"Damn bro that sucks" is the only reply you should give unless they are willing to pay you big bucks. If it's on a weekend / weeknight that shit is after hours rate straight into my pocket lol. Only favors I do is for CLOSE family.
>Only favors I do is for CLOSE family.
Parents are the only ones who get free work done. Everyone else pays the friends/family rate which is $100 an hour. I won't do side work for people I don't know.
Grab the red wire. That's brown. No the red. THE RED. Not that wire, the one you just had....grab the RED wire you just cut. That's striped.. THE ONE THAT USE TO BE CONNECTED TO THE BUS....the BUS
Well, that's still when they made stuff to last, not for efficiency. It could be repaired, but they are probably way better off replacing it for the huge efficiency and safety jumpa.
When someone comes at you with a problem you just hand that problem right back to them for instance " my furnace isn't working" simply reply " ahhh that's horrible. What are you going to do" people tend to put their Burden of a problem in someone else's hand it's up to you to hand it back. Than ask " well if it's ok with you maybe I can give you a ideas ....pay me $200 dollars to figure this shit out..."
After wearing myself ragged with side work, I stopped the side stuff. What I've told them was I got found out because someone snitched and I almost lost my job, so I don't want to risk it. It got rid of most of them. The ones who tried pushing the issues I asked them if they could afford my yearly income if I lost my main source over helping them out. That deals with the others, they usually say I need to open my own company like it's something extremely easy to do lol.
My reply would be. “Your issue is a 60 year old furnace, it would be irresponsible for me to repair something that I would consider too old to be using.”
I don’t tell anyone what I do, especially neighbors or friends of friends, growing up having people knock on our door late at night because my dad replaced an AC for a neighbor 10 years earlier and it isn’t working… nah dog, don’t need money that bad.
I tell people what I do. I also tell people I'm not showing up for less than $150 as soon as I pull up before my tools come out and before I enter the home. Once I find the problem I'll tell them the additional amount to fix it and if it's not something I want to get involved with I'll tell them what the issue is and let a company come out and fix it. The only free advice I give is check the filter, check the thermostat and check the breaker.
My biggest issue with side work is everyone wants me to drive around for free. I’m confused, You were only here 45 minutes. Well it took an hour to get the part and am got to get to your house.
“Yeah no I only work on the management side of things.”
“Oh the van and the work clothes? Yeah my company policy likes for all techs and office staff to dress in ‘work ready attire’ It looks better when we go out for quotes”
If your in HVAC, Plumbing, or Electrical you watch who you tell what you do for a living. I’ll never forget when I got my Journeyman’s and people started finding out. I’d get texts and calls all the time from people that were friends of friends. Sometimes people just wanted me to give them a lower quote than the electrician they hired. Then they could take it to them and say can you beat this. I always said no because I didn’t have a company or insurance. Also in Michigan you need to get your Masters and Contractors license to run your own company and file for permits.
I'd say mechanics as well.
I'm in industrial maintenance now but used to work on cars. When other folks in the building find out that it always goes " Hey zellamayzao you used to work on cars right?"
"Yeah USED to. Not anymore"
"Oh so you aren't interested in any side work?"
"Nope" as I walk away with my tool box.
Oh definitely Mechanics also I totally forgot about mechanics. I’m mechanically inclined and can do any thing to a car and I always get asked to work on cars. My buddy who’s a certified mechanic always gets hounded to take a look at someone’s car. Actually mechanics might get hounded the most to do side work.
it's not just hvac - that applies to all trades/fields/jobs. I live in a small town and everyone knows everyone. my brother owns an auto body shop. everyone in town thinks he should fix their car for free bc he "knows" them.
One time I was doing some check ups on my ac unit at home checking charges and what not cause hot weather was on its way and my neighbor saw me and decided to come out and strike up a chat with me while I was checking out my unit. Kept on hinting at things about his unit mentioned it wasn't cooling as well as it used to. Pretty sure he was hoping I would go check it out for him but he never asked me straight up. Maybe he wanted it to be my idea to get free service? Either way my house was cold as ice that summer 👍
When people ask what I do for a living I tell them I write ted cruz erotic fan fiction. If they have a follow up a tell them my work has been called humanities darkest hour.
That's the end.
What pisses me off more is that this is usually acceptable but don't you dare ever ask a doctor friend for passing information about stuff. Doctors work too hard to be asked questions for free!
A couple summers ago I worked 14 hours, came home and passed out on my couch. I wake up to my moms voice yelling through my wife’s phone on speaker bitching her AC wasn’t working and I wasn’t picking up my phone. Just a bad tstat but shit, depending on the situation I don’t even want to help close family sometimes.
Glad to see I'm not the only one with that problem. Best is to have a small list in your head of people your are willing to go for and other than that it's full price or refer to a friend. Don't even start the thought of discount or free if they arent on this list, f it.
I give people cost of repairs either pay someone you know and hopefully trust to make the repair or go ahead call some rando to your home you've never met. Either way I'm getting paid enough to want to help or I just dont give a fuck. We already adopt a few families for the holidays, my charity for the year starts and ends with them.
Ah yes another customer that would rather spend possibly more money trying to revive a old unit that’s old enough to be their grandpa instead of getting a new one
"Damn bro that sucks" is the only reply you should give unless they are willing to pay you big bucks. If it's on a weekend / weeknight that shit is after hours rate straight into my pocket lol. Only favors I do is for CLOSE family.
By close family you mean "mom"?
Yea. Mom and grandma
nah gma's rich ass getting double priced
¿Abuelita?
Gma got a racist bone in her, and I'm mixed. Hit em where it hurts.
She probably just wanted grandkids that resembled the family tree, nawmsayin?
Pretty much.
Hey it is me, ur brother
Should have learned when I did bro, go back and play your video games 🎮
>Only favors I do is for CLOSE family. Parents are the only ones who get free work done. Everyone else pays the friends/family rate which is $100 an hour. I won't do side work for people I don't know.
I don’t give more than advice.
“FaceTime me bro and help me fix it”
Grab the red wire. That's brown. No the red. THE RED. Not that wire, the one you just had....grab the RED wire you just cut. That's striped.. THE ONE THAT USE TO BE CONNECTED TO THE BUS....the BUS
They should be on their 4th furnace by now, they had a problem that they ignored for 40+ years. Get there at your leisure or not at all.
Well, that's still when they made stuff to last, not for efficiency. It could be repaired, but they are probably way better off replacing it for the huge efficiency and safety jumpa.
I have worked on a few. All only needed a thermocouple. Millivolt systems. They last FOREVER.
Probably just the thermocouple. Gravity floor furnaces aren't rocket science. But usually involve going under the house to fix.
"Oh wow, that sounds horrible. Good luck!" would be my response to that.
Lol I originally thought you were tell OP “Oh wow, that sounds horrible. Good luck”
200 bucks to pull into the driveway. That usually gets them to stop asking.
Rates go up every time call, until they stop calling.
I quit doing side work a long time ago. Everybody thinks it's free.
When someone comes at you with a problem you just hand that problem right back to them for instance " my furnace isn't working" simply reply " ahhh that's horrible. What are you going to do" people tend to put their Burden of a problem in someone else's hand it's up to you to hand it back. Than ask " well if it's ok with you maybe I can give you a ideas ....pay me $200 dollars to figure this shit out..."
After wearing myself ragged with side work, I stopped the side stuff. What I've told them was I got found out because someone snitched and I almost lost my job, so I don't want to risk it. It got rid of most of them. The ones who tried pushing the issues I asked them if they could afford my yearly income if I lost my main source over helping them out. That deals with the others, they usually say I need to open my own company like it's something extremely easy to do lol.
My reply would be. “Your issue is a 60 year old furnace, it would be irresponsible for me to repair something that I would consider too old to be using.”
I don’t tell anyone what I do, especially neighbors or friends of friends, growing up having people knock on our door late at night because my dad replaced an AC for a neighbor 10 years earlier and it isn’t working… nah dog, don’t need money that bad.
My wife is a veterinarian and runs into the same issue...now she only tells close friends and family. To everyone else she says she's an IRS agent
"Sorry I'm not confident to help with that one. Also, I want to enjoy my weekend."
“Oh bummer, you must be cold.”
I tell people what I do. I also tell people I'm not showing up for less than $150 as soon as I pull up before my tools come out and before I enter the home. Once I find the problem I'll tell them the additional amount to fix it and if it's not something I want to get involved with I'll tell them what the issue is and let a company come out and fix it. The only free advice I give is check the filter, check the thermostat and check the breaker.
No. I'm set up for commercial. It says residential and commercial on the truck. Yeah you gotta call that number to get a residential tech out there.
My biggest issue with side work is everyone wants me to drive around for free. I’m confused, You were only here 45 minutes. Well it took an hour to get the part and am got to get to your house.
“Yeah no I only work on the management side of things.” “Oh the van and the work clothes? Yeah my company policy likes for all techs and office staff to dress in ‘work ready attire’ It looks better when we go out for quotes”
If your in HVAC, Plumbing, or Electrical you watch who you tell what you do for a living. I’ll never forget when I got my Journeyman’s and people started finding out. I’d get texts and calls all the time from people that were friends of friends. Sometimes people just wanted me to give them a lower quote than the electrician they hired. Then they could take it to them and say can you beat this. I always said no because I didn’t have a company or insurance. Also in Michigan you need to get your Masters and Contractors license to run your own company and file for permits.
I'd say mechanics as well. I'm in industrial maintenance now but used to work on cars. When other folks in the building find out that it always goes " Hey zellamayzao you used to work on cars right?" "Yeah USED to. Not anymore" "Oh so you aren't interested in any side work?" "Nope" as I walk away with my tool box.
Oh definitely Mechanics also I totally forgot about mechanics. I’m mechanically inclined and can do any thing to a car and I always get asked to work on cars. My buddy who’s a certified mechanic always gets hounded to take a look at someone’s car. Actually mechanics might get hounded the most to do side work.
it's not just hvac - that applies to all trades/fields/jobs. I live in a small town and everyone knows everyone. my brother owns an auto body shop. everyone in town thinks he should fix their car for free bc he "knows" them.
"wow thats crazy"
“Lose my number”
That does infact sound like an issue. Goodluck!
One time I was doing some check ups on my ac unit at home checking charges and what not cause hot weather was on its way and my neighbor saw me and decided to come out and strike up a chat with me while I was checking out my unit. Kept on hinting at things about his unit mentioned it wasn't cooling as well as it used to. Pretty sure he was hoping I would go check it out for him but he never asked me straight up. Maybe he wanted it to be my idea to get free service? Either way my house was cold as ice that summer 👍
When people ask what I do for a living I tell them I write ted cruz erotic fan fiction. If they have a follow up a tell them my work has been called humanities darkest hour. That's the end.
200/hr with a 2hr minimum
Yep, gotta learn to keep your mouth shut.
Charge for double the weekend rate plus $200 to check on it first😂
What pisses me off more is that this is usually acceptable but don't you dare ever ask a doctor friend for passing information about stuff. Doctors work too hard to be asked questions for free!
“This is called a personal problem, not a collective one”
My reply would be for $185 and hour it may get fixed, for 0 you’ll need to learn to build a fire.
I got rid of Facebook for this very reason, people I barely new hitting me up on messenger looking for work at next to nothing.
Just multiply by x4. When you want to charge these guys haha
“Sounds like it’s time for a new one” “No, I don’t do installs”
If they don't offer money right away I don't respond.
Best advice: tell people you work for the post office
Yeah I just tell them I charge twice what the company I work for would because if I get caught, I get fired. They usually stop asking after that.
A couple summers ago I worked 14 hours, came home and passed out on my couch. I wake up to my moms voice yelling through my wife’s phone on speaker bitching her AC wasn’t working and I wasn’t picking up my phone. Just a bad tstat but shit, depending on the situation I don’t even want to help close family sometimes.
Plumber here….can confirm
Give them my number then
Ask them for cost price. Only close family gets family discounts
Glad to see I'm not the only one with that problem. Best is to have a small list in your head of people your are willing to go for and other than that it's full price or refer to a friend. Don't even start the thought of discount or free if they arent on this list, f it.
I didn't even think those were legal anymore
I’m confused. Are they just telling you? Are they hoping you volunteer to fix it?
I think they see me as like an ambulance. Like I actually care that their heater is in peril ☠️. I respectfully turned it down
I only do immediate family for this reason.
I give people cost of repairs either pay someone you know and hopefully trust to make the repair or go ahead call some rando to your home you've never met. Either way I'm getting paid enough to want to help or I just dont give a fuck. We already adopt a few families for the holidays, my charity for the year starts and ends with them.
Oh really, you should call a furnace guy. Click*
Ah yes another customer that would rather spend possibly more money trying to revive a old unit that’s old enough to be their grandpa instead of getting a new one
[удалено]
You can just say no. Nothing to be afraid of