Construction Contractors Community

WFConstructionPro

This is a problem every contractor runs into. You drive up to the job, get out and start unloading your tools and equipment, then someone yells, Hey! Their's no power on this pole! If you haven't had that happen, just let us know now so I can boot you off the forum because you are not a contractor.

The big question I would like to know is how everyone responds to this when it happens. Do you rollup and go home or to another job? Do you get on the phone and start call the builder or who ever you are working for? Or do you sit in the truck until someone shows up that can fix the problem and send in a bill for the delay? Give us your thoughts and reactions.

Barry M · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 90 Location: Indiana

In a prior life I worked some construction. In this case we'd break out the generator or borrow the neighbor's power. Our motto was "what ever it takes." Laughing

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Jeannie · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 82

I would have to say that none of my crew just sits around. I manage many construction projects so I often have had to deal with issues such as this. We try to send crews out with generators but that is not always available. So what we do is get on the phone and see what we can do to get some power so that we can work.

In the past I have worked with companies that would advise their workers to leave and go to the another job site for the day, only to get calls asking where we were.

WFConstructionPro · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:31 pm Post subject: Leaving The Job

Hi Jeannie and welcome to the forum. The whole idea of leaving the job is bad for relations with builders or even homeowners. Even though that may seem like the logical thing to do, it comes with a trade off of presenting the company as being too small to afford equipment necessary for doing a job or either unwilling to accomodate a situation.

If you ever run into this type of issue for yourself, the lesser of the two evils would be to suck it up and either buy or borrow a source of power to use for the job.

BrianT · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 8

As a welder, I don't usually have this problem. I am able to draw power from my welding machines, regardless of whether there is power on the job. I have even run the lights at my house when the power went out from a thunderstorm. There are a lot of uses for a welding machine and using it as a generator to power your home in an emergency is at the top of the list, right before having power on the job at all time, or until it runs out of gas Laughing

Grant1971 · Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 32

I agree it is never good under any circumstances unless told to by the person who hired you to leave a job. It makes your company look very unprofessional and can cost you future work.

alicelas · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 8

Deciding to abandon the job is perhaps not the best idea in my opinion.

I nearly always send my team out with a generator, and usually this prevents any issues.

Jeannie · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 82

Lets suppose that you do not have any available generators and that you cannot get a hold of the person you are doing the project for. How would you then handle this situation.