All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Cowles

Oh jesus. That situation is what I need more feedback on. 

I just hired a lady now too to do my direct mail, $10/hr but I had to drop it to $5 cuz I can't afford the training required, which I've stipulated can only work if she can get it by so many hrs(30-50) otherwise she'd have to wait til I get someone on the kitchen/baths to get decent pay or continue going to the labor pool and she's living on a friend's couch and just told me on her way out if she can't figure it out she's going to -I don't even want to say it. I did put in my Craigslist ad an aside offer of help I just thought would be a good thing to do, no free money or housing or too much time but just maybe be there a little for someone in need. Boy does the expression careful what you wish for apply. I think the pirate is more stable for work. And I do feel for this poor lady. I think I ought take that statement out of my ad tho. I'm not ready to help anyone atm

Sorry, I'm either misreading that or just dumb but I don't get it. But I think you're saying it's risky. 

 That's usually how I would think about it. 'yeah, just need to buy a used router/table, table saw, heat gun, paint, varnish, this that, and do a-z no pro. We'll I thought 6 months ago I'd have my motorcycle running in one month after a good carburetor(x4) cleaning and it wasn't til last month I got it running. So I'm done taking on new "DIY" jobs for now at least

So 'man hours' would be the figure right? He's gonna need help. So suppose he figures no more than 200... about almost three weeks for two people, one brain one grunt, 100 hrs =$1200 + 100 hrs grunt work(plus edjew-kay-shee-ohhhn!)... So then $1200 but pay 'up to' it by the hour/day no? In case he messes up or miscalculated. Hmm... each time I mess up we'll have to calculate time lost then deduct it from the max hrs paid.... I will spreadsheet this out....

So when he messes up extending hrs to complete and won't work for free then what? Just make sure I know what hardware and router bit he used on the doors? So I'd just find another custom cabinet guy to finish from there if need be and make sure the work is of standard techniques and materials. 

Yeah? 

I just hired a lady that I'm concerned about her ability to just learn new things regardless of her current lacking computer skills so I'm thinking of either paying less to train or by the piece mailed. I've been able to teach her but it takes a while and some psychological skills. Even considering 'coaching pay' below training. But I figure if I can get her on just one thing at a time I could get some worthy performance. She's been through tough times and currently living off someone's couch so I'm thinking a pay-per-job scenario might be best initially. And she's very nice which is pretty important for me. So for min wage how many letters/postcards should I expect to get an hr? 

If this were foundation plumbing or electric I'd obviously (have to) hire a licensed contractor but this work didn't seem too... risky in being able to salvage after some loss to erroneous work or performance. Along with that working hourly gives us both a much easier way out. Why is all that a naive assumption on my part? 

 Thanks. Good point and I'll have the heart if I decide to take the risk

Okay, great point and I think may have been my ulterior motive in creating this thread. So would a release of liability agreement or whatever it's called stand in a court? And what other precautions do I take? 

He seems to know his stuff, has worked on boats all his life, was able to lay out for me in detail a couple options to redo my kitchen and bath cabinets for $12/hr and he'd use me or someone for grunt work. He lives out of his boat on ss and lost his leg from a motorcycle accident and is on pain meds and could use some money to sail off to wherever the wind takes him next and I could have a part in that lol. He seems a little desperate and kinda bugging me with over friendliness which I imagine is because of his physical challenges, I'm guessing but he seems friendly and skilled enough and we'd be working together replacing doors and refinishing/painting that formica covered composite wood stuff the boxes are made of and replacing the (horizontal) particle board. I've gotten professional quotes so it looks like I could save a lot. Would you?

 Thanks.  I'm on my own comp now and It displayed all the messages correctly, BUT then I had to blindly navigate down the page to hit the 'send message' button as there were page scrolling bars ...  

Too much unfriendly javascript or something or this site is 'optimized' for the latest devices