Process
The questions that separate a real buyer from a broker with a phone
The person buying your switchgear is about to send people into your building to work on electrical equipment. That is worth five questions.
Plate 01
Ask for the certificate of insurance first
A legitimate buyer performing removals carries general liability, auto liability and workers' compensation, and can produce a certificate naming your entity as additional insured within a day. Ask for it early. The response tells you a great deal.
Check the limits against what your facility requires, and check that the named insured on the certificate is the same entity signing your purchase agreement. Mismatches there are a warning sign worth pursuing.
Plate 02
Ask who is actually doing the work
Some buyers own crews and equipment. Others broker the job to whoever is available, which introduces a party you have not vetted and who has no relationship with you. Neither is automatically wrong, but you should know which one you have, and insurance and safety documentation should cover whoever is physically on site.
Ask how de-energization is verified, who holds the locks, and what their arc-flash PPE practice is. Anyone who does this work regularly answers immediately and specifically.
Plate 03
Ask when payment happens
The standard that protects you is payment before equipment leaves the site. Arrangements where payment follows resale transfer market risk to you while removing your leverage, and 'we'll settle up after' has funded a great deal of buyer working capital at seller expense.
Get the payment timing in the written agreement, not in an email thread.
Plate 04
Ask what the site looks like when they leave
Removal scope should state what happens to conduit stubs, abandoned cable, anchor bolts, housekeeping pads and the surrounding area. Sellers frequently assume a broom-clean condition and discover a different interpretation.
Write it down. A single sentence describing the finished condition prevents the most common post-project dispute in this business.
Questions
Frequently asked
What insurance should an equipment buyer carry?
General liability, auto liability and workers' compensation, with a certificate naming your entity as additional insured. Verify the named insured matches the entity on your agreement.
Should I let a buyer subcontract the removal?
It can be fine, but insist that insurance and safety documentation cover whoever is physically on site, and know who that is before mobilization.
When should payment happen?
Before the equipment leaves your dock. That is the arrangement we write on every purchase and the one you should expect.
Who is responsible if something is damaged during removal?
The party performing the work, under their liability coverage, which is why the certificate and the identity of the crew matter before anyone starts.
Next
Related field notes
What happens on site, hour by hour
From lockout coordination to the last sweep: the real sequence of an industrial electrical equipment removal, and where schedules usually slip.
ProcessScrap dealer versus equipment buyer — the difference in your check
The two businesses look similar and price completely differently. How to tell which one you are talking to and which one your equipment needs.
MarketsA range on the phone is not an offer
Why itemized written offers protect sellers, what a real offer document contains, and how verbal ranges get renegotiated on the loading dock.
ProcessForm 1 — Request for Offer
Get a Written Offer
Send the asset list, or just describe what is in the room. We come back the same business day with a written, itemized offer.
Faster: call or text 954-740-1983
Email an asset list to electricalequipmentbuyers@gmail.com
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