Reality television, despite its smarmy nature, is cathartic for the viewers who wish they could say whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted to, without the usual filters of tact and diplomacy we use at home and at work. Don’t you wish that, like those faux celebrities, you could say some of the following things to your customers, just once?


“Buying your own materials 
won’t save you money”


Even without your customers factoring in the value of their own time, they don’t have your knowledge or experience to effectively shop around for materials. As an electrical contractor (EC), you have cultivated long-term relationships with vendors who care more about your repeat business than a customer’s one-time purchase. When ECs charge a markup on materials, it pays for staff time to produce a purchase list, price negotiation, responsibility for on-time delivery, and consultation with design professionals who may not have understood Code requirements or how to choose the correct products to fit your performance requirements.


To recoup lost overhead and profit on a labor-only job, smart ECs will include a premium on labor costs when their customers insist on being amateur materials buyers. These ECs will also negotiate terms in the contract that penalize their customers for errors in quantity, quality or delayed deliveries that affect the project schedule, when customers have undervalued their own time and failed to understand the learning curve involved.


“‘I just don’t like it’ is not a reason for your contractor to make uncompensated changes”


Most of the value of the EC’s work is unseen in the final building, but it is essential to safe and functional lighting, communication and other systems. The subtle reflections of your customer’s fixtures in an atrium fountain or shadows in the corner of their home kitchen result from the placement of the entire building, code requirements, design errors, product substitutions, and even the paint color on the walls or depth of stain on wood floors. The desired aesthetic may not have been possible to produce within the constraints of the customer’s budget or schedule.


Advise your customers that, when they don’t like the way something looks, they should ask whether there was another option for placement, style or function. Was there a change in specs to reduce cost to the customer? Did the customer’s design professional ignore the EC’s warnings about mismatches between the specs and how the systems would perform? Was your customer too busy to reply to a request for a decision or take some time to understand the issues?


“You can’t buy Rolls-Royce 
quality on a moped budget”


When customers and design professionals don’t understand the details of your work, they will misunderstand its value and complain solely about the price. They probably don’t have the patience to fully compare differences in scope of work or listen to presentations by all bidders, so they simply choose the lowest price. Was this bidder qualified? Did they assume that every bidder used the same scope of work? Were they comparing apples to kiwi fruit? Encourage customers to put in a little more effort to understand the details, methods and processes that comprise the higher prices on future projects.


Advise customers that, if they don’t care about on-time completion, professional job site coordination, or the details of a higher quality installation or fixture, they can choose the cheapest EC. They may never know the difference, but their employees, customers, friends and every EC who visits your building or home will recognize what they gave up.


“Time is money for the EC, not just for you”


ECs rely on a predictable schedule to meet obligations. When customers drag their feet on decisions, or choose other team members who delay certain jobs, ECs must choose whether to remove craftspeople from those jobs or pass the problem to other projects, thereby affecting other customer relationships. It is costly for ECs to start and stop work and to expedite performance. Customers should expect to pay for the privilege of being indecisive or mismanaging their projects.


“Your EC deserves a fair profit”


Contractors are professionals; to attract high-quality employees, they must offer healthy compensation, benefits and a safe environment. Their employees expect protection from stressful jobs and unpleasant customers. If a customer’s project is risky, the price a contractor quotes will include more contingencies and a higher profit. The customer has the power to bankrupt an EC with one massive, mismanaged, underfunded project. Those who chip away at prices, pay late and hold retainage forever shouldn’t be surprised if they find it difficult to attract bidders. The EC is in business to make money, just like they are.


Say it anyway


You may be reluctant to be this direct with customers, but you have a duty to educate them in a tactful way and a duty to yourself to do business with those who are willing to be taught. Say it tactfully, say it cleverly—just say something.