Better keep an eye on your techs

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_1

looks like

a money-maker for the site. My only real objection is the hype that attempts to put legit contractors in a bad light, but it's a free country. Let the buyer beware!

As for trolling for trunk-slammers? There's no desire to enforce the rules by existing codes officials and their bosses when it comes to unliscensed uninsured folks who work outside the rules we must follow.

JackEnnisMartin

Side Work

Hello
I have just finished reading the arguements regarding techs taking on sidework.I can and do agree with allot of what has been addressed and it has validity. However, I have been in the contracting business for more years than I want to remember:but,there is something I did not see expressed. When you are young and you have a burning desire to be in your own business; how do you get your first customers? I would postulate you started by doing sidework to get your name into the marketplace. I started doing sidework and my employer knew about it at the time and he had no problem with it at all. The reason was, we did industrial work in large packing houses etc., so in no way was I any kind of competion. My old boss believed in free enterprise and he wanted his young people to " get on with it" in life. In his words " crazy life, you will never know what work is until you are the boss". My old boss was from Yugoslavia and "crazy life was his way of swearing. In my opinion,as long as you are not competing with your employer for work and you are upfront about your actions, you have a right to better yourself by hard work and honesty.My old boss would phone me and give me a "baby call" -- service a residential a/c for example, because he did not do anything small, because he said and I agree; the worst cutomer in the world is a homeowner and he had no patience for as he put it "crying about the work". Homeowers live with the equipment and they are liable to be worried about every little noise; hence phone calls about nothing.

All the best and good luck in 2007

hvacfreak

Full Dental ( HF )

I have a legit company and work for someone else. And when I need to go to the dentist , I work for me. My " full dental coverage plan ".


You can't make it working for someone else.... it takes a large sum of money to go it alone full time...and sometimes I say " I need some cash in a big way , to heck with both of them ".


" Burning the candle at both ends "... ****...I'll burn the middle too. -freak

Darrell

I know of one case where a friend of mine took a side job...the house burned down one night after my friend left...the court eventually bankrupted my friends EMPLOYER because my friend had driven the company truck to the job and was wearing the company logo.

All bets are that the owner knew the court would favor him, that he purposely baited my friend into doing the work, betting that my friend would show up with a company truck and logo shirt, and that he purposely burned down his own home for the insurance money that the owner knew the EMPLOYER would have.

In todays society, there are too many people without scruples of any kind who sit around and dream up ways to screw other people...and side work really exposes a man's backside unless he has all the paper lined up right.

I was in a home once, to give an estimate, and saw a book on the coffee table. "How to remodle your home and get the contractor to pay for it!" I left immediately.

Just a caution for all the Daddies out there doing whatever it takes...by day or by night.



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Maine Ken

As a Master Technician, anyone whom I have signed on to supervise under my license authority, I am responsible for 24/7. I have to prove that I did not know about side work before I would not be held liable! No one has to prove that I knew, it is up to me to show that I was completely unaware!! Your own tools, truck, ins, permit doesn't matter. If you want to do side work go for it, just do it Mon-Fri 8:00am-5:00pm as well.

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John R. Hall

Thanks for the input

I also heard from the people at this website and they gave me some information I will use in the article I am writing. This is an excerpt from their reply:

"Our goal is not to be enamored by contractors’, nor is to have employees of contractors competing against them for business."

I also plan to use some of your comments. I'll e-mail you offline to see if you'd add your real name and business name/location to the comments.

Thanks.

jackchips_2

One other

type of "Moonlighter", John, of which group I belonged to when I first started in this business and there must be similar situations now is the guy who works for an out of town company.

I never worked for a local plumbing company and only did work in my home town. Thankfully, I was not involved with anything that required an insurance claim but then, back in the late 60's and early 70's most people would not sue as they will now.

When I did go into full time self-employment purchasing insurance for the first time was quite an eye-opener and only got worse as the years went by.

Just a little different take.

Jack

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_1

enamored?

What did that mean? Certainly no danger of professional contractors being enamored with them following their opening salvo.

Of course they want to set up a scenario where the employees can compete with pros. For a price, of course.

colbydoglvr_3

insurance

liability insurance in my part of the country is less than a thousand bucks a year. even though I no longer do side work I still keep my policy up to date just in case I change my mind someday...