re: OT Electricians - Was This Price A Tad High?

if you're going to call people to do basic homecare you are going to pay for it...

that is a simple job...

I'm not the world best DIYer, but damn it, threads like this make me feel so good about myself.

A dimmer should be something any homeowner can replace, but supply and demand.

I’m an electrician.

That was highway robbery.

I would have charged $145-$175 at most.

If it makes you feel better, I got screwed royally on a water heater install.
Discovered it leaking the morning I had to go out of town for a week.
Home Depot and their hired contractors screwed me out of about $1000 for install.
Pissed me off because if some other issues too

Dude needs to turn in his man card

You could have hired someone from outside Home Depot to come do it for $50 but if your house burns down afterward because he/she/zim did shoddy work or “handyman style” you’d be wishing you paid a knowledgeable professional $350 to not burn your shite to the ground.

When it comes to trades you should be paying for skill not whether the job took 10 minutes or not.

You can’t base the cost off the time it takes.

If a 2 year guy goes and does it and it’s takes 1 hour and the 25 year guy can do it in 20 minutes just because of the experience level, you still would pay for the job done and not time it took

Price is about right. Small job or not, it takes a guys time.

That is why I fix shite myself.

Electrical contractor, master electrician, been in the trade 23 years.

I've had to go up on my rates twice this year because of a few factors. My general liability insurance just nearly tripled despite no claims since I've been in business. My weekly gas bill for all of my trucks has gone through the roof. The lease for our shop space went up by about 10%. Inflation is a bitch, but I'll adjust my rates accordingly.

Other factors were in-house decisions. I invested in training for my employees by sponsoring an apprenticeship program. I set up full health benefits, gave raises, purchased some new equipment, etc. All of those things make my company more valuable than the guy across town with an apprentice card that tells people he's a "licensed electrician." He'll show up in a beater with no insurance. I'm not going to charge less just because that guy charges less. I have zero issues telling someone that I have no interest in being the lowest bidder on anything.

I typically charge flat rates for things, because I shouldn't be punished for being faster than someone else and the client shouldn't be punished because one of my crews is slower. Everyone is protected that way, even if my flat rate is higher than another company's hourly rate. I'll make my money, and the client isn't hit with "it took longer than we thought" and a surprise bill.

All of that said, your cousin got ripped off. That's nearly double what I'd charge.