The dilemma that honest, competent mechanics (and other highly skilled trades) face in today's world...

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

[mcs1056]

"Dude!!! They're disc brakes. Why are you telling me it took four hours and five cutting wheels to get the drum off? Then, you added the cost of some drum brake pads to the bill!!!. I aint paying you!" 

- Screamed at me by a guy whose rear disc brake parking/emergency brake shoes were worn to the rivets and seized after 250,000 miles and 18 years.

[MeatMan]

Its not just skilled trades that this happens to. I've had rental property, and everyone thinks that you're overcharging them. They don't look at insurance, maintenance, & time spent in court kicking out those who won't/can't pay. I also did computer repair on the side and I can tell you that people devalue your labor, and your knowledge. They can't do it, but they don't want to pay those who can. Those same people will pay more to live somewhere with a faceless, nameless investor runs a multi-suite complex where they never fix anything, and never complain once. Or they'll call Geek Squad to fix their computer and pay more for labor, plus the upcharge for unneeded software. That's the major reason I don't sell my CAD files, I simply don't have desire to deal with people's BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH.

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 minutes ago, MeatMan said:

...I can tell you that people devalue your labor, and your knowledge. They can't do it, but they don't want to pay those who can...

That's it in a nutshell, and many of those are "highly educated professionals" who think what THEY do is worth the sun and the moon, but seem to believe ALL mechanics, fabricators, machinists, etc. are knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers, parts-changers or just crooks who should be paid live-under-a-bridge wages.

It was a great joy to make it to the end of the business where I became appreciated and reasonably well, if not always fully, compensated...but it's still a struggle at times to educate clients as to what's worth what. 

[Beans]

Did custom leather work for a while.  People don't understand that my time is actually worth something and that quality hand made items don't come cheap.  Part of the problem is hacks selling something they threw together for half the price, the other part is cheap online junk with one day shipping that will fall apart in a week.  But the picture looked so pretty online....

[TECHMAN]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

That's it in a nutshell, and many of those are "highly educated professionals" who think what THEY do is worth the sun and the moon, but seem to believe ALL mechanics, fabricators, machinists, etc. are knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers, parts-changers or just crooks who should be paid live-under-a-bridge wages.

It was a great joy to make it to the end of the business where I became appreciated and reasonably well, if not always fully, compensated...but it's still a struggle at times to educate clients as to what's worth what. 

oh wow.....really!!!!!    Some clown brings in a "pos" like that, then complains because "it takes longer than he thinks it should" to do A N Y T H I N G  to it.......   If anyone had brought something "in that shape" into my shop' they would have been shown the exit.  Fortunately, I always was blessed to have more business than I could handle, and to me, "up-sizing" only meant having to employ  more people that did not always "share" my work standards/ethics.   

If the owner of that "vehicle" thought he was being over-charged, then my simple solution:  "DO IT YOURSELF THERE BUB.....  You know what YOUR time is worth, and I know what MY time is worth."   

You don't think that a "skilled laborer" is worth the money, think the situation over again the next time your can won't flush and         is running all over the floor.

DJ

 

[W-409]

This fits here...

 

At work I do quite a bit of billing for our customers that visit our workshop. Many times the issue is that the customers don't understand the amount of work something takes, so to avoid conflicts, it's also important to go through the work process with the customer in advance and also write it down properly on the bill. But of course, it doesn't always help either.