What product or service is way more expensive than it needs to be? I would say repair of washer--

[debm55]

might as well buy a new one or dentist work.

[rampartc]

1. you have not priced new one

but the new computerized front loaders are very fragile and parts are expensive.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Endless price increases leave lots of thing overpriced

USPS. DMV fees up 33% this year here. If you haven't looked at prices in several years, shocks abound.

[BComplex]

3. You should price what it costs to fix a jacuzzi tub in the house.

The price to fix it is more than the price to purchase it.

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. Power washing.

No extended training required -- . I have been given quotes last 2 years for house and driveway and walkway - (it takes me 5-6 hours over 2 days, I'm 74) of $450-$550.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Had A Guy Come By This Spring

He has "handyman" signs at all the stores.
We wanted a yard clean-up for the spring the trim bricks power edged, & hedges trimmed.
His bid was $3,200!
I told him, if you didn't want the job, you should have said so and saved us both a half-hour. For someone doing this 8 hours a day, I wasn't more than 3 days work. Maybe 4. Especially if said person had professional power equipment.
I wasn't paying $100-130 per hour for yard work.
We had the work done for $720, absent the hedges.
They'll get what somebody is silly enough to pay, I guess.

[LakeArenal]

5. Anything you don't see.

Hot water heater. Furnace. Hole in the roof.

Things that other people don’t notice until it’s bad.


No one ever walked into your house in February and said, You have a lot of heat. You must have just put in a new furnace.

Your hot water is great you must have put in a new water heater.

[3catwoman3]

6. Plumbing - my husband recently got an estimate for...

Last edited Fri Jun 9, 2023, 04:00 PM - Edit history (1)

…replacing a hose spigot outside. The estimate was $2037!

Later that day we had a landscaper out to do some general cleanup. Hubby mentioned the spigot situation, and the landscaper said, “My dad and I can do that, too.” Total cost $300. Works perfectly.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. See Post 16!

Very similar experience, just this past spring.

[mobeau69]

7. Cell phone cases.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Any medical service in the USA.

[debm55]

9. Car inspection--always find something wrong.

[Merlot]

10. Internet and phone services

[keithbvadu2]

11. The only thing cheap anymore is us.

[thatdemguy]

12. Befreo people knock on trades

I am higher up in an electrical contactor so you know where I am coming from.

My costs per hour for an electrician with benefits is around 60, 40 in pay and 20 in benefits, ins, SS taxes etc. We figured out the cost of the van he drives is about 2 bucks a mile, this includes the insurance, the payment, gas and wear/tear.

If he drives to your house say 20 miles, thats 40 just to get to your house plus his pay, so just getting there if it takes a half hour is 70. Thats before he even has done any work.

So for one of hour of work our cost is 60 bucks plus the 70 to get there or 130. If the job goes to two hours it goes down to 95 per hour. Now this does not even include his pay home, or to the next job. We charge 125 an hour, so we make 30 per hour on a two hour job.

Now add in the person who schedules the work, does the paper work etc. We dont really make any money on small service work, we do it to keep our customers happy.

[debm55]

15. Thank you for your information. It was very helpful for me.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. I'm Good With Most Of That

I don't however, buy the $2 per mile.
I know how to do financial analysis too, and I can't rationalize that number, even taking into account depreciation on the asset.

[thatdemguy]

21. Well if we take the irs number of .58 cents a mile for a car

Then the cost of the 40k van, over 4 years. The used van we had got 20k miles on it a year, or about 50 cents a mile just in payments. We are up 1.08 per mile, and it get much less gas mileage than a car. A set of tires and breaks a year, at say 1200 bucks, plus the insurance increase. Yes adding the weight of material and tools burns a set up brakes and tires up in a year.

It kind of surprised me as well, but our accountant looked at it all over the previous 2 years with our used van we had.

When she did the math she told the owner he actually lost money running service the two years before. We only charged 100 per hour then. But you also need to realize we only bill about 12-1400 hours a year on it for a full time guy.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I'm Not Sure...

...that amortizing the total value of the van is a direct cost of operation, except to an accountant, perhaps.
Hence, I'd push back on cost of service being directly linked to the capital value of the van.
Besides, the 58 cents a mile (IRS allowable deduction, now 62.5 cents) already includes the value of the car or truck. It's not just gas & maintenance. Let's say the van drives 25,000 miles a year & gets 20mpg. 1,250 gallons of gas would be around $4,800. Let's do 8 oil changes at $50 each, and tires & brakes every 3 years. $600-700 per year. We're up to $5,500 per year. 58.5 cents for 25,000 miles is $14,625. More than $9,000 above variable cost. The recoup of the capital investment is already baked in to the 58.5 cents. (Yeah, one of my advanced degrees is an MBA & I worked in big business, so I learned how a lot of this stuff works, though I wouldn't claim to be an expert.)
Seems like your outfit was double counting.

[thatdemguy]

23. I just got off what the accountant figured the actual cost was.

The fun thing is its the new accountant. The old one wound up being so bad she did not take in to account the 2 weeks of PTO we give the guys in to our cost of labor. The new one has basically been doing forensic accounting for 3 months solid and she has found so much stuff that was just wrong. Including not paying the money to the SS one quarter, that was a big opps.

Weather there is other costs or credits like depreciation I am not sure how it works. I know there is a few ways you can do this, but you only do one, you cant try to double dip. I know there is things like if you have a payment you can write that off, but then you cant do depreciation.

[we can do it]

13. Hair cuts

[debm55]

14. Yes. they have gotten expensive.

[GoodRaisin]

19. Pest Control

Costing me $450 for 4 treatments to get rid of fire ants in my yard.

[GoodRaisin]

20. Also, attorney services.

My son’s wife decided to leave the state with his children this past year. The judge eventually ordered them returned to my son, but the legal representation cost for me and mom to get them back was $30K.