Originally posted by 68ZooM
Well first off im not full of crap.
point A i live in a 1600 SQ FT Home, Point B sense im in construction i got a real good deals thru my suppliers, the paint has a 25 yr warrenty so if it fails its not because the home wasnt preped right, Point C theres not a dam thing wrong with a wagner, sure its not construction grade BUT thats not what i was after, this one did the job great like i said.
Point D By all means feel free to look all you want you wont find a flaw anywhere. ive been in construction for over 25 years and have been designing homes now for the past five years and i take pride in what i do and it doesnt take a rocket sciencetist to paint a house, Its funny how painting contractors charge outrageous prices to paint a home
Just because your "in construction" doesnt mean you know anything about construction.
Hell I worked in a hospital.And working there I learned alot of medical stuff I wouldnt have known otherwise. But does that make me a doctor?
And "House designers" tend to know less other then what looks good
Im sure most of your local contractors can tell you all sorts of horror stories about "house designers"
Exactly which part of "construction" are you in?
Do you actually DO any of the work?
Based on what you have put down I can easily draw the conclusion you dont.
At best you have a working knowledge Probably as a site boss or coordinator
25 years huh? This coming October I will have been doing it for 30
I win!
No it doesnt take a rocket scientist. but its not as simple as you put it out there either. Particularly if you want a quality job. and not just a job that looks good now.
You can sing me songs all you want.
but there is no way I'm going to believe you did a quality job in 2 days with paint that costs less then $12 per gallon unless the paint fell off someone's truck in the middle of the night.
What brand and grade was it? Didn't happen to say "contractors grade or Builders grade" did it?
I don't care what its warranteed for. Just wait till the paint fails and try to collect on that "Warranty"
And yes. Wagner is a piece of crap. And your model in particular is on the lower end of even the Wagner scale.
Outrageous prices huh? LOL Some yea
Most of us charge a fair price, going rate.
Builders like yourself dont exactly sell houses cheap either.
And when you think about those outrageous prices consider this.
If you have a regular job you get all the goodies that go with it.
You get sick time,vacation time,personal time, Family sick leave. Etc Medical insurance, Workman's Comp.
Tally that all up and your employer shells out a hell of alot more money to employ you then just what you see in your paycheck.
and are pretty much guaranteed to work year round.
Contractors get none of that. We get to supply it all out of our own pockets.
Not to mention Commercial Vehicle insurance can be up to twice what your average driver pays
Then there is licensing, In this state even if you do it as a side job like your doing you are required to have a licence. And to be licence you have to be insured. Its a $10,000 fine if your caught doing business without a licence
Then there is liability insurance.And depending on what your doing. that can run into some money as well. Basic insurance in the state covers painting single story rooms and single story houses. And thats it.
If your doing more then 1 story, thats and added charge, Power washing is even more, and if your using a sprayer thats even more again.
then theres
Tools, Gas,Maintenance,accountants fees.Taxe's and a whole assortment of little expenses associated in having your own business that individually seem small. together all add up.
And thats all before you get to pay your household bills.
Not to mention. You probably get to go home at a set time every day and your day is done. You dont have to go all over Timbuktu too to do estimates. Or any of the paperwork involved.
there can be times particularly in the winter months between Thanksgiving and Easter when your not sure you have work next week. Let alone next month or next year.dead times even for the best of contractors where you may not have work at all.
So when you do work, you ha veto make sure you make enough money to cover the times you might not be working and unexpected events just as a vehicle breakdown
You dont have to worry about any of that. And its obvious you havent taken that into consideration or you wouldn't be making claims of "outrageous"ness in pricing
now lets look at your own claims. You say you are doing your friends houses for I believe you said $600.
And I am assuming you are planning on doing them in 2 days just like you (cough cough) did yours.
Ok thats $300 per day
what you gonna do when you come across the house that ends up taking you 3,4,5 days that you thought would only take you 2?
"err ummm sir, sorry but Im going to have to charge you$1500 instead of the 600 I promised."
and what you going to do when you wipe out someones window by accident? You have insurance to cover it?
What I charge is pretty much going rate. I tell people "Im not the cheapest. but Im not the most expensive either. And I continually check with other contractors I know as well as people I do work for to find out where my prices are to stay pretty close to center
Now I dont doubt you design houses wonderfully. I take your word for it.
and maybe you did do a wonderful job. While I have my doubts. I truly hope so for your sake.
but the next time you want to consider what people charge. Take all the little items into account that you dont think of and never see.
Or try it yourself and pretty soon you will discover that you are charging just as much as everyone else. Not out of greed.
But out of neccessity
Do it for 5 years and you will be amazed at how much you didnt know the first year. Do it for 25 and you will laugh at what you thought you knew
