Service Calls and Omar Khayyam [RE-wrenches]

[Jim Hartley]

Joel Davidson wrote:
> How much do licensed (non-solar) plumbers and (non PV) electricians get?

Well, let's see here....  This is one of my favorite [?] subjects 
anymore.  BTW and first off, Joel, I just recently used a formula 
similar to yours with a lukewarm prospect locally. ;-)   I may have even 
displaced a decimal point in my favor somewhat "inadvertently."  $300K 
makes a man's pants dampen pretty fast.  Anyway, hereabouts [Chicago far 
west suburbs] where many gold plated SUVs are parked, rates for 
conventional plumbers can get near $100/hour and conventional 
electricians can top $110/hour easily. You can imagine how they might 
price out one of them there PV systems!  That's assuming they are even 
interested which the majority certainly aren't from what I can tell.  
I've checked.  I was considering sub-contracting jobs but nobody seems 
all that interested so far.  

These regular tradespeople have plenty of work they can do almost 
blindfolded.  I even tried discussing such sub-contracting opportunities 
with the local IBEW PV "trainer."  So far he's been ignoring me I think. 
 Go figure.

Some tradespeople might work for less certainly.  Like me.  But that was 
before I actually requested hourly rates from some of these regular 
trade folks to do solar systems.  Since then I've given myself a nice 
raise which, of course, is sort of pointless if prospects aren't capable 
of holding their water over solar job estimates. 

Furthermore, the likely prospects in this general area are quite 
scattered about and would at times require considerable driving should 
anything materialize. With gasoline and time being such a valued 
commodity nowadays, the economics aren't encouraging.  And what if you 
have to spend a few nights far from home to do the work on site?  Who 
pays for that?  As they say so wisely, sometimes you just can't give up 
that day job.  Moonlighting at solar work just doesn't sound right for 
some reason. Ironically, it would appear that the better areas for PVs 
often have the lower wage rates.  That might partly explain why they are 
"the better areas for PVs."  Anybody else notice this?

Jim Hartley
http://www.homestead-specialties.com
JamesHartley at homestead-specialties.com
Direct Email: grail at inil.com
630-584-8780
630-584-9092 FAX



 
 
> 
> Kirk Herander wrote:
> 
> > $105 an hour? That's hard to believe. Labor rates in VT are in the $30 -
> > $45 an hour range.
> >
> > Kirk
> >
> > "Bob Ellison, Alternative Energy Systems" wrote:
> > >
> > > My god, I live in the wrong end of the country,
> > > I have had people hang up on me when I tell them 25.00 an hour, and tell
> > > them that I charge drive time to the site. Some are 3-4 hours away.
> > >
> >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > > RE. Ellison
> > > Supplier of;
> > > Diesel Generators &
> > > Alternative Energy Systems & Supplies
> > > 34642 Countryman Road
> > > Theresa, NY. USA
> > >                               13691-2076
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:   Joel Davidson [mailto:joeldavidson at earthlink.net]
> > > Sent:   Monday, May 28, 2001 12:24 PM
> > > To:     RE-wrenches at topica.com
> > > Subject:        Re: Service Calls and Omar Khayyam [RE-wrenches]
> > >
> > > These rates are about the same as here in southern California and very 
> > > fair.
> > >
> > >
> > > tom wrote:
> > > If someone calls for service or help on a system someone else installed 
> > > or
> > > an old system out of warranty I charge $65 total drive time and $105 an 
> > > hour
> > > on site to diagnosis and give them an estimate.  If I can fix the 
> > > problem on
> > > the spot the $105 is credited toward labor.  The $105 counts toward the
> > > first hour labor on a future service call if they accept my quote to fix
> > > their system.
> >
> > - - - -
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> >
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> >
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> >
> 



Jim Hartley
http://www.homestead-specialties.com
JamesHartley at homestead-specialties.com
Direct Email: grail at inil.com
630-584-8780
630-584-9092 FAX

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