Re: Customer had to close shop can not get employees

[<petem001@xxxxxxxxx>]

"tourman"  a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
646a4a4b-e8e2-4437-bc57-3b5ecfac0a9e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Feb 21, 8:51 pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Feb 21, 7:27 pm, "Bob La Londe" <onebike...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Eay-Yup.
>
> > For years I tried to build my business, train employees play all the
> > games.
> > I have had only two guys I would hire back if they were available today.
> > I
> > just quit trying a several years ago.  I take as much work as I can do
> > by
> > myself and that's it.  I got tired of having to finish other people's
> > work,
> > and then do more work so I could afford to pay them for not doing it.
>
> > At one point I had three full time installers, 1 full time salesperson
> > and a
> > full time office assistant.  I worked 80 hour weeks and made less than I
> > do
> > right now working part time in a crap economy.
>
> Same here.
>
> Every once in a while I'll need another pair of hands and I'll hire an
> installer for a day. I can borrow him from a friendly competitor as
> long as I can give him a few days notice. I pay the boss cash $30.00
> an hour. HOWEVER, after a few early experiences,  I never let the guy
> work alone. I'm watchin him every minute. Guys been in the business
> over 25 years and still don't know shit.
>
> On a job, among other things, I had him put a contact on the front
> door of a shop. It was warm out and the door was propped open all day.
> Finished the job, and we checked all the openings and PIR's except for
> the front door which I figured I'd check when I did my central station
> check just before I leave. I told him to pack up and he could go. I
> pack up, put everything in the van and go back to arm the system and
> check the central. The front door wouldn't close all the way. He'd
> mounted the switch and the magnet without ever closing the door to see
> if it lined up. Jeeeeeeze. NOW .... I gotta
> get all the tools, ladder, etc out of the van. Try to drill a hole in
> the aluminum door right next to an existing hole without breaking
> through. Damn DAMMIT......!!!!! Another half hour - fortyfive minutes
> futzin around with it and HE'S home already !!!!
>
> Puts a motion detector about 10 feet off the floor so that anyone
> walking where you'd normally expect a person to walk .... could walk
> right under the PIR with out setting it off. I mean ..... is it really
> that hard to figure out?  I can't believe that me knowing what a
> typical pattern of a motion detector is ...makes me super smart.
>
> Oh well..... Thus I work alone ........

RHC: My experience has been pretty much the same up here in Canada.
Everyone is bitching about how hard it is to find a paying job, but no
one will sacrifice anything on the short term to learn a trade that in
the long run will make them decent money. My son and I are starting to
plan my retirement from the business and we will need a second person
to replace me. I am responsible for the office work, plus service
work,and he is prime for installations. However, we both share
everything depending upon how busy it is at any given time.

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One good thing about the construction business here in quebec, its all
controled and need licence to do anything..

even alarm! And if you wan tto work in electronic security you need
training..

the training is given at some professional school and its free! its 1600+
hour and the kids learn electronics/electricity/burglar/camera/ip stuff/
intercom/fire/access control /ect.

end even after that training they need to work 6000 hour as an apprentice to
be able to pass an exam so they could be called real security system
installer..

we have about 100 newcomers in the trade from those school every years. and
there is about 1000 people that are certified installer.

But still even after all that we do find bad installer

Training is something, having enough grey matter (not talking about your
hair here Robert) to understand that even if you install some electronic
guizmo, we are in fact selling a sens of security and peace of mind to our
customer, thats what matter most.

Its not only a job, its a service, and any service should be given to its
maximum, not up to "it should do the job".