Most of the little things I did when doing contracting work didn't really cost that much extra, if I charged the customer at all, but it did prevent a lot of problems for them down the road.
I did point out to most customers why I did something the way I did and why.
Almost always they said they never thought of that, but was glad I did.
More often than not, if the customer understood why I did something extra of which I didn't charge them for, it almost always resulted in a nice tip when they paid the bill, which more than covered the materials and time it took.
Just to give a quick example:
I had a customer have me build a bathroom and two bedrooms in their basement.
One of the bedrooms was right next to the bathroom, with the door to the bathroom opening into the hallway between the two bedrooms.
The bathroom would have vinyl flooring, and the bedroom carpeting.
In order to make the bedroom larger. I made a curved wall around their water heater, rather than a box corner wall.
This would help whoever slept in where the bed went, not feel like they were boxed in between the closet and water heater area.
But getting back to the bathroom. Under the water heater was a floor drain.
Before I glued down, the 2x4 floor plates, I drilled a hole through the floor plate closest to the floor drain, and placed a short piece of copper pipe through the hole and let the other end turn toward the floor drain.
Then after the floor plate was glued down, I also added a healthy bead of silicone rubber around the inside perimeter of the bathroom.
This way, if someone overflowed the toilet, rather than the water run under the walls to the carpeted bedroom, the only place it could escape through was the little pipe to the floor drain. It was to the right but behind the toilet and about an inch left of the shower pan. It was not visible unless you really looked behind the toilet to see it.
Over the cement floor, after I used a leveling compound, I installed backer board which raised the floor about 1/4 inch, and where the pipe was, I filed a curve into the backer board which would be hidden by the baseboard but allow the vinyl floor to sag down about a 1/2 inch wide at the pipe, but again, hidden by the baseboard.
The owner thought this was the best idea since a pocket on a shirt.
In fact, they like every little thing I did extra for them, and they in turn gave me a healthy tip for my work.
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Over the 30 years at our last house we called in the services of a handyman or contractor more than once. Plumbers were prolific and choosing a random one out of the phone book (or Google) was a crap shoot. The truly amazing thing about plumbers is how different their quality of materials and workmanship could be. Essentially the same could be said for all the people we hired to do work for us. At the end of our tenure in that house we did some major remodeling. A local building contractor was recommended to us, by that I mean somebody located within a few miles of our house. Since they came highly recommended we ddin't balk at the high price they were quoting. As it turns out these guys specialized in doing a job right. The owner of the company had several sub-contractors he dealt with in addition to his own crew. Every one of them did the same high quality work. I'm positive you would have fit in well as one of their employees because y'all have the same idea about what is the right way to do things. The only difference I can sense is that you did not charge your customers for your exceptional expertise. The guys I hired did. Thus, they got no tip from me. 
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Because my Handymenders business was geared around helping senior citizens on fixed incomes, we kept our prices low for them. At least until the Unions told their retired workers they had to stop or lose their pensions.
I always felt I made a good salary while doing my work for others, and it was always more than what I was paid when I was working for someone else. But then too, I had a lot of expenses working for myself, contractors liability insurance was a big one.
When I was working on Historical Homes, this was for a large contractor who specialized only in historic home renovations. Now although he was charging his customers one heck of a high price, those doing the work, although paid more than when working for other contractors, was still a drop in the bucket in comparison.
To be perfectly honest, the more my customer base grew, the higher my prices became. But I was still usually half the price of any other tradesman, and did a whole lot more for my customers.
If you have a leaking pipe inside the wall and call a plumber. They will come in, find where the leak is, tear out the wall to get to it, make the plumbing repair, and most often leave all the torn out wall pieces and scrap right there for their customer to clean up. Then tell you you have to call a drywall company to replace the drywall, and a painter to finish the job. Oh, and they usually tore a wall out in such a way that the drywall guy had to cut out more to reach a stud.
When I did a similar job, I would find the leak, check where the studs were, carefully trim the drywall to the center of the existing studs, usually well enough I could replace the same piece of drywall. Repair the leaking pipe. Dry up the water from my work, as well as what water I could from the time it was leaking before I got there. Often this included using heat guns to dry out the inside of the wall before I buttoned it back up again. Then I would replace the drywall piece, screw it down and the edges of the existing drywall that stayed. Bevel my seams so the tape would not leave a bump, and mud the joints. I would use heat here too so I didn't have to come back the next day. I usually used three thin coats of mud rather than one thick one to ensure it was dry. Then I would sand, and wet sand, clean up all the dust and debris while the primer was drying, then mix a small amount of paint to match their existing paint. In some cases they had some spare paint left over, but it was usually too far gone, or the walls have faded. So it was faster for me to just color match as close as possible to what they had. It didn't always match perfectly, but you could feather spread the paint outward in such a way that the slight difference in color became unnoticeable.
In other words, one call did it all, and I left no mess behind. Most of the time the area was cleaner after I finished than when I started, hi hi.
I had one job where a guy wanted a clothes chute installed in a home where the upstairs walls did not line up with the downstairs walls. He had already called a few others who said they saw no way of installing a clothes chute for him.
I was there for several days working on another project for him and started studying the situation myself and happened to notice the furnace flue went from the basement straight up through the first floor, through the second floor and out the roof. Made a few measurements and found they had wasted enough room to install a kitchen cupboard and still be a foot away from the flue. Their washer and dryer were in a small room (mud room) off the kitchen, and this wasted space was right next to that doorway, but in the kitchen. They had just had all new wallpaper put in the kitchen too. I asked the owner if I could make a small 1/4 inch hole in his new wallpaper and showed him where, and also I could do it with the pattern of the wallpaper should I not be able to put in the clothes chute.
I went to the cabinet company where he got his cabinets and bought a cabinet door and frame that matched their kitchen cabinets then carefully cut out the drywall. I figured, even if I cannot get a clothes chute in for them, at least I could give them another storage area.
I had to build a floor inside this area, and install two layers of firewall to block the flue area separate from the clothes chute area. Then line this box with something slick, so I used enameled hardboard on all four walls.
An upstairs wall that was slightly offset from the back wall of the clothes chute, was also boxed out for the flue and already had 5/8 firewall around it. Luck of the Irish, this area spanned three times the width of the flue area. But being offset, I had to cut the flooring and sill plate to get into the wall above it. I had a piece of enameled hardboard left over just the right length to make like a little ramp from the ceiling of the bottom clothes chute box angled into the wall above it. Inside the wall I slid the standard metal 3-1/2 by 14 ductwork and upstairs cut a hole to place a clothes chute door. The only bad thing was, this was not in a hallway, it was in the master bedroom. The other side of the wall went into a tiled bathroom against the side of a vanity, so no way to put the door there.
The guy was happy as a lark with this, because the clothes chute door was between the two closets and on his side of the bed, so made it easy for him to toss his clothes down.
Would you believe, although I charged him nearly double my rate to install this clothes chute, this is one job where I got a one-thousand dollar tip from him, under the table. Which was only about 10% of the overall bill for all I did for him. When all was said and done, he showed me three estimates he got for the other work he had me do. I was still less than half of the lowest bid, which wasn't much lower than the middle bid, but a whole lot lower than the high bid which was almost a joke.
This was a job where we were both as happy as a Lark, hi hi.
I always felt I made a good salary while doing my work for others, and it was always more than what I was paid when I was working for someone else. But then too, I had a lot of expenses working for myself, contractors liability insurance was a big one.
When I was working on Historical Homes, this was for a large contractor who specialized only in historic home renovations. Now although he was charging his customers one heck of a high price, those doing the work, although paid more than when working for other contractors, was still a drop in the bucket in comparison.
To be perfectly honest, the more my customer base grew, the higher my prices became. But I was still usually half the price of any other tradesman, and did a whole lot more for my customers.
If you have a leaking pipe inside the wall and call a plumber. They will come in, find where the leak is, tear out the wall to get to it, make the plumbing repair, and most often leave all the torn out wall pieces and scrap right there for their customer to clean up. Then tell you you have to call a drywall company to replace the drywall, and a painter to finish the job. Oh, and they usually tore a wall out in such a way that the drywall guy had to cut out more to reach a stud.
When I did a similar job, I would find the leak, check where the studs were, carefully trim the drywall to the center of the existing studs, usually well enough I could replace the same piece of drywall. Repair the leaking pipe. Dry up the water from my work, as well as what water I could from the time it was leaking before I got there. Often this included using heat guns to dry out the inside of the wall before I buttoned it back up again. Then I would replace the drywall piece, screw it down and the edges of the existing drywall that stayed. Bevel my seams so the tape would not leave a bump, and mud the joints. I would use heat here too so I didn't have to come back the next day. I usually used three thin coats of mud rather than one thick one to ensure it was dry. Then I would sand, and wet sand, clean up all the dust and debris while the primer was drying, then mix a small amount of paint to match their existing paint. In some cases they had some spare paint left over, but it was usually too far gone, or the walls have faded. So it was faster for me to just color match as close as possible to what they had. It didn't always match perfectly, but you could feather spread the paint outward in such a way that the slight difference in color became unnoticeable.
In other words, one call did it all, and I left no mess behind. Most of the time the area was cleaner after I finished than when I started, hi hi.
I had one job where a guy wanted a clothes chute installed in a home where the upstairs walls did not line up with the downstairs walls. He had already called a few others who said they saw no way of installing a clothes chute for him.
I was there for several days working on another project for him and started studying the situation myself and happened to notice the furnace flue went from the basement straight up through the first floor, through the second floor and out the roof. Made a few measurements and found they had wasted enough room to install a kitchen cupboard and still be a foot away from the flue. Their washer and dryer were in a small room (mud room) off the kitchen, and this wasted space was right next to that doorway, but in the kitchen. They had just had all new wallpaper put in the kitchen too. I asked the owner if I could make a small 1/4 inch hole in his new wallpaper and showed him where, and also I could do it with the pattern of the wallpaper should I not be able to put in the clothes chute.
I went to the cabinet company where he got his cabinets and bought a cabinet door and frame that matched their kitchen cabinets then carefully cut out the drywall. I figured, even if I cannot get a clothes chute in for them, at least I could give them another storage area.
I had to build a floor inside this area, and install two layers of firewall to block the flue area separate from the clothes chute area. Then line this box with something slick, so I used enameled hardboard on all four walls.
An upstairs wall that was slightly offset from the back wall of the clothes chute, was also boxed out for the flue and already had 5/8 firewall around it. Luck of the Irish, this area spanned three times the width of the flue area. But being offset, I had to cut the flooring and sill plate to get into the wall above it. I had a piece of enameled hardboard left over just the right length to make like a little ramp from the ceiling of the bottom clothes chute box angled into the wall above it. Inside the wall I slid the standard metal 3-1/2 by 14 ductwork and upstairs cut a hole to place a clothes chute door. The only bad thing was, this was not in a hallway, it was in the master bedroom. The other side of the wall went into a tiled bathroom against the side of a vanity, so no way to put the door there.
The guy was happy as a lark with this, because the clothes chute door was between the two closets and on his side of the bed, so made it easy for him to toss his clothes down.
Would you believe, although I charged him nearly double my rate to install this clothes chute, this is one job where I got a one-thousand dollar tip from him, under the table. Which was only about 10% of the overall bill for all I did for him. When all was said and done, he showed me three estimates he got for the other work he had me do. I was still less than half of the lowest bid, which wasn't much lower than the middle bid, but a whole lot lower than the high bid which was almost a joke.
This was a job where we were both as happy as a Lark, hi hi.
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I have mixed feelings about labor unions. While briefly attending college I had a summer job that lasted ten weeks and I had to join a union to work as an assistant to meat cutters in a major chain store. It was obvious to me that all the union was interested in was collecting my membership fee, which exceeded one week's salary, and not much else. My entire time with Motorola was spent in a non-union shop. It's not like they didn't try to get in, but Motorola was pretty clever. They paid union scale and matched benefits of all the local union shops. There was no point in organizing.
As far as excessively high bids from contractors go, I had a few of those myself. My distinct impression was that these high bidders really didn't want the job for whatever reasons. So, in order not to turn down a job they made it unreasonable to hire them. I suppose it's possible that some tradesmen think they are so good that they can get above market price for their work. Those guys, however, quickly earn a reputation for their work and get tons of referrals.
One of my uncles retired at age 55. He moved down to Florida and spent quite a few years hiring himself out as a handyman for fellow retirees. Florida was full of them at the time. He paced himself and didn't work all the time. He was getting quite a good pension from Harvester (Teamsters Union) and really didn't need the income. It was just extra, plus he enjoyed helping out those old timers. Like yourself, my uncle eventually suffered a heart attack and had to quit working altogether.
As far as excessively high bids from contractors go, I had a few of those myself. My distinct impression was that these high bidders really didn't want the job for whatever reasons. So, in order not to turn down a job they made it unreasonable to hire them. I suppose it's possible that some tradesmen think they are so good that they can get above market price for their work. Those guys, however, quickly earn a reputation for their work and get tons of referrals.
One of my uncles retired at age 55. He moved down to Florida and spent quite a few years hiring himself out as a handyman for fellow retirees. Florida was full of them at the time. He paced himself and didn't work all the time. He was getting quite a good pension from Harvester (Teamsters Union) and really didn't need the income. It was just extra, plus he enjoyed helping out those old timers. Like yourself, my uncle eventually suffered a heart attack and had to quit working altogether.
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When Unions first came about, they were to help the working man. They were needed at the time.
However, they have outlived their usefulness and are now more of a hindrance to the working man, and all for the Union bosses lining their pockets.
I probably mentioned this before, but I had to join the union as a trainee, this does not make me a full-union member.
I can work my way up the ranks from Cub, Apprentice, to Journeyman, but cannot move on to Master unless I became a full-union member.
However, you can get your trade license after you complete the Journeyman level.
And here is the Stinger...
You do not have to belong to a union to get your trades license, but they give a different test than for union members, and the price is usually at least a thousand dollars higher back when I took my tests.
After I got my plumbers license I dropped from the plumbers union for a good reason.
I was also a trainee level union member for the electrical workers union.
I worked my way up the ladder there to Journeyman level and took my licensing tests before dropping my Union status.
One cannot belong to the Plumbers Union and also the Electrical Workers Union, they don't allow it.
This is how they stifle an individual from getting ahead in life.
To be Union, you have to be one or the other, not both.
And besides, I had a bigger goal in mind to become a licensed General Contractor, which I did achieve.
I also got my HVAC license without belonging to their union but managed to get the union price on the tests.
By the time other unions moved in to take over flatwork, drywall finishing, and the like, I was so well known among the companies I did work for, and with private individuals, they didn't really care if I was union or not.
Although being non-union and working on some jobs where both non-union and union workers were present did present some difficulties. I had to pass some of my work over to union workers to prevent friction with the contractor who hired me.
At our family business, the Teamsters Union tried to get our delivery drivers to join them.
They were smart enough to see that if they did, it would be a cut in pay and less benefits.
Plus many of our drivers were off-duty police and firemen who already belonged to their own respective unions.
In fact, it was because of the Service Unions our city had to split the combined Police/Fire Department into two separate entities, and then later the EMS firemen became a separate entity of their own also, but still worked from the firehouse.
There are so many laws in place now to protect the worker, there is no need for unions anymore.
One last comment. St. Louis has always been a Union city. A sharp contrast to Knoxville which is a non-union city.
However, they have outlived their usefulness and are now more of a hindrance to the working man, and all for the Union bosses lining their pockets.
I probably mentioned this before, but I had to join the union as a trainee, this does not make me a full-union member.
I can work my way up the ranks from Cub, Apprentice, to Journeyman, but cannot move on to Master unless I became a full-union member.
However, you can get your trade license after you complete the Journeyman level.
And here is the Stinger...
You do not have to belong to a union to get your trades license, but they give a different test than for union members, and the price is usually at least a thousand dollars higher back when I took my tests.
After I got my plumbers license I dropped from the plumbers union for a good reason.
I was also a trainee level union member for the electrical workers union.
I worked my way up the ladder there to Journeyman level and took my licensing tests before dropping my Union status.
One cannot belong to the Plumbers Union and also the Electrical Workers Union, they don't allow it.
This is how they stifle an individual from getting ahead in life.
To be Union, you have to be one or the other, not both.
And besides, I had a bigger goal in mind to become a licensed General Contractor, which I did achieve.
I also got my HVAC license without belonging to their union but managed to get the union price on the tests.
By the time other unions moved in to take over flatwork, drywall finishing, and the like, I was so well known among the companies I did work for, and with private individuals, they didn't really care if I was union or not.
Although being non-union and working on some jobs where both non-union and union workers were present did present some difficulties. I had to pass some of my work over to union workers to prevent friction with the contractor who hired me.
At our family business, the Teamsters Union tried to get our delivery drivers to join them.
They were smart enough to see that if they did, it would be a cut in pay and less benefits.
Plus many of our drivers were off-duty police and firemen who already belonged to their own respective unions.
In fact, it was because of the Service Unions our city had to split the combined Police/Fire Department into two separate entities, and then later the EMS firemen became a separate entity of their own also, but still worked from the firehouse.
There are so many laws in place now to protect the worker, there is no need for unions anymore.
One last comment. St. Louis has always been a Union city. A sharp contrast to Knoxville which is a non-union city.
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Chicago was highly unionized, plus the mayor ran the place like a Mafia business. As it turned out he was very popular and stayed in office for something like 20 years. His son followed in his dad's footsteps, but Junior wasn't as well refined in running the family business as was his dad. The Unions in Chicago were indeed run by the bona fide Mafia of Italian heritage. LOL It's because of that way of doing business that the unions in Chicagoland were more powerful than those you apparently ran into. One example would be that you could not work on a job site along side union members. Some unfortunate things might happen to you, or your car, or your dog, or heaven forbid you family, if you tried. You also would not be able to undercut union scale. You would be visited by some representatives of the union who preached to you how unfair you were being to their members. The unions were still strong when I left, but nothing like it was 20-30 years ago. It seems politicians took over from the union bosses and kind of evened things out a bit. The founder of Motorola, for example, was next door neighbor to one of the two state Senators back in the day, which is why Motorola didn't need to be unionized. Those were the days, my friend ...
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When I was driving OTR, I did get the snot beat out of me a few times by Teamsters.
When I was running for our own family business, making trips down to Florida to pick up plants and greenery, they never once bothered me.
Needless to say, they also did not bother me while running government loads, mainly because none of them wanted those type loads. And I also had government security cars in front and behind me the whole way, hi hi.
While I was hauling loads for Aldi is when they laid into me hot and heavy several times. I always had to go to the out of the way truck stops for fuel, because if I pulled into a main fuel stop, sure enough, one or more would knock me around or do things to the rig while I was inside eating or whatever.
I hauled hundreds of one-way loads in privately owned trailers. Even when I was hauling for NA van lines, it was only to drop off a trailer, then on the way home I would pick up a trailer at a meat processing plant and haul it to Bow Wow dog food company in Rolla, and sometimes, rather than bob-tail it back to St. Loo, I could grab a one-way load from some local company in Rolla.
In later years, I occasionally drove for Seimers Sand and Gravel and one other company I forget the name of off hand. We filled up locally both fuel and load, so no truck stop stops. However, the destination where the load was being emptied was often met with problems from unions working the job site, if they knew I was a non-union driver. Word gets around fast.
Only once in all the time I was driving did a union foreman call off the dogs because he knew I could not join their union as I was already a union member in a different trade. He just yelled to his crew I was a union member so back off. Apparently word got around about that too and they didn't bother me much the rest of the time I was hauling for Seimers.
When I was running for our own family business, making trips down to Florida to pick up plants and greenery, they never once bothered me.
Needless to say, they also did not bother me while running government loads, mainly because none of them wanted those type loads. And I also had government security cars in front and behind me the whole way, hi hi.
While I was hauling loads for Aldi is when they laid into me hot and heavy several times. I always had to go to the out of the way truck stops for fuel, because if I pulled into a main fuel stop, sure enough, one or more would knock me around or do things to the rig while I was inside eating or whatever.
I hauled hundreds of one-way loads in privately owned trailers. Even when I was hauling for NA van lines, it was only to drop off a trailer, then on the way home I would pick up a trailer at a meat processing plant and haul it to Bow Wow dog food company in Rolla, and sometimes, rather than bob-tail it back to St. Loo, I could grab a one-way load from some local company in Rolla.
In later years, I occasionally drove for Seimers Sand and Gravel and one other company I forget the name of off hand. We filled up locally both fuel and load, so no truck stop stops. However, the destination where the load was being emptied was often met with problems from unions working the job site, if they knew I was a non-union driver. Word gets around fast.
Only once in all the time I was driving did a union foreman call off the dogs because he knew I could not join their union as I was already a union member in a different trade. He just yelled to his crew I was a union member so back off. Apparently word got around about that too and they didn't bother me much the rest of the time I was hauling for Seimers.
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While Motorola was a non-union shop, they were forced into using teamster truckers to haul their goods. I don't recall what exactly the deal was, but they were allowed to use one independent transport company. I believe they were called Monroe Trucking, but maybe not. None of the drivers for that company were unionized, and they all lived to talk about it. However, they were the only non-union trucks allowed on Motorola property.
Aside from what the labor unions do not do for their members, I am totally turned off by the bully tactics they supposedly use. I think unions lost a lot of member thanks to Ronald Reagan of all people. He was not my favorite president, but I did giggle a lot about what he did with air traffic controllers.
Aside from what the labor unions do not do for their members, I am totally turned off by the bully tactics they supposedly use. I think unions lost a lot of member thanks to Ronald Reagan of all people. He was not my favorite president, but I did giggle a lot about what he did with air traffic controllers.
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Aldi was non-union, and North American Van Lines was both union and non-union. The big difference there had to do with loading and unloading. If it was a straight haul the job went to union drivers, if it was a pickup or delivery of furniture it went to non-union drivers, who also had to load and unload. Most union drivers just wanted to drive and do no other work, so there was little squabble about who took what loads, hi hi.
Another flower shop near us where the drivers joined the union quit doing all the other jobs they used to have to do.
As an example: Between deliveries, most drivers for flower shops reload the coolers, sweep the floors and take out the flower stems on the floor to the trash bins. In our case, they sometimes even cut flowers in the greenhouses and put them in our basement storage coolers. In other words they didn't sit around for a couple of hours waiting for a load to be ready.
Most of the flower shops who did have their drivers go union on them, stopped doing their own deliveries and hired outside flower delivery companies which popped up fairly fast and were usually union, but not always.
One of the largest flower shops downtown went totally union, even their floral designers belonged to something like a union, AIFD I believe it was. That being said, most florist businesses belong to several organizations, like SAF. Since we had our own greenhouses and did both wholesale and retail we belonged to quite a few.
Another flower shop near us where the drivers joined the union quit doing all the other jobs they used to have to do.
As an example: Between deliveries, most drivers for flower shops reload the coolers, sweep the floors and take out the flower stems on the floor to the trash bins. In our case, they sometimes even cut flowers in the greenhouses and put them in our basement storage coolers. In other words they didn't sit around for a couple of hours waiting for a load to be ready.
Most of the flower shops who did have their drivers go union on them, stopped doing their own deliveries and hired outside flower delivery companies which popped up fairly fast and were usually union, but not always.
One of the largest flower shops downtown went totally union, even their floral designers belonged to something like a union, AIFD I believe it was. That being said, most florist businesses belong to several organizations, like SAF. Since we had our own greenhouses and did both wholesale and retail we belonged to quite a few.
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Things could get complicated and there was a lot of pettiness going on in the business world. Office politics is often worse than government politics. LOL I'm glad I do not have to deal with that anymore, although I do miss the work I was doing. That too must have changed over the past decade so that maybe it would not be fun anymore these days.
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I had a job I loved, and after I was gone, I found out how much the company changed, and am glad I never got the promotion I was supposed to get or would have been stuck with them under contracts.
It's hard for me to work for an employer as well, since I was basically self-employed for most of my life. Working in a family business is also more or less like being self-employed, since you have to do everything you wouldn't as an employee to do or couldn't for security reasons.
It's hard for me to work for an employer as well, since I was basically self-employed for most of my life. Working in a family business is also more or less like being self-employed, since you have to do everything you wouldn't as an employee to do or couldn't for security reasons.