# Making the Switch from Commercial to Residential



## ErnieG (Mar 20, 2013)

As an audio/video installer who has done both commercial and residential work, I'd like to add some details.

These days residential wiring is further from commercial work than ever. 

Commercial speaker wiring is similar to high-voltage power transmission, with transformers picking off the amount of power needed at each speaker. Residential is similar to direct connection of each speaker to a generator, where wire gauge and length are crucial to good sound.

Most of the cabling cannot tolerate the pulling force that's common when running electrical wiring.

There are NO daisy-chains of any sort in audio/video wiring.

These days you can't plan and execute audio (or audio/video systems), and this means both residential and commercial, without having a good handle on setting up networks. This includes network security.

HDMI, which was supposed to offer pirating security and provide simple interconnection, is the source of an endless variety of problems, with new problems popping up at least every week. Maddeningly, new versions of HDMI appear, some of which make existing equipment obsolete. Electrician, imagine the way a light switch works being redefined, and having to replace the feed wiring as a result. Yes, it's occasionally that bad!

The differences go on....


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## Greg Sparkovich (Sep 15, 2007)

I do almost exclusively resi and for good reasons.
1). I'm in a city. I only work within 20 minutes of my house and I book 3-6 weeks ahead.
2). Money is fine. $50,000-$100,000 is easy if you are good and you live in a city. If I bothered to work more than 30 hours a week, I'd probably make more. My bad.
3). Commercial (except lighting installs) is boring. Residential in more interesting to me; plus cool houses and people!
4). You are a hero to your resi customers, but to your business customers, you're an expense. There is little loyalty in commercial and the people who have stiffed me are the commercial jobs. Including big retailers like American Apparel. 
Meanwhile, homeowners are terrified. If you do good work, they are so happy! They are flexible, pay on the spot, and are loyal. They make you coffee, invite you to stay for dinner, send you home with a bottle or two of home brew, make you cookies...OMG that woman who lives on 10st who gave me rum cake!!! Soooo good!
5). Advertising is free. Get on homeowner FB groups and answer questions for people. It feels good to be helpful and you will feel the love in return. Get on Yelp and give everyone 5-star service. Do a good job and you will be inundated with phone calls.

What do you need to make the change?
Fishing skills. DO NOT skimp on fishing tools! Check out "Labor Saving Devices" for great products.
Yelp, Angie's list, Facebook groups. Don't do pay sites unless you are desperate. Be patient; online rating sites are a long-term strategy. It took me about 5 years to have Yelp become my biggest source of new customers. I have only 5-star reviews BTW, so don't think that people are out to hate on you. I have 30+ that show up and about 15 that don't. I used to get annoyed that some of my reviews were hidden, but guess what? I don't care about those 15 hidden reviews anymore because I already have too much business. I have never paid for advertising.
After that comes great work, a friendly attitude. Don't grumble and gripe. Your customers are not "idiot yuppies", they are your next best friend. Talk slowly and articulately. Ask questions, and show them (kindly) what questions they should ask by finding out about their concerns. Be a part of their team to make their lives better and their family's safe. Treat their house, family, and pets with respect. You don't need plastic booties, but years ago I switched to slip-on shoes so I can take them off -or at least ask if I should.
If you are going to be late, call or text and say so.
Ignore the temptation to be a greedy shithead. Develop a system for estimating and give it to them. Be transparent -like no other contractor they have met.
Be polite; a few people don't trust you. I only give people free estimates on the phone or via email. When someone freaks about that, I gently and graciously move on. But I am always polite. If they don't like the way I do business, I give them an estimate anyway and tell them that I might be wrong, but at least they have some more numbers to work with. ...And we all know what "free" estimates really mean: you are charging your actual customers more because you gave away your time for free to people who didn't hire you.

Many of the things I wrote here are true for commercial customers, but they don't make nearly the difference that they do to homeowners.

I have to admit there is one downside to residential work: every now and then you walk down to the basement and it smells like cat piss...


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## bullheimer (Feb 1, 2013)

I gave ol Greg up there a like because he's pretty much right on. i've heard great things about Angie's list, although you have to pay them now. Yelp can bite it. I think all anybody reviews you for are to bag on you because they are nuts. I do NOT pay them so they will NOT remove any unfounded posts. It is interesting and i have just had my busiest year in 2020, covid or no. I might have it now as my last panel change customer just called to say he had it. Anyway, if you don't know what you are doing, give this a pass. The code changes are EVERY CYCLE for example i just got a correction for no Surge Protector in a Panel Change i did. Also a new service change will now require an outside disconnect. EVERY time you miss something costs you money because any extra inspection is $50 to the State.Unreal. And the State sales tax you have to pay monthly blows, it's 10% Find yourself a web designer and SPEND THE MONEY ON THAT then tell every other advertiser NO! Be ready to give estimates over the phone, at least ball park it. Always look at something to check on crawlspace (cats as stated above) and you MIGHT NOT FIT in that hole. If you are a big guy, i would say this might not be for you either. I always say i have to be a Rat that fkd a snake that fkd a Monkey to do this job. even for new construction. New construction generally doesnt make near the $ as service calls or especially now, for me at least since i bumped my price to $10/sf whole house rewires. Check attics and crawls for the type of insulation. i am allergic to black Rock Wool. Also some of it is Asbestos. turn these jobs down. but you WILL have no choice in working with fiberglass and breathing it it. wear a damned respirator or at least a mask, since you are wearing one anyway. It really would help if you ever worked as a framing carpenter, like i have, to do this. And if you can't fit your hand at least past the wrist into a cut out box hole, don't get into this either. The smaller your hands the better. Some jobs take all day, like a service or panel change, and bear that in mind when you do a job in December, like the Winter Solstice!! I prepped my old panels the day before on the ones i just did and it worked out awesome. I had to pull a Business License for one of them in their City. and they have to inspect it before power hook up in certain towns too, so remember these places. Also with a panel change you have to Bond the water, BOTH supply and drains!!! ugh and gas/propane. I always seem to forget to scope those out before i bid them. And DONT try to be the low baller. Charge what it's worth. I still don't think i am. Hell i'm grossing what Greg is saying he's making!! So i'm still living hand to mouth. I do all cash accounts because i used to never be able to pay all my accounts AND sales tax at the end of the month. Cash works for me, and i have no employees. It is nice to start work at 10 and quit at dark and be able to tell people i don't want their work. as above, Nicely. I avoid out of state pretend 'contractors' maintenance companies who want to use your contractors license and insurance so they can do business. it isnt worth the paperwork and or extra ins. they demand of you. the amount of work is next to nothing. I still do commercial work and the above is right on about that too. You have to be very very careful in houses cause alot of stuff you can destroy you can't replace and there is nothing worse. I have been fortunate. almost all my calls come in from my website, designed about 2006. i stopped the phone book and never noticed, but still have to pay them a left nut.


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## bullheimer (Feb 1, 2013)

btw i wanted to add: a work truck will kill you on gas. when you are getting 10 mpg and have to drive a hundred miles a day sometimes you spend your whole savings on gas, not to mention the crap that goes with it. ok i'll mention it: insurance!!! plates, wear and tear. i highly HIGHLY recommend the toyota Matrix 004-whenever they stopped. 36mpg up hill or down. i have a 4 speed and bought it new in 07. got 256000 miles on it. my work truck gets 7 mpg. think about how many house payments i made driving this car!!!! the thing about this is i'm on my 3rd transmission. but anyway, it's the ONLY little wagon where the back seat fold down completely FLAT and the pass seat too. i can put an 8 foot ladder in there and shut all the doors with a 4 or 6 footer on top of it. the back window opens, which i think this IS THE ONLY CAR that does that. if i put my 12' A frame ladder in on the dash, the feet stick out about 2 feet. i can put up to 1" pvc in and shut the windows. rigid pipe sticks out about 16 inches, and my 24' extension ladder (12ft long) sticks out less than 3 feet. i rarely have to take a 12ft or extension ladder anywhere and have pretty much gotten to the point where i just refuse the job if that's the case. i have no organization and it looks like pig vomit but i 'know' where everything is. i can put every tool i own in there for a service change including the 10 rigid, wire, panel, (outdoor disconnect, UGH!) ground rod driver, 4ft ladder hole hog, etc. these days you might want to look into a new ford mini panel truck instead. but if you don't want car payments a Matrix can be had for less than 5000 all day long. if you don't mind driving a slug you can get a working automatic. great engines i've never touched mine other than the clutch!! i change oil every 4-5000 miles religiously tho. if you wear more organized than i am and put some kind of shelfing or whatever you will find crap faster. a ladder rack on top might me more convenient but i think you'ld get rid of it after a while. anyway. my 2 cents. btw a Matrix looks like a little bit smaller RAV. seats over 6 feet easily. same engine as corolla


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