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With good planning and preparation, electrical contracting companies can submit their quotes for big projects they have always wanted – or must have to grow. All that is required is sufficient lead-time and a knowledge of industry partnering on the supply side of materials and manpower. Spend the next five minutes reading the article and you will see there are options, both achievable! You will also read about a growing industry many electrical contractors are discovering to help propel them to the top with minimal financial, overhead and legal risk. With many years of experience, service today provides all types of electrician Melbourne services to domestic, commercial and industrial sectors in Melbourne.

Risk and reward: You must “take it to get it”

The scenario is you have grown your business with the proper mix of office personnel and electricians, have decent cash flow, and enjoy an amicable working relationship with your materials supply house(s). You have your estimating fundamentals down and your business is cruising along at a good pace ready to advance to the next step. Your willingness to accept risk is going to place your business over the top or keep you in check. Which way do you go? Are you comfortable or are you ready to progress in the electrical contracting industry? If your answer is “no” – stop reading here. Otherwise, go on to the next step…

Opportunity

Steven Covey said it the best, “Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity minded.” Maintaining the status quo simply obstructs growth. In a 40-hour workweek, a couple of office support personnel and ten electricians in the field can easily handle a manpower availability factor of ten electricians. With overtime – in perfect conditions – you can squeeze overtime at fifteen man-days (ten at 60 hrs/week) out of your crew and still keep projects on schedule over a short-term period. Now the big knock at the door sounds and an opportunity to grab a big project presents itself. You find you have a requirement for an additional ten electricians to handle the job. Your current crew is stretched to the point of diminishing return. You have a few options; turn the work down and maintain the status quo or go with one or a mix of the remaining two below:

In-house: Focus on the people and the job

OK, start your clock and watch it good! Bid and allow lead time to advertise, drug screen, check references, test for knowledge, interview, notify your worker’s compensation insurance company, gather social security, federal, state tax withholding information, perform payroll functions and then hire to double the size of your staff before the project start date. This will, of course, take time away from getting your materials take-off list in order, ironing out job details with the GC, attend planning meetings, pull permit(s) along with other miscellaneous tasks. You decide to bring in an additional part time office employee to assist the other two already focused on their full-time functions. Also, consideration for the post-project issues must be factored in, like handling unemployment forms, adjusting your worker’s compensation insurance, letting workers go, etc. OK, stop your clock; count the days juggling schedules, whew! Next option is for those ready to throw away the pain and hassles or effectively managing human resources.

Outsource: Focus on the job – not the people

Have time to place one five-minute phone call and want to focus on job preparation, not human resource headaches? Call an electrical staffing company and have the right skill sets assembled for you with all administrative burdens delegated. The price, you ask? Slightly marked up but, it includes the price you would pay for all of the insurance, overhead, payroll, time tracking, advertising, and recruiting duties incurred. By taking on the big job, your return on investment will be surprisingly large by rolling in the known manpower cost. You will have the freedom to focus on the job and maintain your current employee base to supervise job site duties. Do you want more work without added administrative headaches? Want others to handle hiring, replacing, and termination of employees and avoid legal pitfalls with tax and insurance issues? If yes, then select a staffing agency that has licensed electricians in the office who understand what it’s like out there in the real world. Speaking of risk, multi-trade staffing firms let a “staffing technician” hire your electricians. Demand an Electrical Contractor and Master Electrician – backed by human resource experts – hire the specific electrician or electrical crew you require!

Mike Widner, Director Strategy Construction Company

Learn more about outsourcing electricians [http://www.strategy-construction.com] by contacting Strategy Construction Company at 719.574.1881.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mike_Widner/29255

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Stains on concrete are not only unsightly, but can also weaken the surface of your driveway. For outdoor cleaning, a pressure washer is fast and efficient, and uses less water than a garden hose. A cement driveway cost Perth can be calculated with the number of area of your driveway.

Pressure washers are portable and can run on either electricity or gas. The engine powers a water pump, which is fed by a garden hose. The unit pressurizes the water so it comes out with greater force than a garden hose alone could muster.

The cleaning power of a pressure washer is determined by combining its water pressure (measured in pounds per square inch, or PSI) with the amount of water used to clean a surface (measured by gallons per minute, or GPM). To calculate its cleaning power, or CP, multiply a pressure washer’s maximum PSI rating by its GPM flow (CP = PSI x GPM).

That much pressure is designed to strip substances away from surfaces, so be careful when using a pressure washer. It can just as easily strip away a plant as a stain. Above all, never point the spray wand at a person as it could well cause injury.

Skill level

• Intermediate

Time required

• 2-3 hours for cleaning and sealing, plus several days for drying and settingMaterials
• Degreaser/cleaner
• Tarp (optional)
• Painter’s tape (optional)
• Driveway sealant

Tools

• Broom
• Pressure washer (also available to rent)
• Pressure washing-formulated detergent (check machine instructions)
• Garden hose
• Rubber boots, gloves and safety glasses (recommended)
• Paint roller and extension pole

Step 1: Prepare the area

Clear the surface of your driveway of any loose material, particularly stone and dirt. If your driveway abuts any walls or doors, you may want to cover them with a tarp and some painters tape. That will protect the finish from accidents or flying debris. Take a few moments to determine which end of your drive is the highest and what direction water flows when it runs across the surface.

Step 2: Degrease the surface

Applying a degreaser will loosen stains in the concrete, allowing you to pressure it away. Some pressure washers have an attachment tool for applying degreaser. Otherwise, scrub the degreaser into the concrete with a stiff-bristled brush or push broom.

Step 3: Ready the pressure washer

If your pressure washer came with instructions, be sure to follow those as they will be specific to the model you’re using. Generally speaking, though, you’ll need to connect the spray wand to the washer using a pressure hose, and the washer to a water supply using a garden hose. Different nozzles are available for different purposes. For applying the detergent, use the low-pressure nozzle; for rinsing, use the high-pressure nozzle, but do not use the high-pressure nozzle on brick surfaces.

Step 4: Clean the concrete

It’s finally time to fire up the washer. Start at the higher end of the drive and work your way in the direction of water flow. Pointing the spray wand at the surface of the drive, depress the trigger and sweep the nozzle steadily back and forth across the concrete, overlapping each stroke by several inches. Once you’ve applied detergent to the entire surface, let it stand for a quarter of an hour or so. You may need to rewet it occasionally to make sure that it doesn’t dry out.

Step 5: Rinse the concrete

After 15 minutes, switch to the high-pressure nozzle and set the pressure washer to its rinse mode. Repeat the sweeping pattern you used before, washing away the detergent and using the spray to lift any grime or stains you find. Make tighter sweeps to lift heavier stains. Be sure to rinse away all of the detergent.

Step 6: Seal the concrete

After the concrete has dried completely, apply a sealant to help ward off future stains. Using a roller with an extension poll, coat the surface of the driveway with a concrete sealant. Allow the surface to set a full day before using the driveway.

Reliability, hiring and termination costs are persistent problems in the electrical contracting industry. Thorough screening, testing and interviewing techniques can help prevent reliability issues. The question is, do you have time to do all of these things and maintain focus on the job site? Make sure emergency electrician Brisbane all work carried out is safe and to the best standard.

First review a list of functions your company must do to hire, maintain and retain an employee. Place a cost on each item using the time value of the person who must handle each separate item. For example and simplification, your office manager earns $15.00/hour and spends a half-hour a day dealing with employee issues. The time value is $7.50 to perform that function. Do this for each item listed below and come up with a daily total amount. Divide the total by 8 and determine if you are performing the functions cheaper than the staffing company can. Most electrical contractors can not because they are set up operationally, not administratively.

If you need a guideline to compare costs, most staffing companies charge a very small amount on top of each hour billed; use 5-7% as a general rule. Keep in mind this includes all labor burden costs including state/federal payroll taxes, worker’s com, liability insurance, payroll processing, etc (see list for the rest).

Outsourcing your human resources function eliminates the need for:

Placing job ads, handling phone calls from ads, processing job applications,checking references,performing criminal background checks, scheduling and paying for drug testing (if required), scheduling and conducting interviews, controlling Worker’s compensation insurance costs, maintaining liability insurance on employees, paying for office staff human resources training,
employee handbook development, safety program development, administration and injury reporting, payroll administration, mailing checks and setting up direct deposit accounts, payroll tax accounting – weekly payroll and annual mailing of W-2’s,
time tracking of field employees (electricians), offering and administering health and savings plans, worker’s compensation claims processing, processing unemployment claims, handling court ordered garnishments, paying attorney’s fees if a suit is filed against your company, addressing and processing NLRB issues, dealing with and paying for other post-employment obligations (wrongful termination suits, HIPPA notifications, etc)…and all of the other time consuming costs not mentioned above that chew into your bottom line!

What many electrical contractors do not take into consideration is the amount of time away from production and the amount of time their office staff devotes to recruiting, hiring and maintaining each employee on the payroll. This is a variable cost outsourcing labor solves.

Going back to the numbers, variable costs are costs that can be varied flexibly as conditions change; like the number of electricians you need to carry on your payroll at any given time. The point made here is that labor is a much more flexible resource than capital investment. Outsourcing labor provides you and your staff with freedom away from time consuming human resource functions. The time you save is better spent marketing, dealing with customers, suppliers, and focusing on the work at your project site.

Spend time to add up the time and cost of the listed functions involved in hiring and retaining electricians. Ask a staffing company to provide you with a cost breakdown of their hourly charge for each electrician’s skill level. Keep in mind staffing companies cover all the costs you would and charge a nominal account administration fee (the fee is normally much less than what companies spend on the list of HR functions). Compare the costs. Remember to consider the intangible benefits of reduced liability, time savings and increased freedom to focus on your customer.

Most contractors will agree that for any given electrical contracting project, outsourcing is cost effective. One key point that must be emphasized is outsourcing labor is not a “one size fits all” solution to controlling variable costs. Businesses that are comfortable where they are do not make good candidates. On the other hand, a business that wants to grow while maintaining tight control over variable costs makes an excellent fit.

We can never predict when an employee will decide to leave a company but, we can control what it will cost to replace that person using effective outsourcing strategies. Keeping the right mix of permanent and temporary employees is the key to controlling the priciest variable costs in our industry – labor. Outsourcing electricians allows you to control variable costs that are discussed in the next few paragraphs.

As you are aware, variable costs are the costs directly linked to the tempo of operations in electrical contracting. They are called variable because they vary with the size and workload of the business. This means that the more projects bid and won; the more labor, material, etc. costs will rise. The more labor costs rise, the more employee-related administration costs go up.

This, of course, is in contrast with fixed or overhead costs. These costs are those that are incurred regardless of whether or not your company works one or ten projects. These costs do not vary as the pace and size of your operations change unless a dramatic change is made. Variable costs are project specific, whereas, fixed costs are associated with the entire company. Office leases/mortgages have to be paid no matter what is produced or in what numbers. Hence rent or a mortgage is a fixed cost.

Consider a situation where you determine your electrical contracting service yields a 25% contribution margin. Your figure can then be used to determine whether variable costs for your project(s) can be reduced. You can choose to bump up the price of materials and/or reduce your labor costs.

Material pricing adjustments is the easy part. Labor costs are not. To attract and retain quality electricians, you must pay more than the competition, offer benefits and training.

Remember your bottom line or net profit is determined by how you decide to spend each penny of your contribution margin on fixed costs. We know you can control your fixed costs by deciding on how much to spend on vehicles, equipment, tools, phone service and all the rest of your business needs

But, what is the true cost to attract, hire, manage and retain a qualified electrician for a three month project and what is the cost to hire a permanent/full-time employee? You probably know the answer, the cost is the same. It is the replacement cost of the employee that will eat into your bottom line after you conduct all of your human resource or human capital management functions in-house. And what price do you place on the expenditure to bring someone new into your company? And what does it really cost to replace that person? The answer is simply the cost of time – your time, your staff’s time and all time removed from project related activities.

Learn more about outsourcing electricians [http://www.strategy-construction.com] at Strategy Construction’s Web Site.

Mike Widner is Director of Strategy Construction Company in Colorado Springs, CO. His background is in manpower management and human resources management in the construction industry. Over eight years, Mike performed several personnel realignment projects for the US Air Force and currently focuses on helping electrical contractors control labor costs using outsourcing techniques.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mike_Widner/29255

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