Wednesday 22nd May

The Pulse

Sky High Quoting

Written by
Paul Hassing

SBO Archive

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01
Apr

Empire buildings, environs, infrastructure and access routes, as viewed from EmpSat2*.

Though illuminating, our Building Fences debate didn’t generate one fence builder inquiry.

Number 8’s dad is now doing her fence and Number 12 has decided to sell!

My great social media vs tradies experiment is a fizzer.

Or is it?

From Damp Squib to Space Rocket

I was set to conclude that tradespeople have no use for the internet.

Then I had a fascinating interaction with Origin Energy.

Empire of the Sun

I’d spent several hours checking the ins and outs of a 1.5 kW solar electricity system.

It looked good, but Origin wanted me to cough up $998 to set the ball rolling.

This seemed risky, as no technician or tradesperson had visited Empire House to assess its suitability for the eight-panel installation.

Eye in the Sky

I voiced this concern to a nice lady from Origin. She said:

Your roof’s great, as there’s no shading. But since you don’t have enough north-facing slope, we’ll have to put the panels on the west side.

I asked how she could possibly know all this stuff about my property. She said:

I’m looking at it right now. There’s plenty of room. But from the 20 degree north-eastern skew of your block, you can expect a 10% loss of efficiency. Are you OK with that?

Despite living there for 12 years, I never knew I had a 20 degree skew. Then the penny dropped: Google Maps!

So we chatted about access and ladders and meters like we were sitting on my roof with cups of cocoa.

Something New

Every other thing I’ve had done to Empire House required a prior visit and quote from the relevant tradesperson.

If the job went ahead, I paid for this scoping visit. If not, the tradie lost his time investment.

How extraordinary, I thought, that building professionals can now check prospect premises without having to go in person.

Roofers, landscapers, antenna installers, chimney sweeps – even fridge deliverers. All can now check for narrow streets, big trees, brown dogs and razor wire.

This seems pretty fab to me. I wonder if tradespeople:

Know.
Care.

Calling All Carpenters

So, this is my second (and last?) transmission to tradies. If you’re watching, please tell us how you use this amazing (free!) technology.

And if you’re a non-trade supplier who does the odd pre-buy, fly-by eye-spy, I’d love to know your secrets too.

* Not really. This pic belongs to Google Maps.

Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire

carpenters, Google Maps, new business, Origin, quote, quotes, quoting, satellite, scoping a job, tradespeople, tradesperson

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What others are saying

Author

Susan Oakes

April 1, 2010 at 9:54 am

Hi Paul,

I was only talking about Google Maps to some small business owners the other day and the benefits of using it. I have a feeling many tradies do not know about it or how to use it.

A key advantage is the saving of time that they usually spend when doing quotes.

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

April 1, 2010 at 9:57 am

Thanks, Susan. I agree.

I’ve since thought of a whole swag of other businesses that could use it. Jumping castle hirers, marquee setter upperers, skylight installers, tree fellers.

I hope we hear from some of these people.

Reply
Author

Bambi Gordon

April 1, 2010 at 10:09 am

I suspect that you won’t hear a dickie bird from a tradie.

Not suggesting that these folk aren’t online, late at night, playing games, or maybe reading up on the footy match, or whatever (…let’s not address the whatever…).

But there is a huge whack of small business folk who just don’t think that being online is part of…their business.

Over 50% don’t have their own web-site (real govt figures).

At least 50% of small biz owners that I know say things like:

“I haven’t got time for that”

“Oh, You Young Ones with your New Fangled Technology”

“Isn’t it amazing what they have invented…what will they think of next….ha, ha, back to work I go…You keep playing with your game boy thingy…”.

“My business is so unique that I absolutely have to see every client face to face in person or I won’t get their business – You can’t sell yourself, have a relationship, cement a deal, by phone and web-site….”

*grizzle*

Imagine a hairdresser who emails you just before your next cut is due – and shoots you a special offer 2 weeks before your next birthday?

Imagine a plumber with a web-site full of great information to help you with the little stuff you can do yourself…like change a washer?

Imagine an online profile of each of the new apprentices that your electrician has put on this year?

Imagine the Landscape Gardener who has a list of all the best plants for your part of the world?

Imagine the letterbox drop letter from the local tree trimmer with a special offer to trim that really big tree at your place that is about to fall into the middle of your roof…..that he saw…on Google Maps….

Who you gonna call?

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

April 1, 2010 at 10:13 am

Struth, Bambi! That is one value-add comment!!!

Some great knowledge, observations and ideas. I thought I was reading a Seth Godin post on being remarkable.

Thanks for taking the time to craft such a beaut response. It’s a real gift to me and our readers!

Reply
Author

Micky Stuivenberg

April 1, 2010 at 10:16 am

Hi Paul,

Just a comment about tradies using Google Maps – some of those maps on there are really old, I know the maps of my town are at least 5 or 6 years old – so relying on what you see online may not always be a good idea.

But I think the main problem is that many tradies simply don’t realise the option is there to make their life a bit easier. I know the majority of local tradies where I live who run their own business don’t have a website either and probably don’t think they need one.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading more about your experience with having solar panels installed.

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

April 1, 2010 at 10:25 am

Hi Micky! Thanks for making the trip from Twitter.

You raise a very good point. Wattle trees grow pretty fast and 5-6 years could see a tech-savvy lumberjack rock up with entirely the wrong chain saw.

Your interest in my solar experience was echoed by Origin. They rang to do a satisfaction survey and we ended up having a great yarn about leveraging their online presence with social media.

I’m really hoping they’ll weigh in with a comment or two to add depth to our discussion.

Thanks again for your visit. I like your website a LOT!

Reply
Author

Adam Finlay

April 1, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Great post today Paul. Thanks!

The earth collectively receives more solar energy in one hour than we (all of us) could use in one year. Go figure.

And, in that case, all power to your solar panels, so to speak.

Keep it up.

PS I concur that Micky’s website and approach is impressive. Nice to see.

PPS What is EmpSat1 used for?

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

April 1, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Thank you, Ad. Jolly impressive stat!

EmpSat1 was shot down by a rival copywriting firm.

It crashed in Adelaide and is now used by Mr Ted Purvis as a seed bed for his prize-winning succulents.

Reply
Author

Stephen G

April 1, 2010 at 8:12 pm

Mate! If you get any better at this bloggin’ caper, I’ll have to start selling seats…Oh! Hang-on! We did that last year didn’t we? ;-P

Outstanding read as always ol’ Bean

That’s it from me…believe it or not…just a courtesy call really.

I’m up to my armpits in websites…I think my brain is broken…

Catch y’all soon

Cheers

Stephen G

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

April 2, 2010 at 8:57 am

You’re very kind, Stephen, and your courtesy just jump-started my Friday in a very pleasing fashion.

Thank you for swinging by and please give us an update of your brain-snapping, armpit-filling movements when you can.

Best regards, P.

Reply