For large projects, a simple notepad and pen are not sufficient to provide accurate and timely cost estimates to clients. The good news is that there are some pretty good estimating software programs now available that do the job. Both residential and commercial contractors can save time, money, and win more bids by providing professional job estimates. These programs also offer the ability to manage projects, bill clients, and keep track of change orders. They feature a wide range of options for any size of contractor.

TurboBid is one of the most well received and fully featured estimating programs on the market. It contains a user-friendly graphical interface and offers training courses through their website. The software can connect to national and local material supplier databases to keep pricing updated throughout the bidding process.

Change orders and revisions are simple. The software will generate automatic reports and professional presentations for clients. It also allows fine adjustment of man-hour estimations in different locations of the building. This includes ceilings. The program can account for different worker skill levels and upcoming wage increases for longer projects.

The built-in database includes tens of thousands of parts and full assemblies to allow for quick and easy estimation. The program incorporates national and local electrical code requirements to ensure bids are code compliant. In addition, it has a value engineering feature that suggests code-compliant changes to the customer’s blueprints. This can ultimately save money by adding, removing, or relocating devices.

There are times when you may think there is something wrong with your home in general. Your lights may flicker or burn out quickly or you can’t seem to get the toaster to work when it is plugged into a certain outlet. It can be difficult to determine if it is an appliance, a faulty light fixture or just one of those flukes that happens. You need a Santa Monica electrician to help you troubleshoot a problem that could turn out to be an electrical situation that requires a professional to handle. When you need help with the electrical problems in your house, you can count on The Electric Connection to provide you with the service you need in a timely manner.

Flickering lights are actually a signal that there may be some faulty wiring behind the walls that you cannot see. It is important the light fixtures are checked by an electrician. Santa Monica homeowners who notice lights that flicker, intermittently shut off or fixtures that go through bulbs quicker than normal should call an electrician. There is a chance the wiring to the fixture is exposed. This can be a serious risk for an electrical fire.

Breakers that trip often are also indicators of a bigger problem. The breaker may be weakened and need replacing or upgrading. This is something that will need to be evaluated by an electrician. If the home is more than 50 years old, the wiring may be outdated. Cloth wiring was commonly used in construction of homes before 1950. Today, we know that type of wiring isn’t safe and overtime, it can become an electrical hazard.

If you notice anything suspicious or smell burning wires or see black streaks shooting up the wall above an outlet, call an electrician right away. Taking quick action can save you the devastation of losing everything in a home fire. Give The Electric Connection a call today and take care of any electrical troubleshooting needs you have.

If, like many Des Moines homeowners, you’re considering sprucing up or renovating your kitchen, you should absolutely consider a carefully mapped out lighting strategy. This sounds strange to many people, as light is considered to be a foregone conclusion when designing a space; this couldn’t be further from the truth, as properly utilized light is necessary to get the most out of any kitchen. Today, our electricians will share some basic strategies for improving your kitchen’s lighting.

To get a grasp on what it takes to best lay out your kitchen’s lighting, it is important to understand how a kitchen relates to the three main types of lighting available through natural and house wiring: Ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting.

The easiest to understand and utilize is ambient lighting, which is essentially just lighting designed to help us see and navigate inside of a room. Ambient lighting often comes from other rooms, widely dispersed lamps, grid-style can lighting, or natural light streaming in from windows or semi-translucent skylights. This lighting should used to create a generally visible room without any other sources of light on; think of ambient lighting as your basecoat layer of lighting, ideal for illuminating the room, but not great for a highly specific task.

Just as it implies, task lighting is ideal for illuminating a given task; for a kitchen, task lighting is perhaps the most important to properly plan out and execute. If your kitchen features nothing but recessed can lighting, then you will sorely miss the absent task lighting whenever prepping, cooking, or cleaning your kitchen. Lighting a single direction alone, such as the ceiling, will do a very poor job at illuminating spaces under cabinets, in sinks, or on the floor; additionally, one-dimensional lighting creates unsightly shadows and can cheapen the effect of your space. Having specifically utilized pendant lighting over an island or under-cabinet lighting for your countertops can make all the difference in the way your kitchen is used and displayed.

While accent lighting may seem to be the least necessary of all lighting types, as it provides little functional lighting in terms of ambient or task lighting, it can make the largest difference in the display of your kitchen. If you’re hoping to improve the look of your kitchen with an electrician alone or from an entire renovation, then you should put plenty of thought into your accent lighting. For instance: Task lighting under your cabinets can provide vital under-counter illumination, highlight your beautiful green glass tile backsplash, or both, depending on the electrician doing the installation.

Whether you’re concerned about your cavelike kitchen or planning an upcoming renovation, be sure to contact Des Moines’ trusted local electricians at Electrical Gurus today; we have the skills and experience necessary to transform your house’s wiring into the best possible lighting for your home’s kitchen.

Get in touch with our Des Moines electricians today!

The commercial electricity for HVAC systems accounts for about 50 percent of a building’s total energy consumption. Being one of the major energy costs in a manufacturing facility, it dominates the building’s peak electricity demand. As such, improving the system’s efficiency, in order to cut energy costs, should be every facility manager’s priority.

The energy consumption depends on the climate, comfort preferences, building design, insulation, the timing of use, the size of the HVAC system, heat generated by electrical equipment, and other site-specific factors.

Building owners and businesses can reduce their energy costs by combining several measures that increase an HVAC system’s efficiency while reducing the demand for heating and cooling.

When selecting HVAC systems, pay attention to its design and controls. Components such as motors can impact heavily on the running costs of equipment because some are usually oversized to meet peak demands. An ideal system should have more variable speed control, inverter controls, economizers, demand controlled ventilation, advanced sensors and monitoring, as well as superior diagnostics. In addition, the system should be the appropriate size; not too small or oversized.

By controlling and running the HVAC motors at speeds based on the heating or cooling needs, consumers are able to realize energy savings of between 30 and 50 percent compared to the conventional constant speed operations. Most manufacturers prefer newer algorithm-driven smart microprocessors.

These provide a refined speed control that responds to the changing load in the building. Instead of using on and off cycling, these controls adjust the system according to the actual cooling or heating needs of the facility. More functions can be added through software add-ons as opposed to costly hardware upgrades.

Some of the ways to optimize HVAC systems include the use of thermostats and control systems, locating the HVAC unit in the best place possible, and modifying the ventilation and distribution. These are discussed more fully below:

A HVAC energy audit helps in identifying the operational deficiencies, hence allowing the building manager to take the necessary measures to enhance performance. The audit is often necessary because it helps in determining the amount of energy use, maintenance and upgrade requirements.

Consumers can then reduce their energy costs by optimizing, replacing or retrofitting the HVAC system to become more energy efficient. This not only increases efficiency and reduces the amount of commercial electricity for the HVAC system, but also improves the air quality.

2017 is here, technology is improving, and we’ve decided to put together of our 4 best warehouse lighting fixtures that we have here on MyLEDLightingGuide. This is not a comparative list, but rather a list of our best lighting technologies for warehouses that is up to date and current for the year 2017.

Although all the lights on this list might not apply to you, surely there will be a few on this list that apply to your needs (e.g warehouse aisle lighting). As we go through the list, keep in mind that these are all currently available and can be inquired about by

In warehouses, replacing old and outdated fixtures entirely can be a pain. Our easy to install LED high bay retrofits make it easy to replace metal halide warehouse bulbs with LED without the costs or hassle that comes with an entire fixture replacement. This is a highly popular option when warehouses look to LED to bring savings in their warehouse or factory.

Since there are so many options of these fixtures,

Maybe you are in need of entirely new fixtures, not just a retrofit kit. Our extensive listings of LED high bay fixtures gives you a great option to fully replace existing fixtures or even an entire lighting redesign.

If you are in an industry which requires explosion proof lighting, our high and low powered options are great to fit in warehouses (factories more often). You have the required explosion proof light that you need with the benefits of LED technology which is going to save you money. learn more about LED warehouse lighting options here.