EB Milwaukee Survey

ARE YOU CHARGING ENOUGH AS AN ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR?

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See the results from our 3rd annual national survey

+ When will revenues return to normal? + How long are you holding prices on tenders? + Who is bearing the cost of Covid safety protocols? presented by

sponsored by

NATIONAL SURVEY

ARE YOU CHARGING ENOUGH AS

AN ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR? How do you know?

ANTHONY CAPKUN

T

his is now our 3rd Annual National Chargeout Rate & Revenues Survey, and the second to occur during Covid.

I’ll admit... I would love to conduct this annual survey during normal life, but perhaps it is precisely because of these abnormal times that it becomes that much more important to get the pulse of your fellow electrical contractors.

We aim to make this Special Feature as visually appealing as possible, with some commentary thrown in here and there, to make it quick and easy to see where you stand on metrics ranging from workforce size and emergency Industrial charge-out rate to apprentice intake, productivity impacts, and more.

Compared to last year, our respondents still believe we are at least one to two years away from bidding, productivity, revenues, etc., returning to pre-pandemic levels—if at all.

If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s how to better flex technologies and solutions that are right here, right now, to help us continue to innovate our processes and service offering to ensure a better business outcome over the coming months.

This year’s Special Feature is generously sponsored by Milwaukee Tool, a brand of TTi. In speaking with Craig Baxter, president, Techtronic Industries Canada (TTi Canada), we agree that—as an industry—one should not continue with business as usual.

“We remain in a challenging environment. It is critical that everyone remains focused on the things within their control,” Craig says. “We are focused on keeping our people safe and productive so they are able to continue delivering the disruptive innovation you have come to expect from Milwaukee.”

Flexing technology, “disruptive innovation”, finding better ways of doing things... these are concepts to be embraced as we move through and, eventually, out of pandemic.

And, with that, let’s get started.

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Getting to know you We always like to start our survey with a few simple “getto-know-you” questions. Similar to last year, about 82% of respondents identified as open shops, and 18% union shops.

Fully 1/4 of respondents have been in the business of electrical contracting for over 41 years.The next largest segment, at 16% are the newcomers: those in business from 0 to four years.

Where do you work?

Territories

>1%

Alberta

14.00%

Manitoba

4.00%

British Columbia

Quebec

3.00%

Ontario

13.00%

58.00%

Atlantic Canada

Saskatchewan

1%

4.00%

How many years have you been operating?

16.00%

0–4

7.00%

5 – 10

9.00%

11 – 15

8.00%

16 – 20

8.00%

21 – 25

9.00%

26 – 30

8.00%

31 – 35

9.00%

36 – 40

25.00%

41+

Is your business open shop or unionized?

Open shop

How many electrical workers does your business employ, on average, pre-Covid?

82.00%

65.00%

1 to 9

15.00%

10 to 24

Unionized

10.00%

25 to 49

6.00%

50 to 74

5.00%

75+

18.00%

* Due to rounding, not all results may add up to exactly 100%.

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CONTRACTOR SURVEY 2021

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NATIONAL SURVEY How many apprentices does your business employ, on average (pre-COVID)?

3.00% 16 – 20

21+

How has the pandemic impacted your ability or desire to take on apprentices?

6.00%

4.00% 11 – 15

0

22.00%

7.00% 6 – 10

No change

62.00%

Fewer apprentices

31.00%

More apprentices

7.00%

Due to Covid, 31% of respondents felt unable to take on apprentices (or additional apprentices). Thankfully, roughly 2/3 of our respondents continued taking on apprentices as they did before the pandemic. It needs to be said: jobsite experience and learning from other journeymen are vital to the development of tomorrow’s electrical professionals. Thanks to all of you who are finding ways to make it work!

58.00% 1 – 5

Charge-out rates

Here we compare charge-out rates as reported by our respondents. We break them down by union shop and open shop, then the national average. All values have been rounded up or down to the nearest dollar.

What is your charge-out rate for Commercial work (per hour)?

Construction RATE

Service RATE

What is your charge-out rate for Industrial work (per hour)?

Emergency RATE

Construction RATE

Service RATE

Emergency RATE

$177.00 $150.00

$97.00 $81.00 $78.00 National average

$108.00

$141.00

$147.00

$136.00

$147.00

$85.00 $82.00

$92.00

Union shop

What is your charge-out rate for Residential work (per hour)?

Construction RATE

Service RATE

$105.00 $98.00

$94.00

Open shop

$106.00

Emergency RATE

National average

$96.00

Open shop

Union shop

What is your charge-out rate for High-voltage work (per hour)?

Construction RATE

Service RATE

Emergency RATE $211.00 $174.00

$165.00 $132.00 $101.00 $96.00 $78.00 $76.00 National average

$130.00

$89.00

$131.00 $95.00 $95.00

$88.00

Open shop

Union shop

$165.00

National average

$100.00 $98.00 $92.00

Open shop

Union shop

* Due to rounding, not all results may add up to exactly 100%.

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CONTRACTOR SURVEY 2021

ELECTRICAL BUSINESS ebmag.com

Do you include your truck in your standard rate?

By how much have you increased your rates since last year?

1% to 3%

4% to 6%

10% or higher No change

7% to 10 %

22.00% 22.00% 9.00% Do you have a minimum service charge?

Yes 63.00%

5.00%

41.00%

Yes 49.00%

Yes

No

No

RRC

20.00%

24.00%

1996

No

51.00%

Do you have a different charge-out rate for apprentices?

76.00%

80.00%

37.00%

Do you account for mileage in your standard rate?

Do you have a minimum emergency service charge?

Yes

No

RRC

No

Yes

1996

39.00%

61.00%

Business confidence?

We’ve added a few new questions since last year but, ultimately, this section aims to explore the confidence (or pessimism) of electrical contractors regarding productivity, revenues, etc. Of course, it concludes with our respondents’ thoughts on when the construction industry will get back to normal.

What is the approximate annual revenue for your business (pre-COVID)?

Less than $1 million

47.00%

100% 0.00%

$5 – $9.9 million

$1 – $2.49 million

9.00%

26.00%

Thinking back since the time the pandemic began (March 2020), how much expected revenue did you lose?

More than 75%

4.00% 16.00%

More than 50%

$2.5 – $4.9 million

9.00%

$10 million+

9.00%

23.00%

More than 25%

38.00%

Less than 25%

20.00%

0%

Last year, about 5% of respondents said they lost 100% of revenues due to Covid. While 4/5 of respondents report losing revenues (to varying degrees), at least no one reported 100% loss of revenues.

The cost and availability of some products have been unpredictable. Have you experienced shipping delays, limited quantities, unexpected price increases, etc.?

Yes

99.00%

No

1.00%

Just as we reported—and you’ve experienced first-hand—the supply chain has been strained for many months, so weren’t surprised to see that nearly all respondents have been impacted.

Have you started limiting the hold on your own prices on tenders to much shorter periods than, say, the standard 60 days?

$

Yes

80.00%

$

No

20.00%

This question was inspired by our Legal Desk columnist, Dan Leduc. In his column “Price volatility, benchmarks, qualifying your bid” (EBMag May 2021), he writes: “Some electrical contractors have opted to limit holding the prices on tenders for much shorter periods than the standard 60 days”. As it turns out, it’s not just some electrical contractors, but most!

* Due to rounding, not all results may add up to exactly 100%.

ELECTRICAL BUSINESS ebmag.com

CONTRACTOR SURVEY 2021

5

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NATIONAL SURVEY How have safety protocols (e.g. sanitizer, wipes, no shared tools, etc.) added to your direct costs since last year?

31% or more

Not applicable

Over 20% increase

15.00%

2.00%

21% – 30%

9.00%

5.00%

0% – 10%

63.00%

Increased by 16% to 20%

4.00%

11% – 20% Up to 5% increase

Increased by 11% – 15%

23.00%

47.00%

9.00%

Increased by 6% – 10%

Not surprisingly, safety protocols continue to negatively affect productivity. As discussed by our Estimating 101 columnists John F. Wiesel and Dan Beresford, “In conversations with electricians across Canada, we’ve learned that Lost Time has increased from an hour a day to an hour and a half due to late starts (extra time needed for setup), longer breaks, and early stops (to thoroughly clean up)” (EBMag April 2021). John and Dan strongly urge you to account for Lost Time (unproductive time) in your labour hours.

23.00%

When do you think bidding, productivity, revenues, etc., will get back to pre-pandemic levels?

Within the next 3 MONTHS

How have safety protocols (e.g. sanitization, physical distancing) negatively impacted your productivity since pre-Covid?

8.00%

Within the next 6 MONTHS

Who is bearing the cost of construction site Covid safety protocols for the Electrical portion?

9.00%

Within the next 12 MONTHS Within the next 24 MONTHS Possibly longer OR NEVER

34.00% 25.00% 24.00%

These responses do not significantly differ from our findings last year.

Despite being well over a year into this pandemic, respondents remain pessimistic over when we get back to normal. The vast majority believe we are still at least one year away from any return to normalcy, while half believe it will be at least two years or longer (maybe never).

The electrical contractor (myself)

73.00%

The general contractor

13.00%

Other (e.g. owner)

15.00%

We added this question to the survey after hearing that some GCs were pushing those safety costs down to their subs. Nearly 3/4 of respondents report they are on the hook for safety protocols for the Electrical portion. As you bid, remember to include the cost of safety protocols or, at the least, identify who will shoulder the burden.

Thanks to the following...

We will put out the call again in the pages of Electrical Business in June 2022, as well as on our website (ebmag.com) and our weekly newsletter for next year’s National Survey.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Milwaukee Tool, for helping us bring you this information. We rely on all our industry partners to bring you news and information, year after year, so please give them a look and check out the solutions they provide.

And, of course, the biggest thanks go to all of who took 5 minutes out of your day to answer our completely anonymous survey. We wish you the best of luck in the year ahead, and hope for great news in next year’s annual national survey. * Due to rounding, not all results may add up to exactly 100%.

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CONTRACTOR SURVEY 2021

ELECTRICAL BUSINESS ebmag.com