In the customer’s defense I suspect that the problem is frequently a failure to explain what the work involves and why the additional work should be be done.
And it’s not just mechanics or tradesmen because I’ve seen the same failure from attorneys, dentists and doctors and the guilty parties all seem to share the same, “If you don’t know the reason for my price estimate or blindly follow my advice you’re obviously too stupid for my explanation” attitude.
The obvious solution is, “Here’s my estimate, it includes doing X, Y and Z and if you don’t do them now you can expect an unpleasant and expensive A in the future because…”
Not everyone will bring their business, some can’t afford it or want to spend the money but the time spent up front greatly reduces dissatisfied customers, bad reviews or payment disputes.
The hvac guy said they are having a little trouble and showed up with a trainee last time. Might have something to do with licensing and training requirements or locale. Sometimes states make it hard to fill the ranks. Way back minnesota changed their child care requirements and over night there was a huge shortage. Other occupations in the health field for example lobbied for licensing to increase rates.
My takeaway has always been to avoid the newest model year anything’s, give them a couple/few years to (hopefully) work out all the bugs, let others be the guinea pig…
… and–maybe–at least one of your senses. One of our neighbors many years ago worked in a boiler factory, before the days of required hearing protection, and he became almost totally deafened by working there.
I’ve been watching reruns of Fantomworks, and I’m surprised how little ear protection those guy wore when grinding, etc. Gotta hurt their hearing. I’d think there were a number of OSHA violations most episodes.
All my summer jobs in college involved manual labor. I worked in a Lexan furniture factory, a drywall installation business, and as a steel mill laborer. At the end of each summer, I was happy to get back to college.
That’s not always the case. One of my fraternity brothers is from Brooklyn and quit college to work as a shipboard HVAC mechanic. He was a member of a strong union and the pay was great. The worst thing he had to do was make an emergency trip to a ship at sea, but they had to be close enough to the Port of New York that he could get to the ship by helicopter.
Some still want to. My son is in the UW College of Engineering and spending his summer working for a construction/remodeling contractor. He’s really enjoying it and constantly talking about how much money some guys can make and how much he wants to be the guy in charge one day. I asked him if he still remembers his first soccer goal when he was 6. I told him I didn’t because I was working that Saturday. Does he really want to be that guy?
My dad was an international freight forwarder, self-employed for a great deal of his career. When I was little he would come home for dinner, then go back to the office for another 5-6 hours. Spend all day drumming up business and then all night processing it. White collar people can work too much too.
I’m sure I can find a number of OSHA violations anywhere in any shop. Truth is most mechanics are a little too independent to be told what to wear or how to work.
Our mechanic back in the 60s & 70s used to clean brakes with big shots of compressed air, and even though he allowed me in the shop, I quickly learned to stay outside when he was doing brake work.
On the inground lifts, it is normal to wedge a used wheel weight in the air valve handle to lower the rack without keeping your hands on it…
We had an air hose blow on an overhead real, work frowned on ladders and we needed the air hose, my plan was to stack a set of wheels/tires on top of a toolbox and climb up on the stack in order to replace the air hose, it worked like a charm…
I have been the poster child of OSHA violations at times in the past…
When time is money you have to do what you have to do, to get the job done…
I worked as an engineering manager for the past 15+ years for various companies. My average work week was 60+ hours. Extremely rare to work under 50 hours. Many weeks working 80+ hours. But I was never ever as tired as my dad was doing a physically demanding job he had. Sitting behind a desk is NOT the same as swinging a hammer all day- this was before the air-guns used by most general contractors today.
Ok ill go take a shower or was it something i said? I hav3 no idea how what i said was offensive and off topic from sll the other comments here.
The original post was a video by robert. There would be about five posts related specifically and the pages of blanks with the same criteria. No wonder few people come here anymore.
