Your Business

 

 

Articles in this section are intended to help electrical contractors grow and improve their businesses, from financial and legal advice to creating a service and maintenance department. You’ll find articles on estimating projects and more below. 

Variables affecting electric power quality haven’t changed significantly over the years, but the technological advances of electrical and electronic equipment make the equipment much more vulnerable to power quality events than in the past.

Copper remains a primary carrier for integrated building systems, but fiber optic cabling is assuming an increasingly important role in data, telephone, access controls, security cameras, fire and security alarms, sensors, and other signaling-dependent systems.


As recent storms have proven, extreme weather conditions threaten lives, disrupt the economy, and devastate electric generation, transmission and distribution systems, often resulting in very long power outages.

More than 174,000 workers in the electrical contracting industry—including the most-skilled electricians, linemen and technicians in the world—are covered by pension plans that are financed through contributions from them and their multiple employers, without costing taxpayers one cent.

More on Your Business

 
ROI 2012
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This month, with the end of the Mayan calendar, humanity will experience a “shift” and the rise in our vibrational energy will allow us to realize untapped abilities. However you interpret this idea, you already know that you have to change your way of doing business.

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Editors' Pick
Dive Right In
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While some contractors start out doing traditional work and then expand into low-voltage, others actually begin in low-voltage work and stick with it. Advent Systems Advent Systems, Elmhurst, Ill., employs more than 100 people in Chicago, Dallas, and Little Rock, Ark.

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Army Corps of Engineers Clarifies Single-Phase Procurement in Design/Build Projects
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One of the primary objectives of the design/build philosophy is saving time and money for everyone involved in a project. But those savings won’t be possible if all the parties don’t employ the right construction methods.

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Your Industry Is Counting on You
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By mid-December, nearly 5 million American businesses, including 130,000 in the construction industry, will have received a questionnaire from the government that they must complete and return or else face legal penalties. It’s the law. But, it’s also an opportunity.

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Editors' Pick
Tool Trends 2012
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Serious concerns may remain about the U.S. economy and how economies and events in Europe, the Middle East and Asia affect Wall Street and American business. However, electrical and data communications toolmakers seem positively bullish.

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What’s in Your Toolkit?
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When I was learning carpentry from a master carpenter, I tried to do something with a tool close at hand instead of going to get the correct tool for the job.

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Fighting Metal Thefts With Surveillance Technology
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With copper prices down from an all-time high, thefts have declined somewhat, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. However, copper and other metal thefts are still a serious and costly problem throughout the United States, especially for electrical contractors.

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