I got to vent

[DaveHawk]

This morning on the way to work I get a call from the shop that a customer came into pick up his wood swing bench. Jarrod stripped it yesterday down to the wood and the bench had latex paint on it which will stain the wood. I stripped this bench for 150 and this XXXXXXXX came in and said it's not ready to paint. I told him that you need to sand the bench to prep for painting, you wanted stripping nothing else. He said I didn't know sanding would or prep was not involved. Are people that dum?

[ncboman]

:rolleyes:

Why didn't you sell the prep as an add on to the stripping job?

... getting into the details of how some contractors make money ... often you can sell a 'seen job' for a set price. The unseen job can be sold at the same time, however, since the unseen job is unseen, you can't price it until it's opened up. This bends em over. :rolleyes:

Another approach is to sell the seen job and not mention the unseen job until it can be seen. This can lead to all sorts of problems because it is an avenue where the salesman/contractor often loses control of the situation. :rolleyes:

Usually I approach this with a good idea what I'm getting into based on my experience and I lay it out to the customer in that manner beforehand. You gotta have the worst case senario on the table from the start just in case it turns out to be just that. :)

of course if I go up a ladder and do anything at all, it's likely to be 150 or more. ;)

[DaveHawk]

I usually do that Alan, I have made a lot of small jobs into large jobs, but he wanted stripping only or that what he told me. When he came back and I explained to him he was the 1st guy in 20 years to not know the difference in the preparation process he then handed me a check I handed it back to him and said I need cash. He then pulled out the cash. I did not trust this guy at all. I did offer him information on prep process and told him I would answer any question he had. Every blue moon I will get someone like him , you know the type. They want it all for nothing.
I did assume he knew somethings about finishing. I work under the assumption that when I asked him if he wanted us to finish the bench and he said no just strip I figured he understood the process since he brought it to me after he started to strip it and could not handle the job himself and he said he was going to finish it. Their are not many out there that would undertake this job with absolutely no experience but I guess there must be some after this guy.
We are learning all the time. I learned to put in a contract the process which my customers are paying for and his was for Stripping.

[Sabre]

of course if I go up a ladder and do anything at all, it's likely to be 150 or more. ;)

That's exactly why I won't hire anybody to do much of anything for me anymore. Everybody thinks their time is worth the moon and stars these days like they're a friggin brain surgeon or somethin'. As an example, the other day the wife took her car in for inspection. The mechanic comes back and says she needs front brake pads and rotors but never fear, they'll replace them for "only" 220.00 and have us on our way in a jiffy. I said for 220.00 ? the hell you will, I'll fix it myself ! Went straight to NAPA, bought the pads and rotors for 99.00 and I had them changed in less than an hour. Soooo, those pirates were perfectly happy to charge me 120.00 labor for 1 hours work ? NOT HARDLY ! Same story for carpentry, masonry, plumbing, furniture refinishing, welding, you name it I've done it {probably professionally at some point in my life} and am as good or better at it than most contractors. I'll never pay pirate rates for any of it while I'm still able bodied.

[Sabre]

I stripped this bench for 150

What the heck did you strip it with gold dust ?

[ncboman]

That's exactly why I won't hire anybody to do much of anything for me anymore. Everybody thinks their time is worth the moon and stars these days like they're a friggin brain surgeon or somethin'. As an example, the other day the wife took her car in for inspection. The mechanic comes back and says she needs front brake pads and rotors but never fear, they'll replace them for "only" 220.00 and have us on our way in a jiffy. I said for 220.00 ? the hell you will, I'll fix it myself ! Went straight to NAPA, bought the pads and rotors for 99.00 and I had them changed in less than an hour. Soooo, those pirates were perfectly happy to charge me 120.00 labor for 1 hours work ? NOT HARDLY ! Same story for carpentry, masonry, plumbing, furniture refinishing, welding, you name it I've done it {probably professionally at some point in my life} and am as good or better at it than most contractors. I'll never pay pirate rates for any of it while I'm still able bodied.

:confused:


pirate rates

well friend, you've never done any roofing on a professional level if you can make a house call, put up a ladder, and get up on the roof to do anything for less than 150. I doan care if 'the work' takes only ten minutes.

You'd be bankrupt the day you pay your insurance. Good grief. :D

[Sabre]

:confused:



well friend, you've never done any roofing on a professional level if you can make a house call, put up a ladder, and get up on the roof to do anything for less than 150. I doan care if 'the work' takes only ten minutes.

You'd be bankrupt the day you pay your insurance. Good grief. :D

I worked for a residential and commercial roofing company for a year once so wouldn't be needing any of your services but have no idea what insurance costs may be. On the other hand, I did do furniture refinishing/restoration {mostly antiques} as a part time, sideline business for several years so know EXACTLY how much work is involved and would STRIP, SAND AND REPAINT a bench today for 150- 200 and consider that good pay for the work involved. For God sakes I scraped, primed and put two coats of paint on a small {16 x32'} two story barn last year for 500.00. Spent two full days scraping {it was badly peeling} and two full days painting and considerered that fair pay for the job. It pisses me off when some blue collar schmoe thinks his time is worth 50- 100.00 an hour these days. Not to me it ain't !

[ncboman]

How much per hour is it worth to know the man working on Mom's house is an expert at what he does? :cool:

... and how much per hour is it worth to know if a problem does develop, the expert will be there to make it right? :)

I doan see why you get mad because professionals don't work for jackleg wages ... :confused:

[Sabre]

I've seen the professionals work and it's mostly jack shit shoddy ! Craftsmanship and pride in workmanship is mostly a thing of the past. I've come to the inescapable conclusion that if you want something done right these days, you'd better do it yourself. My mom's kitchen floor needs to be replaced right now from the floor joists up and I'll be getting to it next weekend {free of charge of course}. Wouldn't trust anybody else to do it right on a bet.

[ncboman]

doan be scabbin no floor joists. :D

[LampLighter]

Went straight to NAPA, bought the pads and rotors for 99.00 and I had them changed in less than an hour.



Ah ha. and you didn't take the rotors to the machine shop and have the surfaces trued, did you ? That is not a professional job. And you do not have 100% surface contact. Your new pads are hitting the ridges, identifiable by a micrometer. You know how to charge your a/c to the required subcool setting ?

[Sabre]

Ah ha. and you didn't take the rotors to the machine shop and have the surfaces trued, did you ? That is not a professional job. And you do not have 100% surface contact. Your new pads are hitting the ridges, identifiable by a micrometer. You know how to charge your a/c to the required subcool setting ?

No, I didn't turn the rotors I bought brand new ones and replaced them. New rotors for her car are 28.00 each at Napa. Her old rotors had been turned before and were getting thin. So yes it was a "professional job", as I did the exact same thing the shop was going to do.

[DaveHawk]

I know NC as well as I have been working out own company for over 30's. I have had up to 20 guys on payroll. Now with a smaller shop it's 3 of us. We have a hourly price which I get allot and I am not as high as the guys in towards town who are $145-150 an hour. We put 2 hours in this bench stripping with our flow over system if you know what that is and using Methal cloride , if you know what that is then you would be asking if it was gold you'd be saying you offered him a good price and he is a Jack A$$. I can tell you this also I dought you have meet or been in a shop like mine or been around the technics I use in my trade.

[Sabre]

The method you use makes no difference to me. I'd have stripped the bench by hand, sanded out and/or filled all scratches, gouges, chips and dents and repainted for 200.00. Your methods may be quicker and less labor intensive but I guarantee my finished product will be just as good. I'm sure the garage would have put my wife's car up on the lift to change the brake pads and rotors whereas I used a jack but the end product was the same regardless. I've always been a perfectionist in anything I do and will settle for nothing less. That's why I won't hire anything done if I can do it myself {besides the outrageous piracy} because I always find other's work falling short of my personal expectations and will end up re-doing it myself anyway.

[LampLighter]

I bought brand new ones and replaced them.


Oh, ok. Additional information. In that case, yep you did come out ahead. Good going.

one good thing about the HVAC trade is that the supply houses usually won't sell over the counter to Joe Blow.