Professional Electrical Work in Edmonton: Why “Half the Price” Will Cost You Double!

Professional Electrical Work in Edmonton: Why “Half the Price” Will Cost You Double!

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Halo Power YouTube channel again. We are talking to the owner of Halo Power, Kevin Staigh. How’s it going, Kevin?

Very good, Trevor. Thank you for having me in again today.

Of course. This is going to be a little bit of a controversial spicy podcast that we’re talking about today. But it’s something that is a bone of contention with probably a lot of contractors online.

Let’s jump into it. Okay, so we’re talking about the weekend warrior, the fly by nights, the hubby can electric. Tell me the story about hubby can electric.

Edmonton Electrical Work: The Facebook Pricing Problem

Well, it comes right down to why we don’t self-promote and chase work inside the Facebook groups. And there’s so many Facebook groups out there that we all know of, whether it’s asking Edmonton or asking Strathcona County or whatever.

And you always see that post that comes out from one of the top contributors. “Hey, I just got a quote for this work, whether it’s HVAC work, plumbing work, or electrical work, or maybe a new roof. It was X amount of dollars. Does this seem high?”

Now you’re putting that out there to the Facebook community of probably the majority of them non-trades people.

What kind of response do you get? It’s always, “Oh my god, that’s outrageous. We had that work done for half that price or whatever.” And of course, this is coming from people that have absolutely no knowledge of what’s actually involved in this particular project because somebody just put it out there in the Facebook world.

And let’s face it, we know that Facebook is a cesspool of toxicity at the best of times, especially in these groups.

So you get that response back from all the Facebook specialists out there saying, “That’s ridiculous.” And the one that really gets under my skin is, “Oh, don’t go with those companies. They have too much overhead. They have to pay staff. They have to pay rent or a mortgage on a building.”

Instead, they have a real company. Imagine that. They have overhead. They have insurance. They have warranty.

So instead of going with said electrical company who obviously their price is outrageous according to this Facebook specialist, Hubby can do it.

Let’s talk electrical. Hubby is an electrician. He’s up in Fort Mac. He works seven on, seven off. So on his days off, Hubby can do that. I’ve dubbed it hubby can electric. All right. Hubby can do it.

Hubby can do it for half the price or less. Hubby doesn’t have any overhead. And this seems like the best solution for you.

Why Cheap Electrical Work in Edmonton Can Backfire

Okay, so there’s a number of problems with that. I’ll just list them off in no particular order. Number one, are they a licensed certified electrician? Maybe, maybe not. Can they pull a permit?

Can they pull a homeowner’s permit? Because if it’s a larger project that has to open up a panel, you’re making changes to the system. Do they have to have a permit?

Well, they do absolutely. In order to pull a permit for your customer, you need to be a master electrician or you coerce them into trying to pull a homeowner’s permit.

So, you got to have a permit. When it comes to if anything goes wrong with the installation and they’re seven on, seven off, who are you going to call in the meantime?

I know you’ve gotten the call when someone else has done electrical work and you got to come in and say, “Hey, I had this electrician come in and now my stuff doesn’t work. My tweeters ain’t tweeting. My woofers ain’t wooing. Lights are flickering.”

And you have to come in and try and fix this. What happens then?

Well, it’s exactly that. Either they’re not available or they have just completely ghosted the customer. So now you go in and you know hubby can electric should have been called hubby can’t, hubby shouldn’t have.

Because a lot of times the work is subpar, maybe even dangerous, or it wasn’t done properly or to code because maybe hubby can last time he did any residential work was back in 1980 when codes were very different.

So now we come in and no trades guy likes coming in and cleaning up someone else’s mess. Chances are it’ll cost you more than it would have if you just would have had it done properly from a real, reputable company out there.

So, not always the best experience, but you’ve got customers that have egg on their face. They’re like, “You know what? I should have just went with a reputable company out there.”

Yeah, you bet. They have overhead because they have WCB. They have insurance. They have vehicles that are branded for their company. They have staff. Their staff enjoy having some company benefits. This is what it’s all about when you’re trying to run a business.

And guess what? When Hubby Can Electric gets laid off from Fort Mac, that same person that was promoting him to do work on the side is now crying the blues because hubby can’t find work with a legitimate company.

Industrial vs Residential Electrical in Edmonton

Here, I’ve seen it many times. I work with a lot of different trades people and they take a chance on somebody who worked out in the unions in the oil field doing industrial electrical work, and it’s a completely different trade.

They’re not the same. Industrial work is not the same as residential work. It’s not even close. The pace is different, number one. Codes are different. The materials you’re using are different. Everything depends on speed, efficiency, quality work done right first time.

Whereas when you’re on the job in the plant or when you’re out in the oil field, you have to wait and do your safety meeting. You have to wait and make sure all your paperwork’s in. Then by the time you get to the job and you’re getting your tools there, it’s time for coffee break.

So then you go back, you go for your coffee break, and then you head back. The pace of work is ridiculous. The amount of time that you actually have doing electrical work is minimal.

Most of the time you’re doing mechanical work. So you’re either bending pipe, threading pipe, putting it together, doing heat trace, running tray—these types of things that have nothing to do with circuitry.

And when it comes to circuitry, everything is pre-planned for you by an engineer. So, you don’t even really have to think that much.

And you’re going to get this guy to come in and wire your home. What do you have to say to that?

All right. Well, first of all, Trevor, you nailed it. I’ve been in this trade almost 30 years. Thirteen of it was as a union electrician in the plants. And the experience you described is exactly how it is.

It’s not the electrician’s fault that that’s the environment that you work in, but you become a product of your environment.

And don’t get me wrong, there’s electrical work that’s being done in those places that is very important, very critical work, very specific. And the guys that are good at what they do are damn good at what they do.

I’m not saying that they’re not. I’m just saying it’s a different animal. It’s like a completely different trade.

It is absolutely. But it is so far from the realm of what we do in what I call the real world, which is our day-to-day electrical, whether you’re doing commercial, residential work. It is very different than what I did and what guys are still doing today in the industrial world.

Choosing a Professional Electrician in Edmonton

So you take that same fella and he wants to pick up some side work that his wife lined up for him on Facebook. He probably doesn’t know what he’s getting into, and it may have been correct 30 years ago, but it’s probably not relevant to the way things are done today.

So, you may think you’re getting a really good deal from somebody who’s just doing a side gig on their days off, but when you look at the big picture, where’s that fella going to be when you need him back to either correct something, maybe do some more work for you or just have some questions about what was actually done?

You may never hear from him again because he’s sitting up in a cable tray up in Fort Mac, hauling in cable, bolting together cable tray, banging on heat trays, or driving around in the pickup.

Those are the things. That is a major bone of contention. The hubby can electric guys. Anyone who does side work on there, if it’s someone who is trying to start a legitimate business, I encourage you to actually save up some money and begin a legitimate business.

You might want to start somewhere there, but do some advertising, work on your skills, make sure that everything is up to date, get your master’s certificate, do it the right way because you’ll find out that there’s a lot more to it than electrical.

You might be good at doing electrical work. You might be really good at it, but running a business is another skill that takes a long time to learn.

How long have you been in business for? 10 years.

Been in business 10 years. Tell me from first year to this year how did it start and how’s it going?

I will tell you the very first thing I learned in the first year in business, that being a good electrician has absolutely nothing to do with being a good businessman. I’ll write a book one day on what not to do in business because that’s it.

And as I talk with other business owners over the years, whether it’s a dentist or a plumber or other trades people, doesn’t matter, we all have those same challenges in business.

It doesn’t matter that this guy could run a restaurant, this guy may have a painting company, this guy could be a dentist or a realtor. It doesn’t matter.

So, that day you get mad at your boss and say, “Screw this. I can do it better myself and I’m going to slap a sticker on the side of the pickup and go to work as a contractor.” Boy, you’re going to find out real quick.

And my favorite book introduced to me many years ago, it’s The E-Myth, the E for entrepreneur and why most small businesses fail. I’m sure you’ve read it.

Yes, I’ve read it. I recommend it. I hope people read it because it’s true. Being an entrepreneur, being a business owner is a different skill set.

But I don’t want to discourage anybody from becoming an entrepreneur because we need them. We need more skilled trades doing great work.

But we already got Halo Power out of Sherwood Park, and if you guys are looking for a real electrician to do real work in your home, that’s certified, qualified, pulls permits, has warranty, has all the insurances in place, call Kevin at Halo.

Thank you, Trevor. You bet.