Ok, Nick wins. That's definitely the worst I've ever seen. That took
years of dedication to make that look that bad. The soot? just insuring
you maintain your top spot for years to come. This brings up another
part of this: the customer has to be willing not only to allow you to
completely rewire the system, they also have to be willing to possibly
relocate equipment, like that generator. I haven't had the soot, but I
have had generators in the same room as the equipment, which caused
batteries and electronics to over heat.
I too used to think I had to solve every problem I came upon, but you're
just going to wear yourself out. Both for your profit margin but also
your sanity, you've got to pick the jobs that are best for you.
Back to the firing clients: some of these folks seem to think there is
an entire phone book of off grid electricians they can call, if one
doesn't work out. However, savvy customers recognize how important we
are to their life style, and so pay promptly and treat us with respect.
Ray Walters
Remote Solar
303 505-8760
On 2/26/21 12:38 AM, Nick A Lucchese wrote:
Yes, an interesting thread. Glad to hear I’m not the only one seeing
this more and more these days. Internet lowballers and Youtube “pros”
aren’t helping the situation either. There is always a bit of guilt
not helping someone out especially after hearing that declining to
help really often unfolds into more unfortunate turns for them. It’s
always a balance of what's best for me and my time versus the best for
the safety of our community. Just have to accept that I can’t save
everyone and perhaps by not they’ll find someone else that needs the
experience.
As far as “firing" a customer yes that can feel really good. I did
that a couple years ago with a client I had been helping for 16 years.
It was the best $830 I’ve ever walked away from! Brings a smile to my
face to this day!
Just for fun, here’s a sweet system I declined to work on a few years
back. He didn’t like the fact that I told him I was going to
completely remove it before re-installing it and then charge him a
$300 fee to clean all the carbon deposits off my tools and body each
time I was there. Not shown 4’ away is 100 gallons of diesel fuel and
the generator. Yet somehow he got this permitted by parking a tractor
in front of the access door (so he claimed).
Nick
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