Just wondering what everyone's experience is with wrenching for large dealerships vs small construction/trucking companies? I've been at this professionally for 9 years now and spent most of it with large dealers. I'm honestly at my wits end with all the politics/corporate BS/lack of being treated like a person vs a number. I'm about ready to cut it loose from the current company I'm with. I've never worked for a small company before and was wondering, in general of course, what the work environment is like.
Worked both and enjoyed small companies more in spite of lower pay, frequent job changes and harder work. I'm not very capable or tolerant when it comes to politics. If you can put up with it, I think you'll agree that the pay is generally better at the big companies.
The benefits/pay is what originally attracted me to the big companies. That and the potential for technical training. I hate changing jobs but I'm mentally drained by all the politics, policies and pointless company meetings/conferences. I'm thinking a smaller construction/logging company with less than 40 units would be more my thing.
I did my first 13 years with family owned and the last 7 with Corporate, I think politics and bad people can be found in both. In both cases some idiot can make it in to management just because he keeps coming to work each day, not because they have any useful skills. I enjoyed a smaller fleet because I got to know the machines very well,, but in the end that was the same reason I left, because it got boring and repetitive. All the things you listed are what I like about a dealer, and I used to think if I went back to a smaller place I wouldn't have any access to high tech stuff, but I think that argument is slipping as we hit the first decade of DPF. I think we'll all need some type of computer no matter where you are, a place that thinks they can avoid tech forever is doomed.
I've done both also.. 1st 16 years w/ small company.. loved it.. THEN like MB said.. management changed to UN qualified IDIOTS & things got bad FAST.. I left .. Went to work AT THE FACTORY.. MAKING injection pumps from steel & aluminum bar stock.. what an eye opener THAT WAS.. I had the EXACT SAME "people" there.. I could sit and watch & say, that's so & so.. & that's so & so.. from the OLD company.. same people, different faces.. & I left because of the meetings & politics also.. The money was FANTASTIC tho.. I lasted 3 years to the date.. BUT the "structure" was the same for everyone.. no "favorites" in corporate.. The managers were walked to the door, just as quick as the janitor, if they weren't doing their job... Went back to the small company FOR ME & my piece of mind.. Took a HUGE pay cut.. BUT I'm home every nite & not 100 miles away, 1 way.. Now I'm 100 miles round trip.. Lol Its REALLY a "personal thing".. Some folks like being a number & out of site.. SOME like being in the spot lite & having a "say" in how things are done.. others like being told what to do.. & THATS ALL they're gonna do.. We HAD a guy.. the key word is HAD.. that was his fallback saying.. "nobody told me to do THAAAT".. BUT he lasted 15 years.. go figure..
Good employers come in all sizes. Larger ones usually have better benefits and retirement programs. All sizes can have favorites. I have done both and self employed. Don't sell yourself short applying for a smaller company. If you can save them money not having to take as much to the dealer you are worth more money. Thank I did the best doing my big company regular job and some side work. Should have just stayed a driver - wrench and never moved up to being over anyone. Got mad and quite. Miss the benefits and training not the BS. Would have been eligable for retirement before now but I'll just keep working. Good luck with your choices.
The lower pay and possible worse benefits isn't a huge deal for me. I could live with it (single w/no kids). For the most part I'm happiest at work when I'm just left alone. We're going through a bit of a shake up in the company right now and we're coming up on the busy season. Thinking I should just stick around for the winter and see how it looks in the spring.
Many of the smaller companies are union. Pay is the same with them as with the large ones. A smart company is always going to take care of a good mechanic. Good mechanics that can work without being watched over are a valuable profit center. Don't ever accept less benefits. You guys are worth more than that.
Never worked the heavy dealer side, but working in automotive dealers vs. small family owned shops was apples and oranges. Usually make more at the dealer, little better benefits, more stress, more backstabbing and *** covering, more employees means more stupid to deal with. One of my favorite auto shops I worked in had 3 mechanics and the owner worked the desk. Craphole little shop, no benefits, decent money, little stress, and rather that trying to keep warm bodies in the door, We could be selective about the work we did so as not to tie up bays with junk work that didn't pay, he strove to keep the 3 of us happy. The downside was no insurance, very little retirement with no match. I have stayed in contact with that shop and on good terms, and have even done some after hours cash work for them.
The right small company is by far the best of both worlds. I've worked for mostly small companies or ran my own (which was the majority of my adult working life). A properly run small company generally is small because the owner/s like it that way, not because they don't have work or financial means to grow. So you have big company financial means but often not the big company bs. That's what I like about where I'm at, main reason I took the job. I knew them well from the days they were a customer of mine. We're the size we are because that's where the owner likes it. No other reason. Not lack of work, money or anything else. We're union, I started the same per hour as I was making with my friends excavating company. Big change was the union benefit package. My dues are $31.00 a month and about $40 a week supplemental (whatever that goes to lol) which gets me health, dental, vision, pension and vacation pay. With my large family I'll singlehandedly bankrupt their a$$es haha. Point being the right small place might offer big company perks with small company atmosphere. Honestly I wouldn't pigeonhole my decision to big or small, I'd look at the entire picture. Atmosphere, pay, benefits, stress/responsibility level, opportunity for advancement etc. I get offers all the time and have yet to get one that had me thinking for longer than a minute. I don't know what's different about unions up there. Part of me wishes I had started in the union much earlier in my career. They have their downside yes, but what doesn't? Heck move out of that cold *** place and come down here. We'll start our own small company!
Problem with "small companies" is that if they are successful they either get to be big companies or get bought by big companies who think they can make even more money. First thing they do to the smaller company is start making changes to save money to help them pay for what buying this company cost them. Next they add a few extra layers of management to "help" control expenses. When I started in the shop back in the `70's I would not say it was a small company more of a mid-sized one. At the state level there was one guy above my direct supervisor and that guy reported to the president of the company. So if there was something that needed a major decision the most people who needed to be involved above my immediate supervisor was say two people, you often had an answer in a day or two. Now due to several mergers and acquisitions and such there are many more levels of management and what used to take a day or two to get answered now might take months! Like the time we needed to replace a gear pump on a 980G Cat. Cat's price from local dealer was approx. $1,000.00. I did a search online and found an outfit that had a new in box original Cat pump that I could buy for $500.00. The only "catch" is I needed to pay for it either cash or company credit card. Back "in the day" local supervisors had company credit cards and up to a set dollar amount could purchase on them. Not any more! Now it had to go through the chain of command up the ladder. After a few weeks my supervisor said call the dealer and pay the $1,000.00 and be done with it. A few weeks latter one of the "upper rungs" was talking to me and tried to explain how due to book-keeping factors the company could save more money buy paying the $1,000.00 over saving the $500.00 on the pump I won't say that was the reason I decided to retire when I hit 65 but thing like that played a part!
Managers are sometimes trained to think that managers are the money-making end of any business. Ever heard the saying "The easiest person to sell to is a salesman"? It's true because the salesman, in his warped, self-glorifying way of thinking assumes sales people actually bring a lot to the negotiating table and buys the product because he's impressed with the salesman. Maybe the same psychology applies to managers. Reason vs. procedure. Small companies usually think their way through problems and decisions by taking variables into account that might effect the outcome. In other words their decisions are based on reason, good or bad, depending on the intellect of the bosses. Large companies have policies and procedures to make those decisions for them and one of the main variables to be taken into account is the consequence of not following their own company's policies. They live in a world of policies and procedures, not a world of reasons. Often they cannot be reasoned with and when they can, about as far as you can ever go with them is to get your boss to admit the company's policies are asinine.
kshansen: You inspire me to share this from 1987 or 8. Shop running about 50 tractors and some contract work. Tires were purchased nation account new and recaps. Hey boss: The one inch air gun blew up. Local IHC dealer has them on sale for less than the national account tire supply. No that is over our authorized tool purchase. You have to fill out the request form and mail it to me. Then I have to sign it and mail it to corporate. What do we do when we need a tire changed? Just call your local tire company we get the caps from. OK. They were working Sundays putting on sets of tires and meeting our on call man to provide them our tire to put on our units. Monthly report came out and I got a call about outside repair expense, thousands of dollars. Well you said when we needed a tire changed just call the local nation account company. We cannot repair or replace tires because we do not have a one inch air gun. YOU GO BUY ONE RIGHT NOW! But I need that in righting on my tool requisition form please. In an open managers meeting I was told I have a bad attitude. Their decisions cost the company money and screwed up my bonus. Should have just asked to go back to a wrench like Bob, at a different company. Manager said Bob we are in a jam and you have to work over. Bob paused and said: In section number XYZ of the personal manual it says 24 hours notice is required to mandate working OT. I would like to help you out but I have a previous engagement. Stepped forward, punched the clock and walked out. It is wise to know the rules. Work, benefits, insurance and such. I can only speak from hind sight.
A very large health care company that I worked for in the 80s and 90s has national purchasing agreements for just about all construction components. On one multi million dollar hospital project I supervised they issued a change order near the end of the project which required me to order an additional 36 light fixtures. It would take four weeks to get them on the national purchase agreement. I started looking around and found a local supplier that could get them in a week saving $60.00 each over the national purchase agreement price. I ordered them. A month or so after the project was completed (on the original schedule) I got called in to a corporate meeting to review the project as was standard procedure. I expected it to be a clean review as the project was on time, the operating management was happy, and it was completed under budget. I was floored when the whole meeting was about badgering me for not following corporate policy by purchasing the lights locally and not using the national purchase agreement. It did not matter that I saved a ton of money and the project completed on time instead of having a costly delay. I would have probably been canned if the hospital manager has not spoke up for me and told him what I done was in complete agreement with him. I had only told him after the fact that I was able to get the lights locally. It was a couple of years later that a upper manager let it slip that the national purchase agreement was cheaper only because the extra money was refunded back into the corporate pockets. As the hospitals are non profit but the clinics and pharmacies are for profit (owned by the docs) it was another way to transfer hospital funds into their pockets. An interesting tidbit. Nationally it averages only 1.5 cents of your health care dollar that goes to total construction and maintenance of health care facilities including new construction and equipment. Yet I was told a thousand times if I was told once that we were the reason why health care was so high. I guess its just because construction is so visible.
Having worked for 2 dealers, a handful of farms, and a trucking fleet... Smaller the better if all else is the same, who you work with can and will ruin a great job. I loved working for Kenworth/IH, the servicemanager left to take a position as sales manager for the entire company after 20 years at that store, it just didn't function well after that and I left. Now I work for a small farm, it's tiny, less than 400 acres. I run the shop (I have 1 helper/intern) and have tremendous say in all aspects of the company, it's great. I do get retirement match and a healthcare allowance. I'm starting my own business part time next year and eventually will probably cut back my hours at the farm, time will tell.
The last refuge of the out-argued supervisor is to claim you have an attitude problem. It blankets everything and requires no thought on the part of the accuser.
They are usually correct, we have a problem with THEIR attitude. Ed
The LAST TIME I was accused of having a bad attitude, I said>> "I didn't wake-up like this.. think about THAT".. lol
Was a mechanic at a couple of truck lines, couple of dealers, leasing companies, open door small garages and private utility large companies as well on my own as mechanic and owner of a small truck company while wrenched on any machine known built from small gas engines to Quarry equipment. Got good at diagnostics and ended up working foreman in more than one of these places to which I was EXPECTED to not only do all the diagnosing for an entire crew but put out forty hours a week as chargeable time in a few. Got disgusted one day at a Utility Co garage, change in mgmt. and change in direction they were headed I signed out to power station work becoming a roaming operator in station. Self directed, self organized, always looking at and listening to the machine that everyone thought was stupid, 25 years wrench bender, 20 years station operator, a few years in between's odd jobbing. My attitude went from good to bad in all of them due to inept or corrupt or just stupid managing techniques. One shop manager told us he had been trained that angry employees worked harder so he intentionally pissed us off! I was not there long.
I remember one time I was given a raise of $1 per hour that I had not asked for, I was on cloud 9, happy, working harder than ever before and loving it. That lasted all of 1 day before I was called on the carpet over some silly thing, and it became the same daily grind. I kept the raise though.
Good to know its not just me getting the shaft with poor management at least.
Maybe he was right but I would have quit too. One oil company I worked at openly advocated jerking people around constantly to keep them from becoming complacent. I think it did work, at least on the employees who as stupid as management. They paid pretty well.
Now a bit off topic but have any of you ever worked at a manufacturing facility? Like outfits that build trailers, flatdecks, tanks, headache racks etc. Been considering that as a possible career move in the next year or 2 as well. Always wanted to become a fabricator/welder.
I personally have found that working in a plant ( maintenance and repair) gets boring after a year or two. I prefer the service truck. The work may be the same but the scenery is different almost every day. Cam
I worked at the injection pump manuf. plant, where they MAKE the inj. pumps from block aluminum.. The work was steady & you KNOW what you have to do DAY IN & DAY OUT.. Like shawn said> BORING. & the work was soley dependent on CONTRACTS.. so when the contract was filled.. down the road you go.. [lay-off] BEFORE making the jump> talk to some of the employees.. find out about lay-offs & work load..
Good points.
I've been through just about all the positions, in the passed mostly due to being young and unable to put down roots or put up with employers that pissed me off...ugh. I did almost take a job working for a company that did Frac truck/trailer builds, seemed really interesting then the more I looked into it there was very little actual work, mostly low labour cost assembly teams, I would have been the mechanic doing final inspections and some sort of setups....would have been interesting for a while but not long term, the wage wasn't very good either. Worked most of my carrier with dealerships did a stint of management as well and worked for some small contractors as well as big commercial contractors. I always loved being on the leading edge of technology and constantly learning at the dealerships, with the advent of Tier 4i and Tier 4final emissions systems we became mostly warranty parts changers. I've always preferred smaller outfits and managed to work in smaller branches. I set up my own service truck and work for myself now, best move I ever made. If you've got the opportunity give it a shot, it's a ton of work but well worth it.
I went from working for a small business and being the only mechanic, to working at one of the biggest corporations around. It's a fleet job, for a utility company, which is probably different than working for a large dealership, or strictly heavy equipment like most of you guys do. I loved the previous job, but got attracted to the glitter of how a big company looks on "paper", or how they looked on the job posting. Big bucks, big benefits, but along with those things comes big BS. I'm my opinion, a big corporate job is great for people who don't care, and those of us that do care are unhappy the whole time, just there to collect a paycheck. The guys that are "happy" where I work are the ones that choose to not give a **** all day. I can't stand it. It reflects on us all as a whole. We all get bunched up in that category. Needless to say, I think about putting in 30 years until retirement and I go into a brief depression. personally I'm starting to reach out to some local companies I know about future opportunities that might come up, and to let them know I'm looking for something else. I get "why would you leave that job??" reaction all the time,I just tell people they wouldn't understand. I'd say take your time and find a great small company to work for. Make sure they have good history, and that they've been a "small" company for a long time and they won't all the sudden try to become big, I think that's the worst thing companies can do. Try and be something they're not. There's great small companies that pay as good as the big boys, offer benefits package, and give you the freedom to be a large asset to the operation. OR, grow some nuts like the rest of us won't do, and start your own business!! I do a bit of sidework and all the guys I work for always asking me why I don't buy a service truck and quit my job, I got a wife and a one year old and a mortgage. It's intimidating once you're already tied down. but I'm like you, I'll need a change eventually. Good luck
I would love to have my own truck. Its just not feasible for me right now. Things have turned around a bit since I started this thread. I'm going to stick around for a while if things stay on the current path.
VERY well said..WCR..
One thing to think about is a job where you don't move around much. Years ago I worked automotive machine and that type of work is hard on your legs, lower back and neck. I liked the work but standing where your installing seats and guides all day gets pretty old and your body won't like it either. Where I work for the last twenty years I have the best work environment, I move around constantly even doing gear and engine work and I have a unobstructed view of the Blue mountains and rolling wheat fields and that is a bonus to me. Truck Shop
I have been doing service and repair work as an independent for the last few years. I went about it in a different way meaning no big service rig that I have to charge $150 per hour and $3.50 per mile. 90% of the work can be done out of my 3/4 ton pickup by planing ahead and having what I need. What I am selling is my skill and knowledge not running a tool rental. Most of my customers ether do not have enough pieces to justify a full time mechanic or need an extra mechanic to catch up on back log. The first winter things got slow for a month or so but since that I can not keep up with the work load. Not a week goes by that I am not offered a full time job but I know once you go that way all the rules change. In the end my theory is low overhead work chases you but big overhead you have to chase work.
Won't strike it rich but will stay busy. Did that a number of years before deciding was just wearing myself out for too little reward. Could not see working til I died as so many do, decided the retirement program gig was a better alternative.
All true but I don't think your going to strike it rich working for the "man" ether. What made me leave my last "real job" was asking for a month off so my wife and I could go touring on our bikes before we were to old to do it. They said that I can't take the time off, "so I packed up my bags and took off down the road". Now when I want to take off I talk with my customers and they get it no hard feelings.
I agree. Smaller overhead = less stress in my mind. I had an F450 I had somewhat tooled up for sidework. After registration, insurance, etc, I had to work a certain amount of hours a month just to cover those costs, which is not why I do sidework. So I sold the thing, and I'm flatbedding my dodge pickup. Keeping it simple. Snap on road box, couple top mount boxes and miller bobcat 200 airpak. Just enough for services/light-med repair. Keep it simple. Im focusing more on laptop diag, Electrical. Guys seem to love it as most of the time it's one less trip to the dealer. My point is, you can have the 9-5 job, but also have the ability to make extra money. It's a good balance in my opinion. .... Oh wait, a lot of you guys work for the dealers who would can your ass after hearing one rumor that your working on the side. Such BS! Boy I'd have a real hard time having someone tell me what I can and can't do outside of work.
I was working for the Volvo construction equipment dealer in Chicago, til they closed on us. Almost 11 years. I really enjoyed that job. I got to work on special projects, make this machine work with that implement sort of thing. I got to work on nearly all aspects of the machines. We didn't do specialized tasks such as hydro and injection pumps. But we did everything else , engines, trans , axles , framework electrical obviously we did a lot. Prior to that, it was dealership and mom n pop truck shops . I found the smaller places quicker to respond to needs, albeit maybe not the most appropriately. I enjoyed the variety of the dealer jobs. Never a dull moment, same could be said for the truck dealers. Cummins one day, Cat the next then maybe a fuller super 10 or rockwell power divider . Then there were the ghosts. The intermittent gremlin that would only act up when you're not there. All fun challenges, all kept you from standing stationary all day long. The worse thing in the world, in my opinion, is just standing. I'd rather roll mains in an old E6 Mack that ran 30k oil drains.i I like using my noggin' . Thats how i found this place.
I've thought about doing some sidework. I'm allowed to as long as it isn't for a customer who deals with my employer. I just find after putting in 7 twelve hour days I just want to enjoy my days off. One day I will likely go out on my own but I want some more experience and money in the bank first.
I applaud your dedication to work, but just keep one thing in the back of your mind. All the wages in the world dont mean $#!T if you're not alive to spend it. 8 hours for work, 8 for sleep and the rest is travel time. Lol
I do 7 days on and 7 off so I get a pretty good work/life balance.
92U 3406, One more piece of advice: If you do start doing some side work watch out for the guys that don't maintain their equipment. The first clue is when they call they need it yesterday and when you get there their stuff is beat. Trying to help them out will end up hurting your reputation.
Thank you for the advice Actually remember having a customer pull a stunt like that at the first dealer I worked for. Beat up old machine and they wanted us to go through it. They only wanted about 1/4 of what we found fixed. Fair enough, its their iron. They get it back and a week later its got all kinds of faults on it and its not running right. They were pretty upset because they just spent big money on repairs to this machine. Turned out the engine harness was shot. The kicker was that we quoted them an engine harness replacement and they decided it wasn't neccessary.
Love it when the chickens come home to roost.
I got sick of both, so I started my own company Maybe the "pros / cons" of starting your own business is material for a different thread.
Yes, then there are the guys who if you put a new cutting edge on the bucket of the front end loader and a week latter the radiator starts leaking they try to say it's your fault! Hey you were the last one to work on it, don't you warranty your work?
I used to make notes for customers so they could research repairs at other shops if they chose to. Would let them know the repairs they NEEDED to get done as would shut down the machines but few if ever listened and went cheap on most occasions.
Customer: "Don't you guarantee......?" Me: "I don't guarantee the sun is going to rise tomorrow."
True story, about a month ago, I got a call from my best customer. He's worth about 15K a year to me. He calls in a panic, saying he blew a hole in the heat exchanger on his ASV track steer. It's a big aluminum radiator like thing on the back that has 2 compartments, one for the engine coolant, one for the hydraulic fluid. I asked him if he was 100% certain it had a hole in it, he said yes. I told him I'll order one for him, that the part alone costs 3 grand. He said ok. He brought it in, he didn't want me to troubleshoot it, just replace it quickly. I swapped it out, serviced the fluids and filters, checked out the hydraulic system completely, and added a relief valve to assure it won't happen again. He took it back and works fine. I did some forensic testing on the exchanger, and it held 150 psi for an hour. That thing didn't have a hole in it, but it had hydraulic fluid all over the outside. I did notice that one of the filter gaskets looked a little damaged. I'm guessing that filter got a little pressure, and unseated the gasket, and sprayed fluid onto the exchanger, and his guys thought it was a hole. I haven't had the heart to tell him yet, don't know if I ever will. So I got a perfectly good exchanger for an ASV if anyone needs one
I've been independent for the last 6 years, started out of the back of a pickup, saved up and bought my enclosed service truck outright, of course I'm not fancy but I do love my warm, wind/dust/snow free mobile shop. I have very little overhead and pass that on to the customer with a lower rate then most other mobile mechanics around here, I do quite a few cash jobs for individuals throughout the year which allows me to keep being affordable. I stay away from having to buy expensive diagnostic tools, though I would love to have them. Cannot justify the cost, if need be I just hire Brandt, Finning, Wajax etc to scan while I'm with the machine, that way I know exactly what's going on and it gets done right, just because they work for a big brand or have tickets for this and that, doesn't automatically make them any good. I've seen this many times... I do not need undercarriage work in my life (my personal machines are another story!) I send all that to an aquaintance who has his own truck as well and is more set up for that type of work, still waiting for him to return the favor.... I have found the best way to deal with demanding nightmare customers who don't maintain their equipment is to not beat around the bush, tell them straight up what it is, "your machine is a wore out neglected POS, want me to just cut it up for scrap instead?" I don't worry about offending them because an unmaintained neglected machine offends me! I try to "teach" customers like that a lesson, if they figure it out, great! If not it just costs them in the end. A fool and their money are soon parted. The hardest part is saying NO! Most of these people have burned many bridges, that gives us the upper hand, and if they don't like what they hear, they can find someone else, oh wait they pissed everyone else off! I have no feelings for these type of humans, I will take their money but it will be on my terms. Like it or leave it. Covering your ass right off the bat is crucial with these types! I demand written communication about the important details, that way I have an easy legal record of what was or wasn't said. If they try to spread bad word, the other 50 satisfied customers will cancel it out. I'm in a small community so word travels fast, different in a big center? Don't be afraid to tell the truth and what you feel is best. You'll get more respect in the end. I'm a different breed then most, I do not like the idea of money and the way this world operates, I tend to barter quite a bit which usually works out well for both parties. I'm not out to get rich by any means, I make enough for what I want to accomplish in life and work usually comes to me when I need it. I work more for the challenge then the money, it feels good. Life is all about feeling good being happy and doing what YOU want to do, not what someone else wants you to do. I'm not going to die for money like a lot of people, make someone else all the coin while you destroy your body, start your own business but make a fatal financial mistake and do everything exactly the way the government wants you too (sheeple) finally get enough saved to slow down and relax then shortly after that get cancer from the asbestos you inhaled at said Jay oh bee and die an excruciating death. This is what happened to my father and it changed my way of thinking. I'd rather live off the land in the bush, with nothing more then a knife and loin cloth, hey wait, I prit' near do! Hah! Wow quite the rant.. Hopefully someone will agree with some of that, if any of it made sense. What a nut!
made a helluva lotta sense to ME..
GregsHD, If it work for you than it works for me. Your rant is what I think many of us feel at times. The bottom line is that if you are more useful to them than they are to you I think that is what we call freedom.
I loved working for a larger company until it became 12 hours from home instead of 5 . After 30 years at this, I think your reputation really means more than anything. My 3 sons are doing work for people I worked with in the 80's. Everyone has a different situation and you just have to find what works for you. It isn't always ideal, but it may lead to better things. I have come to the point that I hate to even send a bill out for 2 weeks or so, until I am totally sure the customer is happy, even though my accountant doesn't agree (wife) .
I feel your pain KJ.. I've got 2 RIGHT NOW that wont pay or slow pay.. 1 for 1080 & 1 for 650.. & the 650 is another fuel shop owner!! I had to call him lastnite & ask if he forgot about me?? His "excuse" was, he's going thru some medical issues, [prostate cancer] & needed the "cash" to pay the Dr.. I told him I'm sorry for your troubles but I did the work & its been 2 weeks since you got the pump back.. Then I said, I'll burn your house down for 300.00.. what'll think I'll do for 6.??? Lol He "said" he'll get it out in the mail.. I wont see it for a couple of weeks.. & I KNOW he got paid CASH when HIS customer came to get the pump & was charged 1375.00.!!! That's JUST ONE PROBLEM about going out on your own.. & I don't know if I'll ever see the 1080.00?? but atleast I still have the pump..
Be careful man, people will sue you for that kind of stuff. That said, I wish I'd have thought of it
Do any of you guys who do sidework carry insurance? I know I'd have to plate my truck as commercial since my insurance company doesn't allow any business use when under a personal use policy. I already checked.
When I was doing repair work I had to have a credit card number before I left the shop. Once I knew I was getting paid on a timely manner I backed off that. If I didn't know you, that service truck wasn't firing up till I had some numbers. Once the work was completed they could pay however they wanted.
I have personally backed of sidework, too many "friends" wanting to trade favors instead of cash. That said, The side work I do now is more just non-wrenching related. I have worked in small shops, where there was 1 or 2 of us there and that was about the most laid back work envirenment, to big dealerships where I made awesome paychecks but beat my head against the wall. Now I work for a city fleet wrenching, fabricating, operating, and about anything else that needs done. I work for a smaller department within the city and it's all a little different, closer to working a small indy shop with the big company benefits. I talk to the mechanics in other departments and there is no way I would transfer over there, typical type of city fleet wrenches. I am the only mechanic in my department and about the only one even mechanically inclined so no one looking over my shoulder unless they are just curious.