Service Calls and Omar Khayyam [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

Sounds about right. Electricians in Chicago suburbs make $100/hour putting in
backup propane generators for upscale SUVers while off-grid wrenches have to put
up with tightwad medicare pill-popping retirees who want a PV system to back up
their $500 Home Depot generator just so they can watch The Fall of the American
Empire on their big screen TVs. And 30 years ago, the same people thought hippies
Haight-Ashbury dancing to The Fall of the American Empire were weird. Time to say
a prayer for Senator Lott and go to bed.

Jim Hartley wrote:

> 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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> > >
> >
>
> 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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>
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>

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