cm wrote:
You would have to have extremely low overhead to operate a business on those
rates. $25.00 hr might equal $200 per day if you have no down time. - $10 -
$20 for gas, $10 - $15 for your truck payment and wear and tear, Tool
upkeep $2.00 per day. then add in the cost of bookkeeping, sick days,
vacation days, liability insurance, health insurance,taxes. hmm not much
left of your $25.00 per hour.

$25.00 to $35.00 is a waste of your time unless you are just in business to
fight boredom. IMHO

Heck.... I'm going to raise my rates to $45.00 starting today. Thanks for
the nudge.

cm


"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:40:41 -0500, "Tarty" wrote:

Their rate: $50.00 per hr.

Seems a bit steep for a handyman, even if they were licensed & insured.
And
surely not enough for a licensed professional.

What's the going rate for a handyman in your area?
In my experience and area, $35 per hour for licensed, bonded
contractor, $25 for the alternative.


I wish I could find somebody around here, for all the stuff I need done.
I know how to do most of it, but I'll never get around to it. What has
put me off looking again is the sour experience I had with the trades I
brought in here when I first bought the place, for the urgent stuff.
Several of them, I had to walk them through how something was done.
Others (electrician, plumber) either botched the work or lied to me and
said they had inspected stuff that I found out several months later they
hadn't even gotten near. Plumber got pretty cranky when I called him
back the third time to fix a leaky elbow on the water softener feed.
Nothing complicated, good access, new parts. Given a torch, which I
didn't have, I could probably have fixed it myself, and I have sweated
maybe 5 joints in my life. Electrician (a local name company) said they
had inspected ALL the wiring, but when I got in attic a couple months
later to figure out how to rewire bathroom, I found an open junction box
with multiple loose connections, such that when I touched one wirenut to
look in the bottom of the box, several of them popped off. I could go
on, but you get the idea.

I have no heartburn with $35-50 an hour for a skilled pro that will get
in and get out, and do a competent job. But I don't wanna pay those
rates for someone that has equal or fewer skills than I do.



--
aem sends...