u/chiikibreeki

I am a Journeyman, soon to be master electrician at a Plumbing, Heating, Air and Electric company. The electric department is the newest branch, and despite consistently being under 10 guys, we have been smashing budgets. That being said, only being here not even a full year, I am now the senior electrician in the company.

So we are basically independent contractors. We go to the call, sell the job, schedule it, complete it, collect payment, then on to the next. Recently, my non electrician boss has allowed first year apprentices to have their own van, and run to do small calls like swapping outlets. The only problem is, he is sending them out to estimate jobs, where these guys do not have the fanciest idea on how long the job will take, what needs to be done, what is needed for the job etc., they just throw a ridiculous price tag (2400 for 3 fan boxes and wires to the switch) on a job and if it sells, it sells.

Now I have been strongly against the whole idea from the get go. If you aren’t an electrician, you should not be selling electrical jobs. Not to mention, the only people getting raises are said apprentices.

I got into it with my manager today, over the fact that I showed up on a “quick and simple” job today, a Friday, that was anything but. This is a sold estimate, meaning the customer expects it to be done then and there. I had plans, so I told the customer I can’t do it do it today, and made myself and the whole company look like idiots. Every job I get to, there is absolutely no information on it, besides a brief description, and maybe a blurry picture of the panel (once there was only a picture of a golf cart.)

My question is, am I right to be a little irate at the situations this puts me in? Or should I suck it up. As of right now, I am at a loss on how I should feel.