Here in Chicago, we just finished 2 days of 95+ degree heat. It was brutal! In that weather, the phone rings off the hook. People need ceiling fans. People need air conditioning circuits. People need electrical repairs. The 220 Volt line that worked last year does not work any more. The circuit breakers that were holding the loads in the house are popping. You name it. The past 3 days, this Hyde Park electrician has been overwhelmed with calls. Things were quite slow in January, February and March. The recession had finally hit us. I had to take on some fairly expensive advertising to try to get the phone to ring. When you have a small business like ours, you have to have a steady flow of work to keep things moving forward. I have two very good electricians working for me. I depend on them. They know the trade, they are responsive, they take care of our clients. They don't track mud through the house or let the cat out. They are the kind of electricians I want in my home, and I feel confident sending them into someone else's home. Good help is not only hard to find, it's nearly impossible to find. Solid, respectable, stable workers generally have stable lives, and they require a steady paycheck to maintain them. Not too hard to understand. So when work gets very slow, the best guys generally have opportunities to go elsewhere to work, and its hard to keep them when you can't offer that steady employment. So long story short, I had to start advertising on Angie's List website and on Yelp to try to improve the work situation. Not cheap, by the way...

It started to move forward, and things were slowly building back up, and then BOOM!  The heat wave hit.  I must have gotten 20 calls in the past 2 days. As a small shop, with 2 guys in the field and and myself, keeping up with all the paperwork, estimates, scheduling material deliveries, client meetings, inspections, job flow, ect is quite demanding. Plus, I am very involved as a parent, and pick up and drop off my 8-year old every day. Long story short, There has just been a Tsunami of calls lately and I have tried to return each one as quickly as possible. But I know I have dropped the ball on a few.

I ask your forgiveness for that. I so hate being "unreliable" in anyone's estimation. But sometimes, it just happens. I promise to keep trying my best, and to deliver the best service I can.

Thanks for listening.

Peter