u/scalpylawsus

Warning: this might be a wildly frustrating confusing read, I apologize in advance.

Background: I worked as a redseal journeyman plumber for a company for 15 years. I was paid hourly at $42/hr, received 3 weeks vacation, and basic minimum health benefits.

I recently left my job to pursue my own business. I mostly flat rate quote all my work, however I work it out so I earn $125/hour minimum (on smaller jobs that cost me travel time I make it $150/hour)

I’ve worked out most of my monthly expenses which include
Fuel: $400
Vehicle payment: $500
Vehicle insurance: $117.24
Liability insurance: $215.91
Disability insurance: $150-$200 (I am currently deciding between premiums)
Bonding fee: $9.72
Bank fee: $6
Invoicing software: $22.40

Total: $1422

Disclaimer: There’s a few more I haven’t added for example I haven’t switched my personal family plan phone into a business plan yet, and I haven’t calculated things like vehicle maintenance, cpp, accountant fees, life insurance (haven’t picked a plan yet)

My hourly overhead per month works out roughly:
(160 hours is based on 8 billable hours per day working subcontracted, 100 hours based on 5 billable hours working just under my own company as I can’t charge travel / supplier time directly to customers)

160 working hours: 1422 / 160 = $9 (round to $10)

100 working hours: 1422 / 100 = $14 (round to $15)

Given these overhead numbers, how do I apply this to a fair hourly wage to my old boss when he wants to subcontract me out for work? I assume it’s customary to charge less than my regular rate as they are providing the work and dealing with billing the customer, however I need to charge enough so it’s not a loss on my end.

I was thinking $70/hr is fair as that’s 42 (my old wage) plus $10 (my overhead providing I’m billing 8 hours a day) then $18 padding to cover the rest of things I’m missing out on like employer benefits vacation, job security, etc.

Can any people who subcontract or tradespeople I. Similar scenarios share how they calculate their rate?

Ps sorry for my crazy math, it’s not my strong suit and I’m trying my best to do the work without asking strangers for complete assistance. Thank you

I’m comparing two disability insurance options as a 35yo self-employed plumber.

Plan option 1:

-$148/month
-$4,900/month disability benefit
-Benefits payable to age 65
-90-day waiting period
-12 months of partial disability coverage
-$14,700 critical illness benefit
-Future purchase option: +$1,500/month

Plan option 2:

-$163/month
-$4,000/month disability benefit
-Benefits payable to age 65
-90-day waiting period
-24 months of partial disability coverage
-Inflation indexing of benefits after 12 months on claim
-$20,000 critical illness benefit
-Future purchase option: +$2,500/month

The 2nd option has better features, but it pays $900 less per month if I’m totally disabled. As a self-employed tradesperson, I’m trying to decide whether the longer partial disability coverage and inflation protection are worth giving up the higher monthly benefit.

Which is better in my case? The indexing to inflation seems huge, but the monthly benefit is lower in the beginning. Can’t decide if any of the other features push it over the edge to be the totally better option.

I’m a relatively new plumbing business. My main customer, a general contractor, asked me for a quote on a new build project. There is another larger plumbing company already contracted to do a majority section of the work, and I was quoting to do a smaller job associated with the project.

I was verbally all but garaunteed the job, as long as my price wasn’t higher than the other company’s. Turns out my price came in exactly the same, he asked if I could do any better, I lowered it very slightly which was met with another revision request, and another. I did a total of 4 requotes which required back and forth with my suppliers and probably 4 hours of my time not including trips out to the site to measure.

My final revision I said I can’t do it any lower or it’s eating my labor. He called me up and gave me this bs line that the other company freaked out when he told them I was doing the smaller job, said his quotes were package deal and if I’m getting the perimeter drain system then all his other quotes go up. I don’t really believe him because this other plumbing company in the past has outsourced this type of work.

I think what’s actually happened is the builder is getting some random laborer to do the job for cheap and have the other plumber sign off on it.

I’m super choked because of all time time and energy I spent, and want to express that to the builder. However from a business perspective I feel like that’s a bad idea and I should just protect myself from this in the future by charging for revisions.

In a competitive business where people quote against each other and you can waste a ton of time with no reward, how do you cover yourself?

Edit: this contractor has gotten me a lot of small work over the years so it’s in my best interest to preserve our relationship, however I feel like I’ve been taken advantage of and don’t know if I should be setting clear boundaries that I don’t make tons of adjustments, trips, and assessments without a garauntee of compensation.

The standard size mounting plates have a weight limit of 100lb in a vehicle. This means you can’t even stack x3 quad shelving units which seems ridiculous. I understand the lateral force is a risk which is why I’m building a cabinet around the so I can strap them in, but will the mounting plate actually crush under say 150 lbs, has anyone tested this?

So I had a rusty van floor. I wire wheeled all the loose rust off, and treated with ospho. Lo and behold my inexperienced ass didn’t realize I shouldn’t have put the ospho over the entire floor, and all my paint got gummed up.

Now I need to scrape, brush, and remove all the paint on my cargo floor to the bare steel then prime and paint.

I’ve seen people say do por-15, or epoxy primer, bed liner, or even garage floor epoxy.

I have zero experience painting cars, I do not care one bit how it looks I want the easiest method to apply paint and keep out rust that is preferably brush on. I plan on covering the floor with plywood.

Please any suggestions or tips greatly appreciated thank you

So I had a rusty van floor. I wire wheeled all the loose rust off, and treated with ospho. Lo and behold my inexperienced ass didn’t realize I shouldn’t have put the ospho over the entire floor, and all my paint got gummed up.

Now I need to scrape, brush, and remove all the paint on my cargo floor to the bare steel then prime and paint.

I’ve seen people say do por-15, or epoxy primer, bed liner, or even garage floor epoxy.

I have zero experience painting cars, I do not care one bit how it looks I want the easiest method to apply paint and keep out rust that is preferably brush on. I plan on covering the floor with plywood.

Please any suggestions or tips greatly appreciated thank you

So I had a rusty van floor. I wire wheeled all the loose rust off, and treated with ospho. Lo and behold my inexperienced ass didn’t realize I shouldn’t have put the ospho over the entire floor, and all my paint got gummed up.

Now I need to scrape, brush, and remove all the paint on my cargo floor to the bare steel then prime and paint.

I’ve seen people say do por-15, or epoxy primer, bed liner, or even garage floor epoxy.

I have zero experience painting cars, I do not care one bit how it looks I want the easiest method to apply paint and keep out rust that is preferably brush on. I plan on covering the floor with plywood.

Please any suggestions or tips greatly appreciated thank you

So I had a rusty van floor. I wire wheeled all the loose rust off, and treated with ospho. Lo and behold my inexperienced ass didn’t realize I shouldn’t have put the ospho over the entire floor, and all my paint got gummed up.

Now I need to scrape, brush, and remove all the paint on my cargo floor to the bare steel then prime and paint.

I’ve seen people say do por-15, or epoxy primer, bed liner, or even garage floor epoxy.

I have zero experience painting cars, I do not care one bit how it looks I want the easiest method to apply paint and keep out rust that is preferably brush on. I plan on covering the floor with plywood.

Please any suggestions or tips greatly appreciated thank you

Trying not to have a panic attack. My new-to-me work van had surface rust on the floor, and without doing much research beyond reading some Reddit posts and YouTube, I brushed a thin layer over the entire thing.

I waited 2 days before washing it off, and ofcourse now the paint is gummy and lifting off in some areas.

Yes I’m an idiot. Please help advise me on what to do now.. my thinking is scraping as much as I can, then using a grinder with a clean strip disc. Washing with mineral spirits and then an epoxy primer? I know I’ve fucked up real bad..

My van had some surface rust on the floor, so I sanded it off and applied a thing layer of ospho. I left it for a day and I’m scrubbing off the layer and some paint is coming with it. It seems to have softened and gummed up my paint! I didn’t read this anywhere in the instructions that you couldn’t apply this to painted areas.. am I totally screwed now and need to remove all the paint on my van floor before priming?

I’m starting up as a sole
Prop and got quotes for 2mil and 5mil. I’ll be doing mostly residential service and renovation. Most houses I work in are under 2mil but maybe I should be getting more on the off chance?

I’m starting up as a sole proprietor doing residential plumbing and gas fitting. I got a quote for $1900 CAD for 2 million coverage, or $2600 for 5 million.

Most houses I work in are worth under 2mil, but I also don’t want to prevent myself from working in some low rise condos (under 6 stories)

Should I take 5 mil or does that seem unnecessary?

Confused about how to handle surface rust.

I just purchased a van and removed the cargo bed lining. Obviously moisture was getting trapped under it because there is a bunch of of surface rust, particularly in the rear outside edges behind the wheel wells.

I’ve seen lots to conflicting reports online how to handle this:

\- sand off to bare metal with a wire brush in a grinder or drill, then prime and paint.

\-loosely brush the flakes off, not taking it down to bare metal, then spraying with rust converter and then painting

\-combination of the two? Sanding down to metal, then rust converter, then paint?

What is the best diy option for me so this van lasts me atleast 5 years without rust returning? I intend to put the subfloor back down and address the water leak issue (rubber door seal dripping). I’m also wondering if after I paint should I spray the floor down with fluid film.

Thanks

I just purchased a work van and removed the cargo bed lining. Obviously moisture was getting trapped under it because there is a bunch of of surface rust, particularly in the rear outside edges behind the wheel wells.

I’ve seen lots to conflicting reports online how to handle this:

- sand off to bare metal with a wire brush in a grinder or drill, then prime and paint.

-loosely brush the flakes off, not taking it down to bare metal, then spraying with rust converter and then painting

-combination of the two? Sanding down to metal, then rust converter, then paint?

What is the best diy option for me so this van lasts me atleast 5 years without rust returning? I intend to put the subfloor back down and address the water leak issue (rubber door seal dripping). I’m also wondering if after I paint should I spray the floor down with fluid film.

Thanks