The Sparks Went Flying

I have to say "I told you so" to who else but ... me. For years I have told folks to always look over the units for wear and to just keep the preventive maintenance up to date. My vac just died, and I mean sparks flying! I forgot to look at the brushes on the motors and, sure enough, they were done. So, note to self: take time to check the units over, down time kills your ability to make money and "git r done" on time. I do have an extra unit and was able to use that one, but it was a drag to change them out in the middle of the job. I ordered the parts and cleaned up the unit, so it will be back up and running in no time.

I have four estimates to get done today; I am so glad to have jobs in the works. If all goes well, we will get all four of them!

I am not sure if this is good or bad, but two of the companies that we have been competing with went under. They did good work but never charged enough funds for the work, sounds like the same old thing: work for less and get less in the bank. The price of supplies have not gone down, so why should our price? Both were small companies like me, but they were doing things for $.75 to $1.00 less than we were. And, most of all, they did not have the workers comp, insurance or state paperwork on file. Tennessee put the hammer down on contractors, and they were not able to keep the under-the-radar attitude any more. Once more, I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. I never liked the government putting their hand in the pie, but this time, it helped. I hope to pick up some work, but truth be told, no one can do all the work, and some of the work I do not want to do. We all have jobs that we know will never make folks happy and jobs that won't go right no matter what you do. Those are the ones I bid high just in case we get it-so we either have extra funds for it or they tell me "no."

There is one guy is trying to start up in the area; if you recall I let him use my gun to do a job. He is still up in the air-I spoke with him after his install, and he asked, "How do you work that hard every day?" So time will tell if he is ready to work like a floor person. (I almost said "floorman," but we have some wonderful women working side by side with the men in this trade.) This is not a trade for the lazy. Dog if your body does not take a beating doing this for a living. My gut tells me that he will not make it. He was told that it was easy money-just bang in a few nails and you get a big payday...NOT!