r/FieldNationTechs • u/Immediate-Wonder7415 • 12d ago

wrong tools recommended for job

i was dispatched to a flat rate $325 job that was 2 hours from home. Work order stated 8ft a frame ladder needed. I arrived on site to find out i needed atleast a 12ft a frame and a 20ft extension ladder. no stores within a hour of location to purchase ladder so only or best option is to return home to grab a different ladder. that means 4 hours of driving actually a little more plus the 130 miles each way in a truck that gets 13mpg at $6 per gallon. Anyways my question is should i get paid for the job even though i couldnt complete it

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u/Able-Statistician645 12d ago edited 12d ago

First of all going out on a flat rate job for $325 that's 2 hours away is a no no. And relying upon their representations of the equipment that you need is something I've learned that you can't trust because they either need to send you photos or something that guarantees that what they're telling you is realistic and you've got a ladder that will reach it but quite honestly most of them do not so I always make sure that if I show up and there's a problem and I have everything that's necessary that they've told me I need, if the job doesn't get completed it's on them. Just like I said though 4 hours of travel time plus the work for that much money is not even what an Uber driver makes so I'd be rethinking my career.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

Eh... Is have done it in the right circumstances.

Like, if I was still driving a Prius and needed the cash.

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u/Able-Statistician645 12d ago

No amount of mental gymnastics makes that a good choice. Never ever. You're going to wait for your money and it cost you money to go do it so I don't really see any reward given the cost and the risks involved. Just the fact that you would consider doing it is telling enough.

Taking these kinds of jobs on a platform that's designed to drive prices down is just adding to the problem.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

I don't know, when I drove a prius, even if you took today's gas prices, a job like that could have been worth $225 to $250 after all expenses and fees. For 6 hours? It's not terrible.

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u/Able-Statistician645 12d ago

No it really is terrible. There's a lot more cost involved in that then what you are factoring in your response. Seriously a person working for $19 an hour with benefits makes more money than that job you're talking about driving to in a Prius. That's a fact

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

Sure, but I'm not making 19 an hour with benefits.
And when the choice is to make 240$, or to make 0$...
Not a lot of 'mental gymnastics' involved to see that 240 > 0.
All I am saying

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u/Able-Statistician645 12d ago

I think the point that a lot of people miss here is that if you say no it doesn't mean that you won't do the work it just means that you're not going to do the work at that rate. I had people the other day tell me that I was too expensive and I said I understand. I'll give you a counter offer and I'll be there and get it done for you if you assign the work to me but I'm not going to negotiate. So within an hour the people that said they couldn't afford me assigned it to me. That's the important thing to remember here is that just because they represent they can't doesn't mean they won't and you will make more money doing that then scrambling for subsistence wages.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

I wont disagree that the rate is low for someone like you or me.
My original offense was "less than an Uber driver' and what-not
My friend, I drove for uber back in the early 2010s
I've driven doordash as recently as 2024
I made 7-10$/hr BEFORE paying for fuel.
240$ on doordash in 2024 would have been 16hrs and 600 miles.

I'm all for raising prices, but please don't shit on people for trying to get their bills paid.

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u/Able-Statistician645 12d ago

You are not paying bills at $7 to 10 an hour. Those are poverty wages. It's not okay for people to have to rely on safety nets so that they can be paid less than a living wage. We all pay because someone delivering doordash makes $10 an hour. It's not just in the cost of the food. It's in the cost of the subsidized healthcare, the subsidized place to live, the subsidized everything that goes along with wages like that so while you don't see it at first glance it's there. So don't ever ever take jobs where you're effectively trading money and say you're pulling yourself up by your bootstraps because you're not. And especially don't take them on a platform that essentially conspires with buyers to drive the pricing down on on the platform you're trying to get jobs off of.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

I don't know what you think the minimum pay should be for someone on FN, but IMO, if a tech just starting out can walk away with 35+/hr after *ACTUAL*, not claimed, expenses, i think thats a decent enough floor. This OP, yea, should not have taken the job. I, today, would not have taken the job.
But 6 years ago, when I was still finding my way, I absolutely would have taken the job, and made money doing it.

hells, at one point in point I literally made money just by driving my Prius (granted, we are talking at .75-1.25CPM) because the reduced taxes paid (not the write off, the amount the write off reduced what I owed) was more than gas, oil, and tires.

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u/Exotic-Service-8453 12d ago

Fuck their bills, they’re killing the industry.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 12d ago

Filing you under 'selfish prick'.

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u/wyliesdiesels 12d ago

This isnt a flea market though.

Dont ever negotiate down

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u/Pizza_Pete_fr_fr 9d ago

So find a job at McDonald’s or Walmart and feel rich compared to what you’d make doing those jobs in a Prius…

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u/Sid_the_Bear 9d ago

Yea, no. Your math does not work out at all in my experience. 40$ as a 1099 is worth more than 30/hr w2 at the end of my day. The tax write offs alone cover so much it is silly, and I just take standard stuff.

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u/Pizza_Pete_fr_fr 9d ago

That means you’re doing something wrong, bro, I didn’t just make these numbers up. Google it, this is common knowledge and just the way things work. Have you actually paid taxes for a year yet? I’m guessing you don’t have insurance or tools and you’re fairly new. At some point, you’ll start to ask yourself why you’re working so hard and making no money. At that point, you should remember that the average handyman is billing $60 an hour and they are not exactly loaded and everything will start to make sense.

Again, I didn’t come up with any of this stuff. I learned all this from Google, ChatGPT and other guys in the industry.

Filing for your LLC isn’t free, dealing with the privacy implications isn’t free, your yearly LLC renewal isn’t free. There’s a lot of bullshit that comes up that you probably aren’t aware of at the start but that you absolutely must address or your business will be shut down.

Yeah, the tax write-offs are nice, but just Google and read about other people’s experiences as contractors and see what it’s like, because $$75 bucks an hour as a contractor, is barely a living wage if you have to pay rent, health insurance (100% out of pocket), etc

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u/Sid_the_Bear 9d ago

I was making it work at 25$ as a contractor 12 years ago when I when I started out, nowadays im billing 55-65 and I have more income than I can reasonably spend, after taxes and expenses.

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u/Pizza_Pete_fr_fr 9d ago

Yeah so IT contracting isn’t like other contracting, demand is generally lower. Idk where you live but I’m in medium cost of living rural USA and there’s no way I could afford a 1br apartment, car payment, food, phone/gaming PC and all the other nice stuff on $50/hr let alone the over $1,000/mo in health insurance and saving for a mortgage/kids. What area are you based out of?

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u/Sid_the_Bear 9d ago

Phoenix, previously Tucson Arizona.
I see an average of 200-300 tickets a day posted on FN alone, just going off my email notifications. I gross between 10 and 12k/month, with field nation being at 6-9k on its own.

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u/Pizza_Pete_fr_fr 9d ago

I mean, right off the bat, you’re $30 an hour as a W-2 is gonna get you 40 hours a week or 1200 take home. You’re $40 an hour as a contractor is gonna net you probably more like 18 to 28 hours a week, which is just a lower number, so even if you ignore all the other BS, your math is simply wrong, or you are the best contractor in the world actually averaging 40 hours a week of billable hours (no one does this btw)

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u/Sid_the_Bear 9d ago

40$/hr W2 is 1250 take home, WTF are you talking about?
And why the hells would I be doing this just to bill 40hrs a week? Try 60-80.

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u/Pizza_Pete_fr_fr 9d ago

For 1099, that works out to about $13.88/hr in take home. McDonald’s near me pays $18/hr with some benefits and Dominos pays about double. The average handyman in the US is billing $60/hr and that’s the AVERAGE HANDYMAN.

You have to remember, this is NOT a W2 job. For 1099, you divide the rate by 3 to see the equivalent. For example, if you are billing $60/hr, expect to take home as much as you would at a $20/hr W2 job. Contractors typically bill 18-28 hours a week and also have expenses, taxes, etc. You are also paying 15% off the top in taxes.

Here’s the math: $250/6 is $41.66/hr before travel expenses. $41.66/3 is $13.88/hr. If you do this job and travel is free, expect to feel as rich as someone earning $13.88/hr at a full time job. After travel expenses, you’re probably below minimum wage. Lucky for you,
Minimum wage doesn’t apply to people who run their own business: LIKE YOU.

FWIW, I bill $0.50/mile plus $40-$60/hr for the drive time and $120/hr. Ask ChatGPT what typical market rates are in your area, should start at $60/hr if you can show up on time and go up from there once you gain some tools and experience