Stepping up my game

[ians]

I have been really busy improving the way I tackle projects over the past few years ... I have also taken the time to learn about alarms systems and CCTV and done a lot of research into solar.

In the past I was restricted to electrical only. About 5 years ago I was busy relocating a factory which generally involves tagging and stripping the control wires and disconnecting the power cables ... I have a lot of experience doing this type of work its normally our Christmas pocket money every year ... I have relocated factories like Nampak, sealy, edblo and many others.

We also prepare the new factory for the customer ... which sometimes involves upgrading the main DB to 250 ... 400 or 800 amps ... we then install the cable tray and cabling for the machines.

A couple years ago I was watching other services doing their part ... I had already installed all the cable tray for all the services ... network, alarm and CCTV ... that didnt go well ... within a couple hours the cable tray looked like your roof space ... wires everywhere ... I was called in to tidy up the mess.

Since then I have been offering my customers the full package ... we now install everything ... from the cat 5/6or 7 for the networks and CCTV and even the alarm wires.

Because I also do domestic work for the good paying customers I have been stepping up that side of our service ... now we do a full home service.

[ians]

How does it benefit my domestic customers .. beside the fact that we have dustless chases machines and use laser and templates to install the boxes and conduits.

We now go onto a property create a full data sheet of the "stuff" on site ... be it the electrical/network (cable and wireless) ... alarms and CCTV ... I have even taken the time to training and completed a few gate installations and upgrades just for the experience. The really good customers get the full package.

From the meter box to the light at the bottom of the garden ... everything is added to the sketches ... each circuit breaker is identified and what it feeds ... basic drawings are created and all the info highlighted ... why waste my time doing this ... it is simple I generally keep customer for around 10 - 15 years they either sell ... move or close down ... some become bad paying customer or feel they can treat me like their staff ... I tell those ones to "F^&* off" in those words ... the joke is some still try get me to go do work for them ... some get cheaper electricians ... they also always seem to come back.

How does our experience with the alarm systems help the customer ... the most important thing is the setup and operation of the system ... you watch the installer punching away at the keypad ... thinking wow the fella knows the system ... sometime you might get lucky.

An example of why we now check the alarm system ... this actually happened again 2 weeks ago ... my customer purchases a property ... needs armed response for insurance purposes and because they also work from home on certain days ... it nice to have peace of mind knowing you have armed response at the press of a button ... The armed response company sends out a rep and the deal is signed ... they send out an installer to fit the communication device and test the alarm.

They move in and its time for us to verify the COC is legit ... the alarm is setup up correctly and start creating the sketches and tracing all the wiring.

And thats where the fight begins ......................

[ians]

We still havent received a legit COC from the estate agent ... the "part" COC which was sent to the customer is incomplete and doesnt cover the entire property ... still no reply from the estate agent.

Then it time time to download the alarm setup and event log ... for those who are not familiar with alarms systems ... the ones we install and service have a 1000 event log stored ... which I can access and view ... it will tell me everything that has happened for the past few years ... when an installer accessed the system using the the installer code ... what caused the alarm to trigger and which zones ...etc etc ... some people say the system is faulty because the alarm just seems to go off for no reason ... we find someone keeps pressing the panic button by mistake every time they open the gate or try disarm the system.

But more important ... I can see the system setup ... what ever the installer programmed using the keypad can be downloaded and analysed ... in this case we found that the installer had disabled more than half the zones by mistake or during the wild keypad pressing session ... so you could still see them on the keypad ... however once the alarm was armed they would not activate the siren or send a message to the armed response company ... eeeeish.

Once this information is gathered ... its time to contact the alarm company ... this is where it gets interesting ... the alarm company send out "more experienced" personal and find the wiring and sensors are also faulty ... so the response ... lets start pointing fingers ... but because I belong to the CYA club ... I knew this was going to happen ... so I made sure there were witnesses when I accessed the panel.

[ians]

A couple other improvements,

looking out for an independent delivery guy with a bike ... if you can get stuff delivered for R35 from any shop ... I dont see why they cant collect at the wholesaler ... we all know how long it takes to collect at the electrical wholesaler ... wholesalers do delivery ... but when you need a roll of tape and a couple M4 screws and maybe a new lamp ... it could only arrive first thing the next day ... a bike collection and delivery could be the answer and a huge saving for the customer ... it took me nearly an hour to get to the wholesaler on friday due to bumper to bumper traffic and 8 minutes to do the repair.

Service sheets and a payment platform ... 2 things which require urgent attention ... I need to get to a point that I can convert the service sheet into an invoice and send the invoice immediately so that the customer can pay before I leave site ... especially the new customers and the quick breakdown jobs. Tradify sent me a trial package ... I just havent had the time to review it. From what I have read about it ... it could be the solution for my small business.

Yeah I know ... doing everything myself does waste money.