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Old 01-08-2017, 08:11 PM
From The Hip From The Hip is offline
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Default No Alberta recession for locksmiths

I had my lock go the other night and after a bit of effort I got into my house.I switched out the dead lock inside of 10 minutes and then decided to not only replace it with something new I wanted to get a deadbolt installed.

I called a bunch of ads on Kijiji and went with the best quote.I was told $83 to install a deadbolt.After confirming I get a text from the guy who is actually going to do the install.I confirm with him that it is a metal exterior door that did not have a deadbolt and I specifically mentioned the quote of $83.

Well 5 minutes later I get a call asking what the problem was.I once again stated that I wanted a deadbolt installed.The guy clues in that there is no existing deadbolt and holes must be drilled and he then says it will cost $196 + GST.I told him to pound sand and also mentioned that there is a recession on.He was oblivious to what I said and said "good luck".

I ended up having the "handyman" who has done numerous projects for me do the install.It took an hour and it cost me $45 of which $15 went to paying for a replacement hole saw that got buggered.

As for $83 to "replace" a defective deadbolt that is ridiculous as it is just 2 screws and 10 minutes to do it.

Some people just dont get that they cant hang you upside down and shake money out of you in Alberta now.

FTH
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Old 01-08-2017, 08:19 PM
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Time, transport, tools, carbon tax....it all adds up. House calls for anything aren't cheap anymore.

Agree though, we haven't seen much price correction in the market.
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Old 01-08-2017, 08:23 PM
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Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Time, transport, tools, carbon tax....it all adds up. House calls for anything aren't cheap anymore.

Agree though, we haven't seen much price correction in the market.
All those were figured into the original quote, which means it was going to cost $113.00 to drill a couple holes...
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Old 01-08-2017, 08:30 PM
From The Hip From The Hip is offline
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Originally Posted by 3blade View Post
Time, transport, tools, carbon tax....it all adds up. House calls for anything aren't cheap anymore.

Agree though, we haven't seen much price correction in the market.
Yes all of those are relevant but seriously $196 + GST for an hour of labour is just rediculous.

This reminded me of when I got my sidewalk replaced in 2010.Economy was in the crapper and I got quotes for 25 feet of sidewalk that used 3 cubic meters of concrete and the quotes were on the high side of $4000 and the low side of $2500.I managed to find a guy who wanted $1400 for a days labour and he also picked up 4 other jobs on the same block.He and his crew spent 3 days prepping everything and then poured 5 sidewalks in a day.He was happy and he made money and he got 4 extra jobs out of it because he did not want to bend over people and screw them.

Just my .02

FTH
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Old 01-08-2017, 08:30 PM
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-32 the other day the deadbolt on my garage snapped the key would turn around 360 degrees... useless. All my tools are inside, I went to a buddies borrowed a grinder with some cut off discs it wasn't pretty but it worked installed a new deadbolt in about 15 Mins.
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Old 01-08-2017, 09:08 PM
averagejoe averagejoe is offline
 
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LOL, There is your problem, ads off of Kijiji. Most likely scammers that will raise the cost after they do the work and then threaten you until you pay.

Here is where you find REAL locksmiths in your area and get their info so you can just look them up in your contacts instead of getting scammers.
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Old 01-08-2017, 09:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by From The Hip View Post
I had my lock go the other night and after a bit of effort I got into my house.I switched out the dead lock inside of 10 minutes and then decided to not only replace it with something new I wanted to get a deadbolt installed.

I called a bunch of ads on Kijiji and went with the best quote.I was told $83 to install a deadbolt.After confirming I get a text from the guy who is actually going to do the install.I confirm with him that it is a metal exterior door that did not have a deadbolt and I specifically mentioned the quote of $83.

Well 5 minutes later I get a call asking what the problem was.I once again stated that I wanted a deadbolt installed.The guy clues in that there is no existing deadbolt and holes must be drilled and he then says it will cost $196 + GST.I told him to pound sand and also mentioned that there is a recession on.He was oblivious to what I said and said "good luck".

I ended up having the "handyman" who has done numerous projects for me do the install.It took an hour and it cost me $45 of which $15 went to paying for a replacement hole saw that got buggered.

As for $83 to "replace" a defective deadbolt that is ridiculous as it is just 2 screws and 10 minutes to do it.

Some people just dont get that they cant hang you upside down and shake money out of you in Alberta now.

FTH
45.00 for an hours work. 15.00 for the saw blade. so he worked for 30.00
for the hour he was there, not counting the time it took to get to you or the fuel or insurance on his vehicle and hopefully liability insurance.
Hope you did not tip him, minimum wage should be enough.

MAC
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:15 PM
Mackinaw Mackinaw is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by From The Hip View Post
I had my lock go the other night and after a bit of effort I got into my house.I switched out the dead lock inside of 10 minutes and then decided to not only replace it with something new I wanted to get a deadbolt installed.

I called a bunch of ads on Kijiji and went with the best quote.I was told $83 to install a deadbolt.After confirming I get a text from the guy who is actually going to do the install.I confirm with him that it is a metal exterior door that did not have a deadbolt and I specifically mentioned the quote of $83.

Well 5 minutes later I get a call asking what the problem was.I once again stated that I wanted a deadbolt installed.The guy clues in that there is no existing deadbolt and holes must be drilled and he then says it will cost $196 + GST.I told him to pound sand and also mentioned that there is a recession on.He was oblivious to what I said and said "good luck".

I ended up having the "handyman" who has done numerous projects for me do the install.It took an hour and it cost me $45 of which $15 went to paying for a replacement hole saw that got buggered.

As for $83 to "replace" a defective deadbolt that is ridiculous as it is just 2 screws and 10 minutes to do it.

Some people just dont get that they cant hang you upside down and shake money out of you in Alberta now.

FTH
If the job was so easy why did you not do it yourself???????

Mack
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:26 PM
Newview01 Newview01 is offline
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Please, don't compare a handyman to an experienced tradesman.

The saying "a jack of all trades but a master at none" is usually true.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:33 PM
HyperMOA HyperMOA is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Mackinaw View Post
If the job was so easy why did you not do it yourself???????

Mack
Possibly he does not own the 2 hole-saws required. Those saws would cost roughly what the individual charged.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:34 PM
HyperMOA HyperMOA is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Newview01 View Post
Please, don't compare a handyman to an experienced tradesman.

The saying "a jack of all trades but a master at none" is usually true.
True, but is a true craftsman or tradesman needed to mount a dead-bolt? Do you need an electrician to change a light bulb? Or a plumber to change a tap? Some jobs a handyman is more than qualified for.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:40 PM
Newview01 Newview01 is offline
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Originally Posted by HyperMOA View Post
True, but is a true craftsman or tradesman needed to mount a dead-bolt? Do you need an electrician to change a light bulb? Or a plumber to change a tap? Some jobs a handyman is more than qualified for.
True.
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Old 01-09-2017, 07:04 AM
JB_AOL JB_AOL is offline
 
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I see nothing wrong with the $196 Estimate. Would I pay it? Nope. I know how to use a tool or two.

But 1 hour travel time, + one hour labour + tools + mileage. $196 is not really a stretch.
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Old 01-09-2017, 07:37 AM
Mackinaw Mackinaw is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HyperMOA View Post
True, but is a true craftsman or tradesman needed to mount a dead-bolt? Do you need an electrician to change a light bulb? Or a plumber to change a tap? Some jobs a handyman is more than qualified for.
Chances are the handyman will not have the best of tools, insurance to cover the replacement of your door when hole is drilled wrong or floods your house when he changes your tap. I will give you the light bulb change unless of course he falls off the ladder as sues you...☺

Mack
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Old 01-09-2017, 07:39 AM
79ford 79ford is offline
 
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Most trades make 30-60$ per hour... pickups are 110$hr or so, that is 130-160$ before gas or parts are even added in.
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Old 01-09-2017, 08:10 AM
HyperMOA HyperMOA is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Mackinaw View Post
Chances are the handyman will not have the best of tools, insurance to cover the replacement of your door when hole is drilled wrong or floods your house when he changes your tap. I will give you the light bulb change unless of course he falls off the ladder as sues you...☺

Mack
The chances are that a handyman does have the tools and he did. The handyman didn't need to change the door because he did it correctly because he recognizes its not a complex job and outside his scope of work. I'm not even a handyman and I could do that job 100 times without changing a single door.

Who says he doesn't have insurance? Many handyman services are insured.

You obviously have never changed a tap before. No he wouldn't flood your house. If the tap leaked he would turn the water valve off. If he somehow broke that he would know where to shut the water main off. After that he would repair the valve and life would carry on as usual. This isn't rocket science, its a tap.
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Old 01-09-2017, 08:12 AM
Mackinaw Mackinaw is offline
 
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Originally Posted by JB_AOL View Post
I see nothing wrong with the $196 Estimate. Would I pay it? Nope. I know how to use a tool or two.

But 1 hour travel time, + one hour labour + tools + mileage. $196 is not really a stretch.
Not to mention how much of that $196 has to cover insurance, income tax, workman's comp. rent. No one works for a case of beer anymore.

Mack
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Old 01-09-2017, 08:21 AM
Bitumen Bullet Bitumen Bullet is offline
 
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Not sure why people should get paid at all, after all this is Canada, there are food banks and healthcare is free, and what else would people be doing with their time.


Helped out a tradesman doing work at peoples houses. Careful record keeping showed that it cost, on average, just over $100 to do an estimate. The largest part of the cost was time and operating the truck, loaded down with tools. He really needed to get a cheap little motorcycle for estimates and not cover the whole city and outlying area.

Next problem was how many trips resulted in paid jobs. Lots of people wanting estimates really just want to be shown how to do the job themselves, and many that do get the job done delay or don't pay fully. Even taking phone calls was costing money.

All expenses that had to be recovered from the successful jobs.

Yet there were some contractors charging less and making more. How were they doing it? Talking to them didn't help but it did help when it was reported that one of them had been charged in connection with a serious of break ins. They had been videoed passing on information to a gang that was doing the dirty work. Another was getting all their parts, even some of their tools from a warehouse, at night. Pretty easy to make money if you are selling parts you didn't have to pay for. Yet another was using stolen tools, which they would have gotten away with if an employee hadn't got caught doing something illegal using the company vehicle, which had also been stolen.

I mentioned it to a local cop who said I was only surprised because I was ignorant. He said if I looked closer I'd see more things I didn't like. In his opinion half the people in a community feed off the other half but it's best if people didn't understand that. So I stopped looking but hard to forget, so I unfairly wonder about every small contractor and business, even though most I know are making it by working hard and smart.

But when it comes to hiring people to do work you can do it isn't hard. If you don't have the money chances are you have the time so do it yourself. If you don't have the time chances are you have the money so pay someone else to do it. If you have neither you are poor which makes it an even easier decision, which is to go into business yourself, there are many successful models to follow.
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Old 01-09-2017, 08:23 AM
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Most trades make 30-60$ per hour... pickups are 110$hr or so, that is 130-160$ before gas or parts are even added in.
HAHAHAHAHAHA Good old oilfield mentality!

$110 for a pick up and it doesn't include fuel?!?!?!?!?! Wow!

A handyman is not necessarily a tradesman, or possibly a semi-retired tradesman. They don't need to make $60 an hour. This might be a moonlighting gig for a carpenter to buy shells and beer.

They may operate out of a 1993 Astro van. What does that charge out for an hour? That handyman may only work in a certain radius that limits his travel to say 20 minutes. Its not like the camps at Kearl Lake demand he drives from Yorkton Sask for free. If I paid a 93 Astro Van $15 an hour it would make money. When it inevitably dies, do you replace it with a $90,000 Ford F-350 and lift it; and price yourself out of the market? Or do you find another $1500 Astro Van or possibly a Ford Ranger?

You are always talking about prices are so out of whack ,and all of these corrections are coming to the oil and gas sector, and you post this ?!?!?!?!????

How much of his operating costs are write-offs? The hole-saw he had to replace, I bet its a tax write-off. His fuel, write-off. Depreciation even on his 93 Astro van, write-off. As a small business its quite doable at $45 an hour. Will he get rich? Not likely. Can he make an honest living? I think so.
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Old 01-09-2017, 08:43 AM
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Too bad a friend couldn't be had to help for the price of a good laugh and beer or two
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:01 AM
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I had new counter tops ordered and installed in the spring through HD.
They outsource to a company called Valley counter tops or something like that.
The quote for instal alone was $700+.
Two guys came in stank to high hell of cigarette smoke.
They were in and out in 25 minutes..
And they screwed up the instal including the drilling of the hole for where my tap would be going.
I was not happy.
For 5 hours of my time to fix the issues, and another 90 minutes of dealing with personal, I was compensated $200 in a HD gift card.
Lame.
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:30 AM
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Most trades make 30-60$ per hour... pickups are 110$hr or so, that is 130-160$ before gas or parts are even added in.
2012 called. They want their pickup rates back.
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:38 AM
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A tradesmen wasn't required for the job per say. But if you want a tradesmen to do the job. You pay tradesmen rates.

In my line of work we have a set rate. If you call and ask for our services. You pay the rate. Weather it's a simple job requiring only one basic tool, or a complex job requiring many very expensive tools.

You have the choice to do it yourself. Or hirer someone cheaper if it's a simple task. That doesn't make the professional wrong, for charging professional rates.

A professional has training that needs to be paid for. Expertise that is worth the extra expense. And typically a pile of expensive tools.

I think you went the right direction. But isn't fair to ask a specialized professional to work for handyman rates based on the simplicity of the job.
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:43 AM
79ford 79ford is offline
 
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HAHAHAHAHAHA Good old oilfield mentality!

$110 for a pick up and it doesn't include fuel?!?!?!?!?! Wow!

A handyman is not necessarily a tradesman, or possibly a semi-retired tradesman. They don't need to make $60 an hour. This might be a moonlighting gig for a carpenter to buy shells and beer.

They may operate out of a 1993 Astro van. What does that charge out for an hour? That handyman may only work in a certain radius that limits his travel to say 20 minutes. Its not like the camps at Kearl Lake demand he drives from Yorkton Sask for free. If I paid a 93 Astro Van $15 an hour it would make money. When it inevitably dies, do you replace it with a $90,000 Ford F-350 and lift it; and price yourself out of the market? Or do you find another $1500 Astro Van or possibly a Ford Ranger?

You are always talking about prices are so out of whack ,and all of these corrections are coming to the oil and gas sector, and you post this ?!?!?!?!????

How much of his operating costs are write-offs? The hole-saw he had to replace, I bet its a tax write-off. His fuel, write-off. Depreciation even on his 93 Astro van, write-off. As a small business its quite doable at $45 an hour. Will he get rich? Not likely. Can he make an honest living? I think so.
Hmmm, pickups burn a good 30$ worth of gas in an hour.... so that is 30$ assuming purchase and maintenance is free as well as driving time is free. 50$ for a lock, and say 30$ for an hours wages.

that is still 110$ assuming the guy doesnt fix his truck, driving time is free, and his time grabbing a deadbolt is free as well.

Assume that the guy might want to get paid for maintenance or insurance and maybe a bit of driving time...... i am sure he didnt buy his truck/van for free either


As far as oil field goes....haha, if some one showed up and actually worked that would be a 50-100% reduction in costs right there without chopping rates lol
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:45 AM
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Slow day in the shop today. So here is what we will do for a little experiment. I have a exterior door handle that needs to be replaced on one of the apartments. So I will send a guy over to do it right now and see where we are at.
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Old 01-09-2017, 10:58 AM
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2012 called. They want their pickup rates back.

I'll work for free if I can run my pickup at $110 plus fuel.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:03 AM
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$196 for a house call for a new deadbolt install (no previously drilled holes in the door or jamb)........sounds like a fair price to me.

I wouldn't pay it 'cause I have the tools and I'm capable of doing the job myself. But if I was a locksmith or any other capable/professional person I would expect a fair wage..............lets see...............an hour on the road? overhead for truck/tools/gas/insurance. Cost of a decent deadbolt? An hours labour? $196 is fair price.........but like I said...........I would have done it myself.
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:21 AM
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Originally Posted by From The Hip View Post
I ended up having the "handyman" who has done numerous projects for me do the install.It took an hour and it cost me $45 of which $15 went to paying for a replacement hole saw that got buggered.
I suspect your "handyman" (obviously not a "locksmith") did it for you as a favour, given you throw him other work (and you paid for the saw blade HE wrecked?) . Does anyone seriously think any company is going to have trucks, insurance, etc, drive to your place, work for an hour, and then drive back, for $30?

I paid a young man who was a friend of my son $15 an hour to paint my fence. I don't expect a professional painting company to do it for that.

My question is, in this recession when money must be super tight for you, why didn't you do it yourself? It' easy. heck, even I've done it before.
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:35 AM
Mackinaw Mackinaw is offline
 
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Originally Posted by HyperMOA View Post
The chances are that a handyman does have the tools and he did. The handyman didn't need to change the door because he did it correctly because he recognizes its not a complex job and outside his scope of work. I'm not even a handyman and I could do that job 100 times without changing a single door.

Who says he doesn't have insurance? Many handyman services are insured.

You obviously have never changed a tap before. No he wouldn't flood your house. If the tap leaked he would turn the water valve off. If he somehow broke that he would know where to shut the water main off. After that he would repair the valve and life would carry on as usual. This isn't rocket science, its a tap.
Actually I do property management have changed lots of taps have delt with lots of so called handyman and many do not have the proper tools and very few carry proper insurance.

Installing a deadbolt properly requires more then just drilling a couple holes.

Mack
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Old 01-09-2017, 11:57 AM
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Hmmm, pickups burn a good 30$ worth of gas in an hour.... so that is 30$ assuming purchase and maintenance is free as well as driving time is free. 50$ for a lock, and say 30$ for an hours wages.

that is still 110$ assuming the guy doesnt fix his truck, driving time is free, and his time grabbing a deadbolt is free as well.

Assume that the guy might want to get paid for maintenance or insurance and maybe a bit of driving time...... i am sure he didnt buy his truck/van for free either


As far as oil field goes....haha, if some one showed up and actually worked that would be a 50-100% reduction in costs right there without chopping rates lol

Wow time to tune your truck up if you are running 30L/100km
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