Interview with Allan Burns – author

Allan, you initially started your career as a teacher. How long were you teaching for, and what prompted the change to a career as an electrician?

That’s true, I taught secondary Science for 6 years. I loved it. My background is in Life Sciences but I fell into love again with Physics and Renewable Energy in particular. Working with kids was a real buzz, eager minds still asking real questions like: ‘how did the ‘grown ups’ mess up our planet so badly they’re supposed to be the responsible ones!’ The question kept coming up and it kind of got lodged in my mind as much as theirs. In the end I just felt like I had to do something myself, so I did.

How did you prepare for your electrical career? What did you study and did you have to take time out of employed work to do so?

I trained up in night-classes as an electrician with the intention to become a holiday-time PV installer. It worked but it tipped me over the edge into a self-employed/own boss mindset. After a year I turned feral and concentrated on being a green entrepreneur. With hindsight, sticking it out in teaching another year to do night-classes in Business Admin and Accounting would have been a smarter move. I really stumbled at several points and looking back I can see how I could have avoided it with some real 101 business theory.

How did it feel leaving one career for one that is quite different?

Utterly exhilarating but also quite alienating and scary. I made my entrance into the industry through the Part-P qualification route at a time when it was not well received by the old-guard electricians. Some but not all were quite hostile to smart-alecks like me who had picked up in four months, the same qualification they slaved for four years for. I could see their point but it was hard sometimes to integrate on-site. On the flip side, there were doors that opened wide for me precisely because I was not industry-trained, it helped that I was specialised in the evolving renewables industry. A fresh perspective is no bad thing when everyone is having to make it up as they go along.

Did you have any doubts once you started in electrical?

Yes, it’s a tough job and a tough industry. Huge overheads for equipment and accreditation that are not necessarily valued by the market. The liability the job carries in terms of the regulations and the Electricity at Work Regulation can really suck the fun out of the day and spoil your sleep too. About 2 years in I gained the insight that some of the stern and bristly characters I’d encountered in the job had probably trained themselves to be that way as a survival tactic. You need serious focus to be able to go home at the end of the day and be sure all those wires you wrestled in are going to stay out of trouble for the next 40 years.

You then expanded your business offering, going from the traditional electrical ‘man in a van’ route to offering solar and smart installations. What drove you to expand your offering in this way?

Being an MCS accredited PV installer was the goal for the first two years of my man-in-van exploits. It wasn’t easy, the framework agreement and the monopoly of the BRE in training had the bar a lot higher around 2008 in my opinion. Supporting a family as a newbie electrician while reaching for the MCS grail was like running up the down escalator in a suit of armour (spot the Monty Python reference), I made it just in time for the Government’s retraction of the rather generous first round of PV FiT subsidies. I got financially slaughtered at that time, it was not fun. My re-incarnation as a smart home specialist represents my own evolution in terms of survival and the evolution of the technology in that I began to see whole-habitat solutions as more beneficial.

Did this mean even more training? If so, what was involved?

I did soooo much training early on. City and Guilds in everything up to Level 3 Inspection and testing, the proper PV qualification, even training in periphery heating systems. It was too much with hindsight. Keeping my head down and building reserves would have been better. For the last five years, I have a rule: I only do training if I have solid (preferably contractual) reasons to believe it will pay for itself within six months. The smart home industry is pretty hyped at the moment and that means there will be a lot on offer in terms of product and training; I would advise any entrants to look carefully before leaping.

Your new directions into eco-electrical may not have been met with a very large customer base, given how new these technologies are. Were you concerned about this?

While not always being conducive to sleep or long relaxing holidays, being small and having the electrical trade under my belt at least afforded me one luxury: being able to sit back and watch the specialists endure the feast or famine of being dedicated to what was a high-price niche market. There were times I’ll admit I envied their feast but I never envied the famine. I’m quite proud also that I have the setup and the background to be able to say no to smart where it is not appropriate – sometimes the client just needs a 13 Amp socket.

What kind of preparation work did you do to ensure this shift in career went smoothly?

Haha, I never said it went smoothly. It could have and very nearly did end badly. Thinking broadly about it I suppose the thing that kept me afloat was believing that the direction I was taking it all in, using tech to create homes that don’t burden the environment, had to be done. This kept me going and attracted the right kind of clients so in my case the preparation was becoming a believer. I think I mentioned earlier that a course on business and accounting probably would have saved me a lot of sacrifices.

You’re now authoring the Guide to Smart Homes, IET’s forthcoming title, due out in 2019. So, another change in career. What has this journey been like?

I reached a point a few years back where what I knew was of more value than what I could install, which is when I set up Telemental as a Design Consultancy. I’m 48 and I’m kidding myself if I think I can out-install a 25-year-old who plays five-a-side 4 times a week. On the flip side, I have experience and knowledge that allow me to bring a perspective to electrical installation that can sit in between the architect, the client and that 25-year-old to make the building better. Writing the book for the IET is a really big moment for me, I’m honoured to be able to offer the book I needed six or seven years ago. Making the transition between installer through designer to author feels progressively more exposed, you have to bring the sum of your knowledge to bear into a freeze-frame in a document. That’s scary, a different kind of scary to maybe worrying if your cables are safe from the chippies – but still scary.

What advice would you give anyone leaving a very established career and entering electrical, as you did?

Again I have to return to the advice I wish I’d given myself 10 years ago, take time to get your head around business admin and accounting before you immerse yourself in the tools and the tech. You are not going to be as fast as that 25-year-old so don’t compete on price. Get a business head on you and work out what you can compete on; everything else - the tools, the training the marketing - should flow from that.

What advice would you give anyone looking to expand on their current business offering?

If we’re talking about the expansion of a bog-standard electrical installation business into one offering smart tech then I would say get yourself to some trade shows and take advantage of what’s on offer from channels like the IET and Voltimum. Also more and more manufacturers are developing smart variations on their product lines and are offering demo and training to people like you who they badly need. This is probably a good way to start, don’t be like me and pile in for the pricey NASA-style training.