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S1 EP 15 | Owen from OM Electrical; Day in the life of an electrician
55 Plays28 days ago
Dan and Nick speak with their first electrician, Owen from OM Electrical. Owen has blown up on social media, showcasing his high quality workmanship, amusing "how quickly can I make £100" videos and the daily life of a hard working electrician running several businesses.
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Stories
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY guys the podcast where home renovations, power tools and mild panic go hand in hand. I'm Nick Morris. And I'm Dan Doher. Each week we'll be chatting with some property pros, some DIY diehards, hopefully help you with some tips and tricks along the way.
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome back to the DIY Guys podcast. It is episode 15. How you doing, mate? You alright? Very well, thank you. Just back from a nice bank holiday weekend. you get up to much? Not much. Bit of family stuff.
00:00:29
Speaker
I annoyingly didn't do any DIY. I was just about to say, it's like your classic thing. No DIY. Literally, probably the first weekend in months where I haven't done any DIY. Actually, I had to put some Christie's created these letters of Dylan's name. So I then put them on the wall. Created? Created. Out of some drying clay. Oh, And you paint them. Yeah, it looks pretty good. you say? Like cut out paper. Yeah, yeah. So that sounds really good. That sounds great. So have a Tesco bag.
00:01:01
Speaker
Oh, that's cool. So you put up his room? So I put them up, yeah. Oh, nice. Which a bit more annoying than you think, like trying to line everything up and stuff. I know. Sometimes think, do you even bother going straight and just make it wonky? Yeah, yeah. You'd be like, yeah, that's what we're going It's a feature. Yeah, or you then you accidentally get it straight. Yeah, yeah. Exactly that, yeah. Oh, so I did no DIY either.
00:01:19
Speaker
Oh, God. So this is the worst podcast ever. yeah, that's the end of episode 15. I went to the Cotswolds, had a few nights in my family. I've been a bit like the queen over my 40th birthday. Yeah. I'm still getting dragged out. So this was Emily's like treat to go with my family. So my mum, my dad, my brother and his kids. And it's great because all the kids played together. Yeah. Swimming. Apart from being Galfour Twins the whole weekend. Not ideal. It was not ideal, but the where we stayed was amazing. Actually, house-wise, incredible. can't think of what the estate was called, but all these houses that are built in the last five years, built all around these lakes in the Cotswold.
00:01:55
Speaker
oh Our thing was like a three-story brand new house with like a literally like a 30-foot glass window in the kitchen going all the way from top to bottom. And it was awesome because the kids could just like run around all the floors and they'd just be gone for like an hour. You'd be like... Probably okay. They're fine. They're a three-year-old, a four-year-old, seven-year-old. But the house itself was quite fun just looking around. You're just like, wow, this is a holiday home. It's like underfloor heating. They've spent some serious money. It was really fancy. it was nice. Yeah, quality. It's nice to have those little down weekends in there. Exactly.
Meet Owen the Electrician
00:02:27
Speaker
And then we're back to speak to Owen today. Yes, really looking forward to speak to Owen. One of our our favourite people we follow, right? Because he's just like a proper geezer.
00:02:36
Speaker
And his electrician, which everyone knows is the best trader. Yeah, that's it. Which I'm sure we'll discuss. You two are going to be like a little lovebird. Except he's a proper electrician that does it day in, day out. Whereas I'm a fleeting electrician. With the qualifications I like to add. Yeah, yeah. you You still do a bit of electrician stuff. Yeah, probably do about...
00:02:56
Speaker
Three or four a year, I reckon someone like him must knock out... Like rewires, he must knock out like 10 or 20, I swear. I'm guessing that is their bread and butter, right? It's doing rewires. Exactly. That's what right? So he posts not only rewires and things. He does like funny ones like oh how to earn...
00:03:13
Speaker
100 quid how quickly i can earn 100 quid yeah i've earned in a day but he's just posting every single day his job so i find it really interesting and quite good for me to keep up with like new trends and stuff as i'm not doing it every day and also it's quite interesting because i know he's taking the mickey a bit but actually what you can charge what you can earn and things like sort of jobs you get and like sometimes there's some horrible jobs sometimes there's good jobs and yeah can't wait talk to him about that Definitely. And just how clean his fuse boxes look. Yeah. something really nice to see when like all the wires are all enlightened nicely lined up. I know. And I sort of strive to be a bit better at that because ah you see these guys like work a lot. And sometimes I'm like, oh, you've taken too long over. It doesn't have to be that good. It's like a fine line between making it look neat. But also, i mean, come on, time is money, right? Yeah, true. You don't five hours doing something that should take two. Yeah. But at the same time, it's important that we might work is professional. And I get an opinion from looking at his Instagram that he is super on it. Yeah, it really is, yeah. So let's go in and talk to Erwin.
00:04:12
Speaker
Today we have Owen here from OEV Electrical. Thanks for joining us. Another ah second in person. Pleasure. Absolutely a pleasure. Thanks for having me on. No, no worries. So we'll start with, you're an electrician. So you're first tradesman we've had. So did you always want to be electrician? al How did you get into it? ah So basically when I finished school, it was sort of, I didn't really enjoy school, I'll be honest. School, I just sit in there, focusing on it. It was a nightmare for me.
00:04:39
Speaker
So I always knew I wanted to do something. And I weren't quite sure what it was. So then i ended up going to like the college open days where they do the open days. and And it was was looking at different trades and it was out of being a Carpenter or Electrician.
00:04:54
Speaker
So I did want to be a Carpenter in the beginning. And then when i was at that open day, they were like, yeah, you've got a draw. And I was like, oh, well, that's how do we do? Let's kind of look at electrical.
00:05:05
Speaker
So then I had to look at electrical and then, yeah, it just went from there, really. um I guess when I was looking at the different trades to do, everyone, back then, everyone used say electricians earn most money. They probably think now still, but it's not the case for us. They say, oh, yeah, electricians earn the most money. So I was like, I would used to hear that as well. yeah Everyone is saying, oh, electricians have the most money. But yeah, it's not quite a case now. And then, um yeah, she went with that, I guess, because of that.
Owen's Career Path and Education
00:05:35
Speaker
My uncle was a builder.
00:05:38
Speaker
Well, he still is a builder. He used to, like, come around in his range. I was like, I need to do something in the trade so you're feeling it for the mother. yeah every Everyone does it for the money, I'm serious.
00:05:51
Speaker
We're all going to the work for money. them Yeah. Money makes the world go around and all that. So yeah, I think that's how it really starts. But choose a trade. Nice. And then did you like look for like a local firm or did you just?
00:06:03
Speaker
So how it started was at my level two and level three full time in college, while i was doing that i was working in screw fix all right okay so which was great i loved working in screw shift you know honestly was a blinder and i think it obviously helped me again because obviously i was learning like materials at college learning what to do at college and then working as groove fix on top of that was learning what the products were what like the trunking was size cables and different last things like that so i've never known anyone to go that avenue yeah yeah Because I had like an apprenticeship where I did one day at college, had to go off.
00:06:38
Speaker
And it wasn't the best apprenticeship. It was really fancy, high-end builds. And it was really slow. You to go through those machines every day and like clock in, clock out. But you didn't do loads of grafting because it was just like so much paperwork. to You anything. Whereas that, I didn't have a clue what doing basically for three years until it really clicked. That sounds like really good work, doesn't it? Yeah. So I'd done my level two, level three at college while working part-time at Screwfix. And then when I was about to finish my level three, think it was coming up like the end exam and things like that.
00:07:08
Speaker
And the employer actually went to the college said, do you have anyone that wants an apprenticeship? And they rang me and I was like, did she at work at the time? I'm like, you before, they rang me. was like, yeah, you want to come for interview? i was like, yeah, be there lunch.
00:07:23
Speaker
So straight away, I was like, yeah, let's go for the interview. Went for the interview. And it was like big commercial electrical company, which basically done the same as what you sort say. and There's a lot of paperwork, office fit outs, things like that.
00:07:35
Speaker
and Went for my interview, very formal. And then was like, you want go outside Monday? Nice. And I was like, yeah, because they were like, there's no point us was talking about a load of rubbish. Yeah. Things like that. What's the point? Might as well get yeah outside if you like it. If you we think you're good, we'll take you off.
00:07:53
Speaker
I had a trial week there and then um that's how the apprenticeship started. So I done a little two, a little three and then two year apprenticeship. Ricky, I sort of love that old school method. oh That's how I did it as well. I i went to uni to do, or only local like Greenwich, to do accounts and it just wasn't for me. I was like, just don't like this.
00:08:11
Speaker
And like it really slowed to go in as well. i wasn't picking up quickly, but with light an apprenticeship like you and I did, ah you just learn it every day. um And my best one was when I went from that big site to, I was doing council work.
00:08:23
Speaker
And to earn money, the guys have got to churn out. Like, he'd do like four or five tests a day, barrman just testing all these capsules. And if you're not quick, you're just basically gone. So you've got to pick it up quickly. And actually, I always had a guy who always took his time trying to teach me stuff as well. Have you had anyone in your life like that or few people? Yeah, so I had my, well, the person who taught me pretty much all my electrical knowledge, he was really good at it. Like, obviously, he's been through the same stages. So he understands that, right, you've got to take a bit of time to take photos, learn the trade.
00:08:57
Speaker
And like, he was really good at it. Whereas I know a lot of people, they just want to rush these jobs and like, just get in and out as quick as possible. like when i've done my training when i was at college you do like your week's work experience i actually done that for the council as well and the companies that work for the council they're exactly saying like oh yeah right this morning we're going to be chasing out this kitchen and then on to the next job where we're going to be beers eat a bit of lunch and then it's literally go go go bras working as hard as you can for like Nothing. Yeah.
00:09:27
Speaker
but But does that help you now? Because you're like, I could do this double quick now. i'll just turn up and smash out. Or is it more like, I've seen that side. I don't want to work that way. Yeah. I think, yeah, I think like, obviously you see that side of it and you think like, I always say like, you shouldn't really rush things. Whenever you rush things, things go wrong. Yeah, that's true. It always goes wrong. Like ah ah I know for myself. Yeah. But I'm like, I've got to rush this, but it's done. A lot times out ten it goes false. is So if you take your time, do it right, do it correctly, then you're going to get the best out. It's also so impossible to say, oh, this kitchen's going to take me three hours to trace out. Because some kitchens might take you three hours and some might say you sit. It's just like bad luck or solid walls or too soft walls or whatever. So you just can't plan. I think that's the most stressful way of working. And i't know if to get home an hour earlier or something as well. I just don't sit quite. Yeah.
00:10:20
Speaker
you're quite ah You're quite young as well, aren't you? So you're quite level-headed for someone. So yeah, I'm 36. Because I feel like I've only sort of learned that as I got older. I would i was just chasing chasing and traing running around, running around, running around. But it so it's quite good to be a bit more like level-heading chill. So have you always been like that? Yeah, I've always been pretty chill without speed there. I'm pretty chill without hurt. Yeah, I'll just think...
00:10:42
Speaker
No, I'd rush me. Yeah. I'd just go so bad. Yeah, I agree. I'll spend more time trying to put it wrong. see it. Like, as you rush things, you're going to be doing it twice. Yeah, cause that's how I see it. Yeah. 100%. Especially with, like, being an electrician, but like quite a lot of thought has to go into everything. Even, like...
00:10:59
Speaker
when you're trying to run cables, you've got to think, oh, is there going to be a pipe there? That's the thing with electrical. There's so many different things that can go wrong and so many things that can slow you down. yeah And so, like, if you say, oh, yeah, I'm going to first fix this kitchen in half a day, but then you're like, oh, it's red brick. I ain't got the right tracing bit for it. Yeah. like there's just so many different aspects that can go wrong yeah slow it down if you rush and for a throw in a cable and he gets nicked or something as well you got to do it all twice just like to chill chill but i think that's where a lot of cowboy electrics and things like that i come from yeah because people are just rushing these jobs trying earn a power note as quick as possible and then they just get like wiring it wrong cutting corners not burning sleeving on things like that yeah
00:11:45
Speaker
So what was um when did you decide to start putting it
Building an Online Presence as an Electrician
00:11:47
Speaker
online then? Because I started doing it in my houses because I thought, oh, my friend I'm always talking to her that with my mates. But i actually, I started doing it for my mates. and Then it started sort turn and become like a small thing. Was that similar for you or just always thought, going to try it?
00:12:01
Speaker
So i've I've always watched people on YouTube. As an apprentice, I was always watching people on YouTube, social media. And like, I watch a lot of like, upper creators, not in the trade. Yeah. But when I was sort of like going through college, I was big in some fitness. so I was watching fitness.
00:12:16
Speaker
people and things like that and i was like always wanted to do youtube socials and i actually started off if you go scroll down my tick tock you'll see granny videos gym videos yeah because that's what i wanted to start doing yeah you know they flocked they just done so bad that's so bad like they just done terrible and then um i watched jimbo the electrician i don't know if you've seen he he's like another electrician on socials i watched him when i was like doing my apprenticeship and things like that uh nick bundy and i you're seeing him i was looking at here and one day i thought well they could do it i'm gonna be giving it cover no yeah so i thought all right i'll upload some videos started uploading some videos uploaded video of three-faced fuse bald bit metal trunking all made like thunder 90 bend myself so much hate
00:13:06
Speaker
Can you see? So much, man. So much. The table blew up. What was it? Old school men? Oh, they're going to do the wrong words. That's the thing with the electrical industry. It's so like, there's so many different ways of doing it. So the comments actually like, you should have gone. You should have like that. Why didn't you use this? Why didn't you do it like that?
00:13:23
Speaker
And like, obviously, I've got reasons for everything. You'll see in a one minute video. where the job's taking me all day yeah yeah exactly so uh yeah people don't see like that but i suppose yeah that's where i just sort started doing like electrical videos they just started blowing up and then um yeah i started doing so like to do the day and a life videos yeah let's see i heard a great i like your your easy one on your day and a month and like the easy one i swear that wasn't an easy water
00:13:54
Speaker
I try and yeah, I try and do a lot of like vlog style content just cause I like, like I enjoy vlogging. Going on holiday, I'll do my holidays. I've even done my wedding day. yeah um so you It's a bit far back, but yeah, we've done my wedding day on there. I just like to, for me, it's a bonus that people like to watch it. yeah But for me, I like to have it all in one place so I can look back, like exactly like the wedding day or the holiday to Lanzarote. I can look, bam, and it's all in one place. And then it's just a bonus that people enjoy watching it. You get so invested in your life.
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah, like, and then it brings like the other avenue of like, Trey's not even watching my content so you'll have people that just work the normal man to fire in the office or people working in the shop like I'm going to bandos and just normal people come up on a photo are you in the trade no no I just work in finance oh but love your videos he's yeah it's like from my nanbo yeah so like do that side of it I enjoy as well How did you deal with like all those negative comments at the start? Were you like, I'm not bothered or obviously some of it must affect you? Yeah. So obviously like being an electrician and being the trade and like I always say to myself, I'm not, I'm average at everything, but average at sports and things like that. But I'm good at being electric. Yeah. But I know I'm ruin bit bit not being big head, but I know like I'm just like so OTD, like ADSG, like I and am so focused and like,
00:15:22
Speaker
I know I'm good electrician, so that when the first comment, I remember the first comment, when it was like... It was just like, no, like, honestly. And then I think once you get over that barrier of, you know there's so many ways to do you what mean? people are always going to hate.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's the sad thing. People just want to criticise go, oh, you did do that by one year or something. You could do the most perfect thing. and that's It's such a weird thing to call it and say, I've done that differently. He's not actually saying your word crap. He's just saying, oh, I've done that differently. It's so pointless, isn't it? There's so many ways of doing things as well. Yeah, no, I literally had it of the other day on my Instagram story. I posted just a picture of a job I've done.
00:16:05
Speaker
He's like, you have no clue how to do middle trunking. Go back to domestic industry. As he said, you got it back to front. how have I got trunking back to f front you can only put the lid on one way how have I got it back to front and he's like it makes me laugh it makes me laugh more than anything that people are actually thinking they're fully fully right and he was like oh I'll send you 100 quid if you can send me a photo with that lid off send him a photo and he's still trying to pray the answer and I'm saying I'm just feeding him so how is ping actually like this like
00:16:36
Speaker
And I just enjoy the negative comments now. yeah The negative comments, if you look at all the videos that do well, it's because of negative comments. Yeah, yeah. And if you're getting negative comments, actually means you're doing well because you'll get such a volume of people. Yeah. There's so many bloody weirdos. There's always going to be negative comments. It'd be weird if you didn't.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah. people it like People's videos never do well. it They go, well great job. yeah some We love it. See how you've done a really good job. like You've done everything so perfect. do it Them videos never do well.
00:17:06
Speaker
She's quite sad really, isn't she? If something's great, that should do well because other people look it and go, oh, that's so good. Yeah, people should look at it like that. They don i just want to pick holes in everything. and that I don't know ah think it's a lot all trades, but I think electrical especially is just because you have like certification behind it. You need to be following this work. You need to be doing it this way. And I feel like cause because all that's in place, people pick holes easier.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah. It's just... Yeah. you we can't fu We've been speaking to quite a few people who was like, who've done up their own house and they've like touched into trays. So they're doing like a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But the the ones they don't seem to touch is electrics, plumbing mostly, I'd say. And then people were scared of plafsroom, think, because it's graft as well. But you see, I just wouldn't touch that. yeah I've done most things in this house, like little bits, not everything, but I am touched.
00:17:59
Speaker
scared it. But is there anything that a DIY can do with electricity? Or is it just so risky, really? Because it can be dangerous. Would you ever have someone like, oh, can you give us a grand off if I run the cables for a ring or something like that? Yeah, I've literally done it job the other day for that.
00:18:17
Speaker
So he's basically... He wanted a price for wiring his outhouse, wiring the power supply to the outhouse, and like second fixing everything. Okay, and the price is way out of his budget, yeah which is fair do. So I'd rather you come back to me and say, you're out in my budget, is there anything that you could do? yeah yeah Instead of being loyal, that is probably a hard stand. god's thanks I'm spending hours quoting up, yeah looking at materials, getting right, thinking how long is that going to take? seeing your address how how long to drive things like that and then they just don't get back to yourself rather than sort of say to me what can you do and the final and product was he's going to run the first fixed tables in the outhouse but when i'm there pulling in the power table from the house i'm checking it all was going to say before all this ball went just out of the floor yeah i'm going be checking that
00:19:10
Speaker
The cables are run correctly. That would worry me. that They've nicked a cable and they've prepared it or something. You can't see it. But i guess if you're going around checking, out that's it easy. yeah Yeah. So he's going to leave it all open. I'm going check it. And then I'm going to go back and do all the second fixing. Yeah. So he's just saved money on me doing the first fix and supplying the material.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's right the second fixing as well. Because I've had loads of mates over the years. and You must have had the same. when they've They've done a little bit. Even like changing a socket. One of my mates used screwdriver that was like... You know, like you out a crafter and you just couldn't get like enough to tighten it there.
00:19:43
Speaker
And he said, hey, I got belted. I was like, how did you get belted? told you how to turn it all on. But he just didn't tighten it enough. And he said, oh it's not working. It's like, it's like not just taking properly. And I took it off and the cable just pulled straight out. So I always think second fix in person though, unless you've got some sort of experience, shouldn't go near. That's good. Do you do that arrangement or you can do that arrangement? Yeah, so it's like ah you say about DIYs, can they do it anything? It is difficult because probably like the basics is probably taking off a socket and replacing the socket front. But then even still, if you haven't done the connections right, yeah and when we go around to do the test and we've got an open circuit on a ring circuit, as you change that face play, that's another problem. Yeah, yeah.
00:20:26
Speaker
What about chasing? Well, they did all your chasing. You did for chasing. That's a big job, that's the thing. Yeah, so same thing again. Actually, it doesn't work for a builder. Price is too high. Honestly, far too expensive.
00:20:40
Speaker
But yeah, price was too high. He was like, all right, can you do anything? I said, if you want to do all chasing? fine yeah you do a chasing i'll knock it off for the chasing i guess it's knowing the person competent as well which is yeah and to be fair the chasing was puck up yeah yeah so right yeah but obviously there's some times where if they've done the chasing and the back box doesn't fit not deep enough like then you're doing again i'll say to him mate yeah yeah it makes it hard doesn't it and bit awkward because you turned and you're going oh actually i'll
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. But there is there is certain things like that. I don't think. Yeah, I like that. I like lots of things too much. It's your dream. I've got it. I was going to say, is that your worst job, do you reckon?
00:21:28
Speaker
Probably. It's been for not to be, I think. Yeah. Like, house, like, doing domestic stuff is graft. You don't realise how much graft goes into it, like chasing out, lifting up the floorboards. Like, it when you have occupied houses well, they're not occupied through white floorboards. Yeah, they're probably it is It is full on grass. It's just moved sofas. Yeah, it's so great. Oh, yeah.
00:21:51
Speaker
It's like the dust it creates, right? It's hard by... When it's a building site, you know, it don't really matter, does it? Because somebody's going to drain it all up at the end. But when someone's got their nice three-piece suite in there, very protective over it. You also can't just knock everything off and just be like, oh, just close it. You know, keep a socket for the builder or whatever. But you just want to be like, oh, right, they need to cook. They probably need have a shower or go to the bathroom. So it's like, it's really difficult it's so difficult and then obviously every single day this is why like occupy rewires are more expensive every single day you got to make sure you're leaving it clean yeah so you're spending two hours at the end of the day make sure everything's clean furniture's back floors back and then an extra hour when you get back there next day in morning take care of those with having back yeah shirts and everything dog oh yeah and possibly people working from home now yeah
00:22:39
Speaker
You're like, it's not light. You can I'll turn all your electrics off. I was going ask you about that because that flight, everyone working at home now is a nightmare. Because if say you say you're just working on something simple like sockets. Usually, but the Wi-Fi is downstairs, for example, which they need for work.
00:22:52
Speaker
And their computer's upstairs, which they need work. So, like what am I turning off here? yeah And I'm bad. So, I'm like, just do it. I'll just change this live. I'm like, what am I doing? This is stupid. just got to be like, get out the house. or it Yeah. If you want me to do way, bug out. Would you find anything like that more stressful?
00:23:08
Speaker
I think so far it's been pretty good because obviously if you're booking an intellectual job, they sort of already know how it's going to be off. If they don't, then you can actually sort of like you know that the power is going to be offered whether you're having the test whether they're having a new socket installed whatever but we always try our best to obviously like say lead one circuit on one circuit off yeah when i go around doing icrs i won't just fully turn off all the fusible for the whole daddy i just yeah i guess it's telling me it's heating as well isn't it stuff like i'm deploying like power and all that but yeah so how when did you um start to find like the social side to start generating income and stuff for you as well or just like
00:23:50
Speaker
That is the mad, that's probably the maddest part
Monetizing Online Success and Workwear Brand
00:23:52
Speaker
about all. Yeah. is says So I know you've got stay back then, which was going mention as well. That's pretty cool, pretty exciting. Yeah, so that's like my side hustle, which I want to build into a big company one day, yeah which is I want to make it the biggest work where ground out there. So I feel like I can make that happen. I've just got that goal and that vision of making it happen. um But in terms of sort of like income, it was the first two years with nothing.
00:24:19
Speaker
yeah it was always it yeah the first two years i was posting two videos a day on tick tock literally getting nothing out of it but i just enjoy it doing yeah so the most good the money was just a bonus like i enjoy it like it but brought the different aspects because doing electrical every single day can get boring being in trade can get boring don't know but you find that for yourself but like When you're adding the element of filming, editing, and making a video, it's just like bring something else to the table, doesn't it? I guess if you've got to be a bit lively in it as well, generally will make you a bit lively. Yeah, exactly. That's like it. I think.
00:24:59
Speaker
The income sort started, like obviously it takes a greater program from now, I think that's like year, a year and a half. And so it's like we started building up and then you get brands coming to work with you. And that's the other side of it, working and dealing with brands. Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
want my electrician, mate. oh's just I don't know what to charge. aren I don't know like what deal you're doing and things like that. Oh, you want X amount of videos a month.
00:25:26
Speaker
like It's so hard to deal with you for the price of that. Yeah, exactly. I just have the time to do it as well. That's what I was saving the question for the female plumbing room Tuesday we're speaking with. It's so difficult just to do a nine to five, which i'm probably you don't even do an hour. You probably do way more than hour. probably do it six to ten yeah because i expect it's a and there's no joke that's mad and then you're doing social on top of that and posting on top of that obviously got home life and stuff so like my my days this year probably get out by six and then obviously have my days grass with the workwear as well like i'm up early doors doing fees for manufacturers you see a ton of difference
00:26:06
Speaker
yeah is it cool so then i'm like doing my full day's graph which i usually try and stick to about eight till four yeah until three sort of time in and then i get back home then and it'll be editing voiceovers sometimes i'm a lunch break at work i'll be editing um and then it'll be upload i try and stick to like 6 p.m uploads yeah every time everyone's eating a dinner so they're like try Yeah, hopefully they see these. So I try and stick to 6pm and then 6pm is upload to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook.
00:26:42
Speaker
And that's not enough, Trevor. Yeah, and I'm i'm still doing like two videos day. you've got like invoice, can you work for yourself as well? So you've invoice in it? last so knowing quote in's gone forward so Yes, So yeah, so obviously have my electrical business, then I have it with the social media because the social media has turned into a business now. I've been just recently employing my wife to help with all the social media admin, DPI, so things like that. So that a massive achievement for me as well.
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah. Having us on board. like Yeah. Just like social media has completely changed my life. Yeah. massively it's given me like helping start my business a lot my clients are through social media now yeah and it's just social change yeah people underestimate the power of social media and it's so powerful yeah i can't recommend it to any like i can't recommend it anymore to anyone like every electricity i say i'll say are you on social nah why not yeah why are you not socials yeah people people see me wire out say the outhouse
00:27:44
Speaker
And then I'll go to inquiries next day of, can you come on without us? Yeah. yeah So things like that. It's just like, you don't like, it's crazy. I still can't get my head around. It is bonkers. It does seem to be something that's kind of like replacing a website. Whereas before you'd be like trying to direct it, would your website to get inquiries through that. So. Yeah, socials is really good.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. So help you get people on there and they can see all your previous work as well. So my website is solely for contacts. o It's not to show off my work. yeah It's not, it's not, sure oh, I've done this office.
00:28:20
Speaker
It's literally for contacts because I will have people messaging me on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, wherever it may be. And I say, Fill out the contact form on our website and then we can go from there because on there you can upload your files, your jobs, you can upload your address, you can upload the description. So I can literally have everything all in one email and then I can send you the price. Yeah, yeah. Because with our trade, it's difficult to just give you a price ah on 10 double sockets. Is it solid board? Is it full? yeah oh Is your fuse board updated? Like, you know, it's like so difficult. Whereas like you could send to the website and just say, you can just upload it all for this. Yeah, oh, nice. Have you ever had a job like, because I think you're so young to be going by yourself, um where you have COVID whatever, or you wish you just did it a
Challenges in Pricing and DIY Risks
00:29:06
Speaker
bit differently. So you either haven't charged enough or have underestimated how it's going to take.
00:29:10
Speaker
Not necessarily money-wise about, oh, thought that was going to be a month and it was like six weeks, seven weeks, or anything like that, like where you just wish you didn't whi didn't do it. Yeah. uh i think yeah there is a few jobs so you think that it's top like the occupied ones i'd like i do take them on but i've realized now that it does take a lot longer than you think just stressful yeah there's a lot of problems yeah like the first the first one i've done probably well underestimated that yeah well underestimated the graft and
00:29:41
Speaker
Like, obviously, just starting out the business, and pricing is a difficult thing general. Yeah. So it is difficult to price. But now I sort of got my head around pricing aspects. And like, you can over time, over time, you can think that's going to take me a day. That's going to take me two days. Right. It's an empty rewire, stud balls.
00:30:04
Speaker
I can do that in three days. yeah you know over time you just gauge how long it's going to take so then you can sort of work it out so don't know there's really obviously every job always charged more yeah every job is just well that no and yeah i don't think there's really been a job i just enjoy it so there's not really been little Yeah.
00:30:30
Speaker
Some are just harder than others, aren't they? I think it's always good to overestimate what you're going to do. Say you say I'm going to do this in week, just give yourself a buffer, right? That's what always say to people starting off. Just chill and give yourself a bit of a buffer.
00:30:42
Speaker
I think sometimes though' people don't appreciate like actually how much work goes into it when they're like, oh, can you just swap 10 sockets? It's like that oversimplifies what you've got to come and do and what you may encounter along the way, right? Yeah, that's the the worst thing I hate about the electrical industry.
00:30:59
Speaker
yeah Because people don't see the amount of effort that goes into putting that socket there. Yeah, say, I just want to suck it there. Yeah. All right. Well, that's going to probably take me all day because need to chase it out. I need to run the cables. I need to fix it. Don't mind my wall, are you?
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah. I need to make sure that it's all level and things like that. And then like people don't realize and then they're like, oh, three inch quid for that socket. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's going to take me a long time. Oh, you haven't got RCD detection. You need a new fuel. What? But it works now.
00:31:30
Speaker
Yeah. people It's it's probably is probably the hardest trade to sell, I would say. Yeah. And because people are like, well, it works now. Why is it? Yeah. yeah and And you don't see a fuse board. You don't see all the new cable. You don't see new socket. People don't know how much goes into like fuse boards and things like that. Obviously you have the testing beforehand. You've got the testing after. start So you're spending probably two hours just doing certs. That's without doing the actual physical cool test. And then you've got actually upgrade the fuse boards. You've got to go to the wholesalers. You've got to pick up the materials. You've got install the fuse boards. You've got to... And then fuel stores used to be like 60 quid as well now, but we've like RCBOs and everything. Like SS, Pensex, all that.
00:32:13
Speaker
It's just mental, the stuff got do. It's like probably 300 quid now, isn't it? for As if you're just ba buying a vehicle. It's ridiculous. And the people are like, well, why I changing this plastic around the stairs for a metal one? We've got to, but it's hard to push in it.
00:32:27
Speaker
yeah and i i'm like i never obviously they do cheaper versions of fuse balls like the jewel like thingy but i i'm never as the one i never will yeah you never will because i don't believe in it i believe like you should have the best of the best rcpos and if you're thinking oh well why can't do that well i'm not you It's your name. so And if it goes wrong, you'll be the one getting the phone. And i think why anyone would want to sort of install like the old type fuse boards where one side of your house is going to be completely off of your trips. yeah speak If you have the individual RCBOs, then you still got all the other power yeah if something does go wrong. People, it's just so difficult to sell. People don't realize how important it is to have upgraded fuse. and RCD protection. There's so many fires and things like that that I've seen. Even like it was in my mother-in-law's house.
00:33:20
Speaker
A fusible started tripping. She had RCD protection and it started tripping. It's like, oh, I said, just flick it on, just see what's going on. Started tripping again. Smoke started coming out the washing machine club.
00:33:33
Speaker
Gee, yeah. So there wasn't any RCD protection. Think how bad that could have escalated. RCD protection can like... So is that just of the anti-product, was it? Yeah, just for your science. That's scary as hell. Yeah, and it's just like, there's I've seen that recently, big influencer on TikTok, she had a hellfire from a tall battery charger. Nah. My first initial thoughts is, did you have RCD protection? Probably not, because if you did, you would have picked it up. it was ma for a at it else Yeah. yeah
00:34:07
Speaker
Is there any, like, bodges you've seen, like, DIYers do, and you're like, oh, my God. Or one you see most frequently? Because I always think when you start a rewire, you obviously start ripping out. You see what you're saying, you're oh, when I've done that. But then there must be ones that DIYers try a lot and just don't do.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah, do you know what? The most recent one I've had is actually not from a app, but from bathroom fitter. Oh, really? Yeah, honestly. it was a little bit backwards, but the client, she found me off social media as well, and the client wanted me to rewire a flap, but she already had the bathroom done.
00:34:39
Speaker
So she got the bathroom done before getting the rewire. So it was a little bit backwards. Yeah. But... They basically, obviously, if I'm doing a rewire, I need to check over the bathroom kit as well. Yeah. Because I've got to sign it off as special location. I've got to it on the set.
00:34:53
Speaker
And, like, you don't really want to do a whole rewire and then exclude the bathroom on the set. Yeah. You know? So I've started taking things apart, and I've had a bit of, like, a thought of just taking off the switch. No sleeving, no browning visitation of the, like, conductors. And I thought, oh, this is, like, I literally see a little thin chase like I'm thinking, oh, God, what's the play? What's he done now? So then I've, like, took down a downlight in single installation showing, like, connections were absolutely terrible. Like, then I took down a neck downlight, and it's literally, with lights, you just loop feed them usually. With this one, it was spider, spider. Oh, really? It's the old school. Yeah, spider. And then I took down one downlight, just loads of connector blocks, just, like, all the fan tapped off of it. just expose singles, connect bolts up in the ceiling. And then what they've actually done is, whereas an old conjure wiring system and they've got a permanent feed there, like you would have just one light,
00:35:51
Speaker
They're tapped off with a single core from a twin and earth. A twin and earth, there but they've cut the other cores. Taps off just a single core with the live conductor to feed all this new bathroom lighting.
00:36:02
Speaker
So there's another there's no nothing. It's just a single core. It's almost more research to do that than actually just a popper. But i see i think that's the classic case of bathroom fitters putting a brass and then and he's thought, going save the money, yeah? I'll do the election. Yeah.
00:36:19
Speaker
and then it's just go from i'm a big believer as well i think when i when i renovate my houses i like my plumber does my plumbing what carbon does my car and there's no crossing over these people are like one guy is doing i i had a job where like you said about quotes and money and stuff, I got the whole house to renovate. um And then they started pulling stuff off of me and they pulled the bathroom off of me all of a sudden and said, oh, can you just do the kitchen? not And they had this one guy on the bathroom, it was really nice, but he did the tiling, he did the plumbing, he did the electrics and it was just so bad.
00:36:52
Speaker
so And when it was finished, even the client said, what this bathroom looks like um like a five out like it's been lived five or ten years old and it's brand new. Because everything was just like bodged. We'd put little sticky tape all over it.
00:37:05
Speaker
And just like why all the imperfections were. It was just for ridiculous. I just think they just stick to what you know. yeah exactly. Yeah. Like just I'll say it to everyone. that Get good. Get good at one trade. Like, yeah, these moment traders, but they're never going to be good as a sole electrician when they do it. It's just like, it just doesn't happen. There's no point in it. Like, just think just stick to your trade. You get good at it.
00:37:27
Speaker
Be professional in it and do it properly. But Things like the bathrooms and all that, they can look great on the outside, but what's on the inside? yeah was yeah I don't know how much she spent on this bathroom, but she's got good thousands, ain't it? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, that's about to match, right? You spend thousands on something and you might have saved yourself one.
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, by doing the electrics, you know what I mean? sorry saw And the owner doesn't actually know that up in her ceiling is a little death trap. no king you know man Yeah, but that's what's scary. The alarm bells started ringing straight away because they tapped into an old fuse board, no RCD protection. And you can't do that bathrooms because it's special. You a b used to be RCD protected, Stacey. So it's just like crazy how these people get away with it. But...
00:38:11
Speaker
customers and clients they don't know don't know what goes out today so you just go lovely cold bathroom try brilliant well they get one price right yeah you get one crush one person they don't go oh you using electrician being like people just don't know this whilst so as long as it works yeah it's crap i know you say about being carpenter Well, the big question I want to know is what do you think is the most difficult trade actually like the graph?
The Complexities of Electrical Work
00:38:40
Speaker
Because I don't want you to like jump across the table at me, but I did quite a lot of the like help the plumber here. Yeah, I'm just like shifting toilets around and heavy seats. So even I to get a load of pipes, I drilled all the holes for his pipe. So mean, it was like six holes all perfectly in the road for like, it took me like six hours to build the holes in his place for him. And I was like, feel like plumbing for me is though it's slightly hard.
00:39:02
Speaker
But are you going to be like, no? No. Yeah. like I sort of know where electrical is, you know. like So, yeah, it is graft. I think every trade is graft, obviously. Yeah, I do.
00:39:14
Speaker
um That's like mentally self as well. Oh, he wants to do that. like He wants to just, oh, gay, I can't stand it. So they're causing his people, they're just psychopaths. So he could just do it, she does. There's all carbon plastic. I say it's bit pain onar and I say, how many years? Oh, 14.
00:39:32
Speaker
What, you like doing this? Yeah, I love it. Nothing. You're not right. I don't like the ace. So that's almost hard in a completely different way. Yeah, it's so brutal. I don't want a bit of rolling, but even then I like start really where I'm on again. So he's great there. I think physically, I think there's different types of but how tough a trade is. I think physically, obviously, you could say that your grandma could scaffold. Oh, Jesus, yeah. Like, being out in the winter, digging out. Always cold. It's not me. no eat Me, I'll be honest. don't find a beard, bro, it's nothing. can change on your new clothes, getting them to... Yeah, it's just that. Obviously, I'll say it's just... But don't mind a beard, bro. But groundsman things like that, that's got to be grasped in the winter.
00:40:14
Speaker
Shit, like, cold, horrible. They're scaffolders, they're obviously doing massive hires, just like yeah chubby poles. Well, that's the thing in the summer, you're like, that looks amazing, doesn't You sort of sure, it's always in the summer. a The guy.
00:40:31
Speaker
We're not for duty to be a growler. so Thing is in England, you only get three days a summer, didn't you? The rest of time, surrender. Yeah, and and I think at the other stage, the other toughness, obviously mentally toughness, we say about painting.
00:40:46
Speaker
But I think that obviously Sparky's got to be up there on the mental side of it because of the full finding. Yeah. The full finding and thinking like, oh, it's like we've got go into somewhere that we haven't wired, we haven't done, and we've got to think what's gone wrong.
00:40:59
Speaker
yeah why isn't this working and the problem solving behind because then you go to the bigger commercial stuff where it's like all your control panels and things like that it's just like something you open these doors and it's you're not just like cabing everywhere there's like little signals going to this breaker to this breaker to this breaker and you're like shut that yeah that looks all right yeah how do you yeah i think obviously yeah I think you're right, they are all graft to be fair. Yeah. I'll do it for you. I'll it for every trade, but are all graft. Like, he's cast around his graft as well. Oh, yeah. Have you ever seen anyone on like YouTube or whatever give electrical advice? Not necessarily from nutrition or whatever, or maybe they are, but it's actually crack or like rot. Because there's so many like little DIY people. I'm sort pointing myself in that, but I can't have overly no idea. I haven't done this. Where you are, I watch some of them.
00:41:52
Speaker
ah There's different ways of doing things, but sometimes with electrical, I thought you could actually just get bad or what. Yeah, I think I see that snippet. I see snippets of like DIYers doing electrical and I see like first and second, I can't watch that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I'm being back.
00:42:08
Speaker
I try stay clear of it, to be fair, because I might be contradicting myself with the hate. Obviously, I'm not one to hate on people and comment and say, why have you done it like that? I'm never like that. So there's of content creators that will just comment on my things with hate and things like that, won't i'm thinking like this and i'm like i'm not that type of person to comment but i just you know here's what is you do your way i'll do it my way you start that that is what it is like there's no need to comment on there i think if you're content creator and you're putting it out online hats off to your yeah yeah your hats off to your like you're doing more than most people when you actually got the bollocks to put online yeah that's that's the other thing about it because like Not many people got the OSP online. Yeah, it's so true. you just You're out there for crits as a month. I'm worried about this sun creeping in on it. so on But basically, we always end with the same question. It's slightly different for you because we usually do it towards that home and stuff, but it's just basically your best and least favorite thing about being a Sparky. The thing you most enjoy it and the thing you sort of least enjoy about it. Maybe you've touched on it a bit with like Quotey S.A.L.
00:43:17
Speaker
or just trying to fill it all in. I think... Probably my least favorite thing about being electrician is obviously that people can't see how much work goes into it. Yeah. I haven't touched on it before, but I just really don't see how much work goes into it. I just see a socket. Like when you finish a big rewire that's taking you four weeks or whatever is to first fix, four weeks to second fix. Yeah. And then like people just see a pendant there. Certainly. You're not a my app. They're like...
00:43:47
Speaker
great yeah we've got lights and power now is your e-rate whereas i think that other trades you can get a bit more reward from it like treat it to shippies and things like that don't you step back up build that bro yeah he'll be sick and he's like tying us on tylers get a lot of credit oh that's on is really good in here and you don't think of like the plumber who's called the pipes or and they've two shirts and they've all perfectly retires and stuff like that yeah that's a good one to be fair yeah i think that's probably the worst thing about it because you don't get enough credit i don't think there is enough credit yeah like there isn't like other like obviously money things like that people out there doing electrics for cheap and all that you put yourself for a quiz yeah as well
00:44:28
Speaker
that's That's the thing, think, electric but water. ah You shouldn't skimp on it. I know shouldn't skimp on anything, but those two things, if they go wrong, they go very well. There are things you could try yourself, I think, electrics and plumbing. Obviously, gas is going anywhere. But electrics, yeah, again, I think.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, like we're literally they and day in day out getting our lives at risk. You've got people like painters who are charging probably same amount as electricians. It's true, they get a bit of pain in their mouth.
00:44:59
Speaker
It's the worst thing that's going to happen. Things that can go run in electrics and our insurances and things like that. Yeah. Underestimated trade. Yeah, definitely. thats it And then best thing, what's your best thing?
00:45:11
Speaker
I think best thing is solving the problems and helping people. Yeah, it is a trade where you can't function like you can't function your eating without it. yeah You can't function your lights without it. Everyone, your Wi-Fi, everything's like working from home. you Like we're just needed, aren't we?
00:45:32
Speaker
So like it's one of those things that are. My fusible's tripping out. Can't do this. Can't do that. You've gone there. You've had a look at it. You've solved the problem. Customers double happy. Yeah. So I've seen it by growing some more things as well, isn't it? Because you've got like, people are going to induction hobs now. I'm on gas hob. Even like, I've got a tap in my kitchen. I was at cooker tap. Oh, that's got a little thing to it. It's like, it's getting more and more involved, I think, as well. yeah well i've recently had a client come to me and he wants a whole smartphone oh well then what if your wi-fi goes down you've got nothing yeah how i'm there oh yeah that's the thing yeah but that that then that's literally his whole house gone down here because he hasn't got the electric so i think like obviously the problem solving and like
00:46:15
Speaker
helping people out is just like probably one of the best things about it i'll tell you that's a good one well if i'm quite a sad one about your videos is when you drill like right by like a gas pipe whatever and i little bit suspense there for me felt like would know what be able to do then yeah it's this racky nerve wreck But it has to be done and that's what I try and do with my content, try and make it as realistic as possible. They're like, close to that gas pipe or you should be 50 miles away from that gas pipe. That is my only route to the fuse ball. Yeah, the summer house that I've done, which is probably that video that talked about, that was literally the only route I had spoke underneath the kitchen cupboards. All the floors, tiles, no access underneath the floor. No access above the floor, everything was finished like ah ah on the top floor.
00:47:09
Speaker
No access around the house, fusible literally middle, dead centre of the house. Yeah, so what are to do? Yeah, it's like, oh, like you shouldn't have drilled through that, and shouldn't have done that. but That's my only way to get power to it. And what they're going say now I can't do that. so I'm not that person.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah. It's our ability. It's just the mission. So it's our key. Well, weekly. Well, thanks for joining us. Can you let um the listeners at home know well where to find your social media first and also maybe like a steak rafting monitor there
Promoting Stay Graftin' Brand
00:47:40
Speaker
as well?
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah. So you need some free stuff, mate? Yeah. You're so cool. They're going to be here on me. Send it out. Yeah, so on socials, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, i am electrical, and Facebook as well. And then the state drafting work where currently we've got the trucker hats beads on there. Next month's going to be the new hoodies, t shirts, slowly but surely growing it and growing it.
00:48:08
Speaker
It was like I started it probably about two years ago. Yeah. Every time I get a bunch in, it just sells out with you. and So I'm just like trying to to keep up with it. But in retail, things just take forever. button that And every time I want to change this or make it better and make it better, it just takes time.
00:48:25
Speaker
But yeah, so all the stay grafting work where stay graftonworkway.com. Thanks for joining us, listening to us on. Thanks so much, Owen. Another great podcast, mate. It's so great having him on, wasn't it?
00:48:38
Speaker
He lived up to the expectations. Yeah, lively guy. Yeah, really lively. I can't get over how young he is and just how well he's doing. Yeah, I know. It it makes me feel really lazy because he's like got about like eight different things going on. And I'm like, well, I'll just go home and watch Netflix. Yeah. Even when he says he goes to the gym and stuff after work as well. It's like, Jesus, you're up at six and you go for a workout and you go and then do a massive shift and yeah do your YouTube posts and stuff. It's insane. Yeah. I think you've mentioned it before, like just the actual time it takes you to create content. Yeah. Just insane, isn't it? and Like after like a full day's work and he's got like his like branded wear as well. Yeah. To take you to do a one minute video can honestly take you like half an hour to an hour, And let alone just setting up, say he's doing a fuse board or whatever, setting it all up, make sure it's actually lit properly and stuff. yeah So much craft. But anyway, he's obviously got like tons of the stuff, hasn't he? He's got hard worker. He's got his little clothing range. yeah exactly You just want someone like that to do well. You're working hard and doing everything right. Yeah. And he was like a genuine, I know like you can see a lot of people on social media and you're like, are you a genuine person? He was like a genuinely nice bloke. Yeah. Yeah. And you can see why he's doing well. I think people always come for the initial thing. They'd be like him changing a socket where you stay for like the personality. Yes, that's exactly. And it was really nice. And he drove all the way over to my house in Kent from Essex, just for example, when we could have just done it remotely. So again, just, yeah, top guy, a top guy and top like professional.
00:50:05
Speaker
And we didn't invite him into the Fritzl podcast. yeah No, we didn't. We didn't. So couldn't brave it yet. ah I've ordered a table off Facebook Marketplace. oh I found one. Amazing. So I'm going to get it. So we could brave alu i say a client. A guest in here soon, but a bit too scared of it. If you survive pick up. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, thanks Owen for joining us. So um next week we'll be back on the bungalow chat, won't we? Yeah, looking forward to that. So I'm not going to lie, not much progress is happening because everyone's gone on frigging holiday. But I'm going to try and get a couple of days in, so we should be able to chat for that. And then yeah week after next, we've got another guest um hopefully coming on at home with Betty. Yeah, be nice. But um as always, please feel free to reach out to us. Email us at hello at the DIY Guys podcast.
00:50:56
Speaker
You can ping us a DM on Instagram the DIY Guys podcast. And just feel free to to reach out and send us any messages. We'd love to discuss what you're up to as well. Yeah, definitely. More emails. we've got loads of emails to get through. yeah Need to have like a correspondence episode with the questions we've been getting. Yeah. So thanks for reaching out and um we'll see you next week. Catch you next week. Cheers.