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America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

(www.wsj.com)
185 points hhs | 1 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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antisthenes ◴[13 Oct 24 16:38 UTC] No.41829398[source]▶
I wonder if that's the reason my HVAC guy tried to charge me $700 for running a thermostat cable less than 8 feet (that I later did myself in less than 30 minutes).
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SoftTalker ◴[13 Oct 24 16:41 UTC] No.41829435[source]▶
This is the typical trade tactic for rejecting a job that is too small to be worth your time. He still has to come out to your place, with his truck and tools, and install that 8 feet of cable. He could spend that same overhead doing an 8 hour, much more profitable job.

So he bid an outrageous amount. If you had said yes, he covers his overhead. If you reject it, he does something more profitable with his time.

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asdefghyk ◴[13 Oct 24 17:05 UTC] No.41829615[source]▶
RE ".... If you had said yes, he covers his overhead..." Really - a overhead of several hundred dollars. Seems far fetched to me.
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1. ghaff ◴[13 Oct 24 17:17 UTC] No.41829718{3}[source]▶
Even easy job is probably going to take a few hours between scheduling overload, driving to and from the site, figuring out what needs to be done, and actually doing the work. Expensive? Possibly. But doesn’t seem out of bounds. How much would you charge to drive to an office to solve some problem even if it turned out to have an easy fix? I can’t imagine quoting much less than that.