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I try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Building a house myself, a barn myself, put in a 2 acre fence myself (rock drill and all, it is rocky here). But some things I can't do. One of them is septic.
See, we purchased this 5 acre foreclosure in the TX Hill country. It is a nice place, great to be self-sufficient. Our septic was ruined and the systems here are aerobic. This means they have moving parts and these parts break. The first septic guy I called came out and quoted me a $900 for a refurbished aerator part and $625 for a pump. I found the pump online brand new (with a warranty) for $289 including shipping. The aerator I found for $395, same deal. He quoted the pumping of the septic system for $625, I found someone to do the same job for $425.
As soon as he heard I got my own parts, he never called me back.
The next guy I talked to, same story, he heard I had my own parts and the tank was pumped, lost interest.
Finally a third guy comes out and he gives me an estimate - a whopping $850! At the end said it will be a hour of work, at most two.
Since I have the parts, it turns out that he charges at last $425 per hour!!!
Am I crazy or are people trying to take advantage of me?
I try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Building a house myself, a barn myself, put in a 2 acre fence myself (rock drill and all, it is rocky here). But some things I can't do. One of them is septic.
See, we purchased this 5 acre foreclosure in the TX Hill country. It is a nice place, great to be self-sufficient. Our septic was ruined and the systems here are aerobic. This means they have moving parts and these parts break. The first septic guy I called came out and quoted me a $900 for a refurbished aerator part and $625 for a pump. I found the pump online brand new (with a warranty) for $289 including shipping. The aerator I found for $395, same deal. He quoted the pumping of the septic system for $625, I found someone to do the same job for $425.
As soon as he heard I got my own parts, he never called me back.
The next guy I talked to, same story, he heard I had my own parts and the tank was pumped, lost interest.
Finally a third guy comes out and he gives me an estimate - a whopping $850! At the end said it will be a hour of work, at most two.
Since I have the parts, it turns out that he charges at last $425 per hour!!!
Am I crazy or are people trying to take advantage of me?
I try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Building a house myself, a barn myself, put in a 2 acre fence myself (rock drill and all, it is rocky here). But some things I can't do. One of them is septic.
See, we purchased this 5 acre foreclosure in the TX Hill country. It is a nice place, great to be self-sufficient. Our septic was ruined and the systems here are aerobic. This means they have moving parts and these parts break. The first septic guy I called came out and quoted me a $900 for a refurbished aerator part and $625 for a pump. I found the pump online brand new (with a warranty) for $289 including shipping. The aerator I found for $395, same deal. He quoted the pumping of the septic system for $625, I found someone to do the same job for $425.
As soon as he heard I got my own parts, he never called me back.
The next guy I talked to, same story, he heard I had my own parts and the tank was pumped, lost interest.
Finally a third guy comes out and he gives me an estimate - a whopping $850! At the end said it will be a hour of work, at most two.
Since I have the parts, it turns out that he charges at last $425 per hour!!!
Am I crazy or are people trying to take advantage of me?
Three different people, same crap.
Is there anyone honest out there left?
OD
Yep, that's what it boils down to these days: as little effort as is humanly possible for an ungodly amount of money.
If they live nearby theyre less likely to pull that because word could spread and give them a bad name, reputation is everything when the service is local.
I actually built one and I compost our human manure next to our horse manure. I read the humanure handbook too, ya know?
Problem is, the county requires you to have a functional septic system. They actually force you into a yearly maintenance contract that you have to pay for (involves quarterly inspections). Otherwise the county is great, no building code, no enforcement of building code...
If they live nearby theyre less likely to pull that because word could spread and give them a bad name, reputation is everything when the service is local.
Nope, it's a small town and they don't give a rat's a**. The fact that they all quoted me high prices tells me that the market economy really works
I called the last guy back and I said to him that I am puzzled about his quote, he said $850 but only 1-2 hours of work, that would equal at least $425/hr, I said that sounded pretty steep, esp. with all parts being given by me. He said that he doesn't think of it in terms of hourly wages and that it could take him 3 days to finish a job or 2 hours, it is a base price. Then I said "yeah but it will not take three days, you said it would be max two hours so effectively you do charge at least $400+ per hour". He said that he could come out and do the same job in ten hours if that makes me happy...
Am I the one that's crazy or have people just gone nuts?
What you are finding out is that companies that furnish/supply parts and labor aren't that enthused when you buy the parts elsewhere and only want to give them the labor.
Most places would tell you to have the place you bought the parts do the labor.
An auto repair shop had a sign hanging that read-----" don't bring in your parts and expect us to give you a great deal on only labor. Do you bring your own eggs to the cafe for breakfast and expect to pay labor only ? "
What you are finding out is that companies that furnish/supply parts and labor aren't that enthused when you buy the parts elsewhere and only want to give them the labor.
Most places would tell you to have the place you bought the parts do the labor.
An auto repair shop had a sign hanging that read-----" don't bring in your parts and expect us to give you a great deal on only labor. Do you bring your own eggs to the cafe for breakfast and expect to pay labor only ? "
I have a full-time job where I get paid an X amount of money per hour. I went to collegel yadda yadda yadda. My wife went to even more school after her bachelors degree, four more years to become a veterinarian, paid dearly for the education, still paying off student loans. Combined we do not make anywhere near what this guy is charging for labor.
Breakfast in a cafe costs what? $7?$10? $20? That's with their "parts" and their labor... Even if the guy took 5 minutes to make it and the waitress took 10 minutes to take order and deliver, at $10 for 5 minutes, that's still $120 per hour for two people (let's say $60 per hour per person although the cook probably gets more in reality).
The septic pumping guy showed up and spent exactly 45 minutes to pump my tank. He too charged $425 for the service, there are no parts involved. By the way, the job involved putting a hose into the tank and pulling the crap out, then filling the tank with water and pulling more crap out. These guys seem busy, they take appointments two weeks ahead of time. At least he has a real cost to cover, I am sure pump trucks cost some amount of money.
Maybe shops don't like it, what bothers me is that it has become normal.
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