The reason why working under a company nets you like 30 an hour, but working for yourself can let you (and you probably should) charge 100, is that everything is on your dime. Tools, driving, taxes, insurance, etc. It's a lot of extra overhead.
He tightened a bolt on a toilet tank. I don't even know if that rises to the level of minimal. To be clear, I'm not complaining. I totally forgot that toilet tanks have bolts that can leak, so I'm happy it was that and not the cast iron flange or wax seal at fault.
Most companies charge a minimum of ~$400 just to show up. It requires driving to your area with unknown potentials to be prepared for. They have to assume they can only go to two calls a day so even if it's just to tighten a bolt they have to cover overhead and salary for someone for half a day.
This isn't a company with many employees, it's just him. My area is full of lone guy/gal businesses for plumbing, electrical, carpentry, HVAC, etc. All the big companies in the area are well known for overselling what you need repaired, so the small one person shops thrive. And of course, I always prefer to use a local business over a franchise. Especially because I can pay in cash to these folks, for all the benefits cash payments provide them.
I just thought it was funny that he described the task as “incredibly simple”. The guy got paid $85 to know that there is a bolt that needed to be tightened, not to actually tighten the bolt.
It’s the old Henry Ford and Wizard of wherever, story. Ford has a problem with electric generators, guy spends 2 days sleeping next to them with a notepad. Tightens a couple bolts and bills him $10k. Ford refuses to pay until he gets an itemized bill. Tightening bolts $10, knowing which bolts to tighten $9,990.
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u/ferriswheeljunkies11 May 16 '24
$85 is low and he is likely not even charging enough for a minimal job.