FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Our standard method is Time and Materials with guaranteed quality work and best effort to stay within your specific budget. Unless you are local to us, there is a minimal charge for our time to visit your site to gather bid information. Fixed pricing is available if requested, but a variable percentage, depending on the project, is automatically included to cover the lack of flexibility. Many problems may not be known until after a job begins, but they can be dealt with fairly to both client and service provider so long as communications are always open and honest. Hidden problems are a problem for everyone. To avoid potential misunderstandings, all modifications after a Work Order is finalized require written Change Orders, agreed to and signed by both parties. We provide a simple Change Order form to all clients just to make things easy for everyone, because we consider ourselves partners with our clients on their projects.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
This varies depending on client needs, including a short phone consultation to determine if we're a good fit (project type, size, budget, skill set, dates & times, client expectations, etc.). Occasionally, we'll request emailed photos to clarify before we visit client site. Next is a site visit to gather information for a bid (unless it's a short, simple job that can be done on that visit). Next, we prepare a detailed bid and present it to the client, working out final details. For complex bids, we usually charge for any time involved beyond the first half hour at our standard hourly rate (included in the bid process are project design specifics and much more, which require our expertise).
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Industry knowledge and practices are constantly evolving, so we make every effort to educate ourselves by reading trade magazines and browsing the Internet. An absolute requirement is regularly keeping up with the latest Code changes (the National Electrical Code, or NEC, changes every 3 years, for example). Green energy is a currently expanding area in which we are particularly interested and in which we already have considerable expertise. The owner's philosophy is "He who is not busy learning is busy dying".