is why a contractor who is technically excellent can still struggle with the business.
The problem is not necessarily a lack of effort.
It might be a lack of training in the areas ownership requires.
That is the gap BUILD the Business Behind the Trade is designed to address.
What Is BUILD the Business Behind the Trade?
BUILD is a contractor education series focused on the transition from technical expertise to business leadership.
The October 19 session starts with the central question:
What happens when a great electrician becomes responsible for running the company?
The conversation focuses on leadership, accountability, delegation, roles, labor costs, job costing, systems, and developing people who can take responsibility.
Start Closing the Gap
You already know the trade.
The next step is developing the skills required to lead the business around the trade.
If you are working longer hours because every decision comes back to you, it is worth examining where your company depends on your personal involvement.
That is the conversation behind “82% of Electricians Make Terrible Contractors.”
Ready to build the business behind the trade?
Join Energize Us EDU live on October 19 for the first session in our three-part Electrical Contractor Growth Series.
