Handyman Price?

We hired a handyman to help my husband install a new screen door. He was here 2 and a half hours and charged $150. Does that seem fair to you?

Reply to
patga
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It depends on where you are at. Around here the average wage is about $

10 to $ 12 an hour for most people in the stores and factories , the charges are usually $ 40 to $ 50 an hour for help around the house if they are good at the work. I have payed a doctor over that much for about 5 minuits of his time just for him to tell me I had something like the flu and there was not much he could do about it.
Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Was the door the same size ?Was it a wooden door,or metal, was it necessary to reframe the door opening, 2 1/2 hrs is alot of time.

Sounds expensive to me but ,maybe if your husband was not helping it would of been cheaper :)

Tom

Reply to
twfsa

You didn't discuss price ahead of time? That was a mistake.

Seems high, unless he had alot of travel time and billed for it; which he is certainly allowed to do unless he told you he wouldn't.

But if you didn't discuss price ahead of time you have only yourself to blame. Don't use him again if you can find someone cheaper.

Reply to
toller

No, it is not fair. He should have charge you at least $200 for that much time. That 2 1/2 hours is at least 3 hours when you factor in travel time. Skilled labor is about $75 to $100 an hour, less skilled around $50 to $65.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

was not helping it would

My thought, exactly.

Reply to
Kathy

He helped your husband? Or did your husband help him? If I as a tradesman showed up on a job & the homeowner wanted to help, I'd have to charge them 30% more than usual.

Seriouusly though, you didn't say where you're at. But it sounds reasonable.

Reminds me of a sign in a mechanics shop.

Labor rates:

$50/hour If you watch- $60/hour If you help- $70/hour If you worked on it first- $80/hour

Reply to
3rd eye

Next time, try saying something like, "How much do you charge?" at the beginning of the project.

It is real easy to do.

Reply to
JimL

My first question would he, who takes 2-1/2 to hang a screen door. $150 should have included the screen door cost and the installation.

As for labor costs, realize that $75 and hour translates into $150,000 per year working full time (if he doesn't work full time it is his problem not the customers). Might be common where some people live, but not where I live or ever have lived. Few people make $150,000 per year and certainly no labor, skilled or not makes that much. $10-15 hour is common for labor, skilled laborers (not counting electricians and plumbers) get $20-30. Electricians and plumbers get $50-60 and much of their work is hardly skilled.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

No. You should have asked how much to install the door before you hired the handyman. Realize that a handyman may be just as qualified as anyone else, but cannot command the wage of a full time specialist. $150 to install a screen door is in the same league as a $75 dinner. If you are in that league, then $150 for the door is fine.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

"George E. Cawthon"wrote

Hanging a door in an out of square opening can take longer than 2-1/2 hrs. If the door ran $200, I suppose the handyman should pick up the difference, plus install for free. How in the world did you draw such an absurd conclusion?

Sure glad I don't live in the boonies. Is it any wonder government dependency is on the rise?

It must suck to live in a depressed area.

Reply to
Shannon

There are way too many variables for you to make a blanket statement like that.

I average $50/hour. That's time while on the job for the day.

That doesn't count the time spent bidding, billing, drive time, picking up materials, lost time due to problems, scheduling errors......... It also doesn't account for the cost of my vehicle maintenance, fuel, tools, insurance..........

By your calculations I should be making $100K. It's never happened. Not even close.

Might be common where

These prices you quote are close to what employees earn. Where's the overhead & profit for the company that mans the phones, organizes the office, handles the advertising, does the accounting, inventory control.......?

Obviously you're not a contractor. You should give it a try, there's BIG money in it. AND it's EASY.

Reply to
3rd eye

As a comparison I recently had an estimate done on installing a total of 8 doors. Plus doing a small amount of framing and drywall. The contractor doing the estimate was both professional, and if his photo album was any guide a craftsman.

Through this blanket contracting operation that he works for he quoted a price that amounted to $92/hr. (the total duration of the work was his estimate not mine)

Of this he said that he got to take home $40/hr.

I would have been ecstatic to pay this man $40/hr. for the job. I would have been happy to pay him $60. I would have paid him $75 but would have expected a pristine job. I thought that $92 was a bit much.

On asking why he would work for an organization that took over half of what the jobs he did paid he replied that not having to deal w/accounting, insurance, and marketing made it worth it.

Reply to
kzinNOSPAM99

There are 2 kinds of "handymen". The semi-homeless ones that show up on an old Schwinn 10 speed bike and may or may not return later and attempt to abduct your children, and the the guys who are actually trying to make a profession of it (advertising, insurance, vehicle, taxes, etc.) If your handyman was in the latter category - 150.00 sounds pretty reasonable.

Reply to
Jim R

Many years ago I used to have a sideline business selling and installing storm doors and windows. typical aluminum door was less than an hour, but I've done jobs that were three or four hours. Not seeing what was involved, neither of us can say if the time was fair or not. Being out of the business for many years, what I sold then could easily translate to $300 or more today for a quality product.

Billing dollars do not equate with earnings. While an unskilled laborer may earn $10 an hour, his company is billing $30 or more to cover costs, overhead, insurance, taxes, workman's comp. etc. I bill my help (unskilled) at $50 an hour.

skilled

Get or bill? It varies in different parts of the country, but my electrician bills $65, my plumber $55, boiler technician $90, welders, $60. computer network guy $100. All of these bill travel time also, sometimes at a lower rate. These guys also have a couple of weeks backlog of work because they are good at what they do and are fair in pricing.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Who said the opening was out of square? How did you make such an absurd conclusion?

Yep, it sucks. Place was ok before all these damn people moved to this depressed area.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Obviously? And what do you base that on?

Yeah it was probably an exaggeration but could also be true, but he/she did say a screen door. Lots of screen doors are way less than $100, but then some are probably in the $500 range. And yep, there are too many variable to say that I am wrong also!

Actually the dollar numbers I gave are what people pay for a job. If an employee of a company does the work, what he gets paid, is highly variable. But for reference, major auto shops charge about $80 an hour and the mechanics make less than $20. I think you have fallen into that old trap of thinking that your experience is universal.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Maybe more than two kinds since "Handyman" doesn't really mean much. To me it means a person working for himself. OTOH, there are companies that specialize in a variety of contract work and "handyman" is just part of the company name for a general contractor.

Still, I might take 2-1/2 hours or even longer to ponder my way through hanging a door if the opening was really out of square. But a person that has done it several times shouldn't take that long, no matter what he charges per hour. Heck, my father could have done it in less time even if he used only hand tools to make custom frame and molding from 8" wide stock.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

They are in the wrong neighborhood. Around here, they all make $20 and up. Of course $20 with a flat rate manual can still get you $70K a year.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

What did you agree to pay before the job was done ? That works out to $

60/hr.

No it doesnt seem "fair", in fact no "handyman" should be getting that rate but if you didnt specify in advance, he can ask for anything. Whether you pay it is up to you if theres no pre agreed price or contract, written or oral.

Would you walk into a store and buy something if you had no idea what the price was ? I dont think so.

R
Reply to
Rudy

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