Commercial Repairs

[Dave_Conway]

After and interesting topic from the recent meeting Richard Dalley of ISDAL asked what general level of interest there was in repairing commercial equipment.

This isn’t an offer of work, just that he turned away a potential contract some time ago as the interest shown was minimal to say the least apparently, I said I’d ask in the forums, so I have.

Comment away……….

Dave.

[Martin]

Re: Commercial Repairs

Dave_Conway wrote:Comment away……….

My recent enquiries regarding ‘Public Liability Insurance’ has uncovered an interesting fact: –

It is generally likely that your current policy will fully cover you for repairs to “Domestic Appliances within commercial premises” and NOT the other way about 🙁 In other words, you are likely covered for fixing a Zanussi Tumble Dryer in a pub/office/warehouse/office block etc, but not a commercial Zanussi machine at any location 🙁

Check your policy before taking on the work 😉

Martin

[kwatt]

I think ours is pretty open-ended on that score but I better check it anyway.

Good point Martin.

K.

[APG]

Re: Commercial Repairs

What we found was the following feed back from our engineers:

1. They had to wait around until the area was clear to repair the appliance which was dead time and costing us money.

2. Engineers were ok with the work but landlord/keeper moaned like mad when we had no replacement parts as they expected the appliance to be repaired right away, there and then. This was due to the amount of profit sitting in that unit which they could sell and if it went bad, they wouldn’t meet their bonus figures.

3. Our public and employers liability insurance went up through the roof as we were told we had to have minimum £10,000,000 cover.

4. Heat permits had to be obtained before commencing with any naked flame and the area heat/smoke sensors had to be turned off. This normally took time as different people are on different shifts and no one knows where this is or where that is and your standing around waiting to get going. It’s easy to say use lokring BUT some commercial appliances are imperial and not metric.

5. Parking is a problem in some cases and can cost a fortune.

6. Would engineers know a high back compressor to a low back compressor on refrigeration to which they would HAVE to have conversion charts to order correct part/s for the job.

7. Some engineers run a mile when you mention the word COMMERCIAL. Until we dragged them out on site and showed how easy it was to repair such units, then they were ok.

8. Most parts we have to overnight which increases the cost of the repair as carriage charged is a lot higher and the price of spare parts are more expensive.

9. Rolling around in fat, scum, spilt beer and alcohol, yesterdays left overs and having to contend with rat and mice poo. You’ll have to pay your engineer a lot more.

10. Hours can be long, are you charging or being paid the correct amount of money to repair that appliance. Engineers moan if they have to work past 18:00

I can honestly say, the money is good, the hours can be long if you or your engineers can put up with the conditions they will have to work in.

(the good side of it all is free breakfasts, dinners, drinks and sandwiches. We even got free tickets to take our staff to an opening evening of a new club and got free drinks all night)

I say yes to semi-commercial, commercial because of the earning/profit margins involved with such work if you can complete the jobs first time.

Andy G

[Lawrence]

Re: Commercial Repairs

I have repaired commercial laundry equipment for a number of years ,Some of the american style top loaders are a dream to work on .
we do anything from an 18lb fast spin m/c to a recently installed 50lb Rigid mount washer /extractor (bolt to the floor job).
mainly nursing homes ,The odd stables washing horse rugs ,but increasingly joe public wanting the american style toploaders.
I have a few cabinet D/Ws in nursing homes ,Yes sometimes it can be grim due to the kind of laundry they wash but it is lucrative ,Yes they want a fast response but the difference is they expect to have to pay for it ,And they do
In fact I have just ditched one of our domestic agencies as the volume was compromising the commercial side of things

Lawrence

[shane]

Re: Commercial Repairs

Dave_Conway wrote:After and interesting topic from the recent meeting Richard Dalley of ISDAL asked what general level of interest there was in repairing commercial equipment.

This isn’t an offer of work, just that he turned away a potential contract some time ago as the interest shown was minimal to say the least apparently, I said I’d ask in the forums, so I have.

Comment away……….

Dave.

In our experience we need commercial work like a “hole in the head”.

They demand immediate service and about 6 months credit, if you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky you don’t get paid at all and it’s “off to the Courts”.

We avoid it like the plague and are much happier for the lack of it.

Shane

[ELDAR59]

Re: Commercial Repairs

shane, the non-payment aspect wouldn’t apply if the work came through isdal. well hopefully, anyway 😉
i find isdal to be one of the better wp’s and certainly one of the better payers.

what i find incredible, is that richard dalley is turning potential contracts down.
apparently, he didn’t get much response, well to my recollection nobody canvassed our opinion and we’ve worked with isdal for a number of years.

[shane]

Re: Commercial Repairs

alf_uckem wrote:shane, the non-payment aspect wouldn’t apply if the work came through isdal. well hopefully, anyway 😉
i find isdal to be one of the better wp’s and certainly one of the better payers.

what i find incredible, is that richard dalley is turning potential contracts down.
apparently, he didn’t get much response, well to my recollection nobody canvassed our opinion and we’ve worked with isdal for a number of years.

We were let down by Independent, before the days of Richard Dalley.
We were unable to get paid for six jobs, mainly LG.
We operate the “Once Bitten” rule.

Shane.

[ELDAR59]

Re: Commercial Repairs

lg can be a bit funny though shane.
nevertheless i’m surprised andy craw didn’t see to it that you got paid, we always found him very supportive.

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