On Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 11:52:00 PM UTC-6, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/23/18 10:47 PM,

Client knows that any electrical or carpentry modifications will occur
additional charges.

So basically, the only advice you've given me is that I'm an old man,
too, and to get a young man to help. Gee, thanks, Robert. :-p


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
www.mikedrums.com

If I recall my conversations with Karl, you're actually a few years younger than I am. Maybe more than a few! At any rate, unless I have my guys on site I don't do something like big wall ovens anymore.

Washers, dryers, stoves, still on the slate. Depending on the melt, I will still hang a microwave. But if it has the lightweight vent flaps, the power cord that comes out in a weird place, and the hanging hooks that are small for the bracket, and I have to line up the toggles as well for the front of the machine, I'd rather have one of my boys Take 5 minutes and help me get it in place.

Where I do well on the installations is that when I buy from Lowe's, they often have free installation. And from time to time if they have not heard from me they send me deep discounts on appliances. Either way I come out ahead as I apply those towards an install if I need to. And I won't kick if I get a free install on the normal things that I do.

In the old days I happily did my work as a laborer and then as a house framer for 10 to 12 hours a day everyday. Worked most weekends for extra money. I love to work 10 hours or more, then go drink beer for a couple hours, grab something nasty to eat and then hit the house. In great shape for the next day!

I can still keep up with the guys, but it takes a lot out of me from time to time. 1 Normal work day with paperwork is probably about 14 hours by the time I finish my estimates, invoicing, planning, scheduling, Etc.

I just finished a job before Christmas or I had 3 12 to 13 hour days cutting and removing decking and lifting the fascia across the back of a house and securing it. I loved it as I was away from my phone for a while and didn't have the mountain of paperwork that seems to follow me around. It is different at the end of the day these days... Now I find myself getting in the truck, taking a couple of ibuprofens, stopping for a couple of glasses of dollar tea from McDonald's, and going face down on the bed when I get home.

The old gray mare just ain't what she used to be!

Robert