trying to help my kids - long distance

[ed kerns]

Here's the situation; I'm in Michigan, my adult son and family live near Atlanta Georgia. They recently bought a house. In that house was a corner gas fireplace (built in) that they wanted removed. Wife and I visited for a couple of days and I was persuaded to help remove the fireplace. In two days I removed the wall, the fireplace, and the gas line feeding the fireplace. What is left to do is to re drywall the exposed corner (about 125 sq. ft.) move a condensate line that ran in the dead space, a wee bit of framing (four or five wall studs) replace 2 electrical outlets removed from the old wall back to the newly squared off wall - and paint.  Add a little more under misc. like plugging holes made by the removed pipes. There is also some flooring to replace, but that's a different discussion.
Anyway, the kids know zip about any of the trades, and as they are recent transplants, don't really know anyone who knows someone.
I'm not a pro, but I think a decent handyman has maybe two days work there. Mostly, it's drywall, but as mentioned a bit of everything is involved. I expected bids to come in at around $1000. Actually, I was thinking maybe $700, but factored in that I'm terminally cheap. Also, my son was going to do the painting.
So far they have 2 bids, both coming in at about $2000.
What am I missing here? Am I that disconnected from Atlanta prices? I know if they use a big time contractor things get expensive fast, but they really need just one capable guy and maybe $150 in materials.
I'm mostly just venting here, but if any of ya'll are familiar with that part of the country and can set me straight, I'd appreciate it.

[Snipe Hunter]

I don't think you are really missing anything other than a grasp of costs. The contractor is billing around $100 an hour plus materials. I'm figuring two or three visits. The reason so many is that the mud (even hot mud) needs to set before sanding. Even pros have to make a trip to the store in the middle of a job. That won't all happen in one day. So, two days labor at $100 an hour is $1600 plus materials and material mark-up. He's paying himself for shopping for materials as he should. He's not making $100 an hour, he's billing $100 an hour. Tools, insurance, overhead all add up quickly.

[CLETUS]

 they really need just one capable guy and maybe $150 in materials.

Yeah Ed, for $20 / hr cash and I buy the materials I can get just about anything done. You could PM Thooks for some references... I'm sure he knows some low-lifes.

[AUswimKC]

in ATL metro myself. throw all of that detail up into a new project on Thumbtack.com.  Weed out the low ballers and the high folks. You'll get 2-3 decent numbers and that you can invite to bid

[ed kerns]

Thanks guys. Maybe just a reality check for me and a little guilt because I had to leave with the project half done.
THooks, you're dead on about your assessment of most kids today. Both my son and his wife are computer fo1k. Good at their jobs, but totally ignorant when it comes to many of the practicalities of life. I would add that they make nowhere near the hourly rate reflected in these bids, so maybe the trades guys aren't doing too badly.
I've never used Thumbtack, but will suggest they look into it, if not now, for future projects. They have two bids now within a couple hundred of each other. Probably means that's what it costs to get er done.

[jlanciani]

I would add that they make nowhere near the hourly rate reflected in these bids, so maybe the trades guys aren't doing too badly.

What a person earns working for someone else does not reflect their cost to their employer. If your son is earning $50 an hour he is costing his employer at least $75 and if his employer is doing contract work his time is being charged out at double that (or more). At $100 per hour a legit tradesman is not earning any more than your son, and probably less with the self employment penalties.


(Right this minute I'm babysitting four high voltage test engineers and being billed $1000 per hour for the privilege. I know for certain that they're not making anywhere near $250 per hour each...)

[ed kerns]

True that. I spent enough years on both sides of management to understand- and account for- real costs.
I hope those engineers are worth $1000/hr to you!!

[Snipe Hunter]

I would add that they make nowhere near the hourly rate reflected in these bids, so maybe the trades guys aren't doing too badly.
Especially when they're billing time and working at the same time. I bill $100 an hour. It would be a great living if I actually billed as many hours as I worked. Nobody really does except lawyers.

I've never used Thumbtack, but will suggest they look into it, if not now, for future projects. They have two bids now within a couple hundred of each other. Probably means that's what it costs to get er done.
I just finished dealing with Thumbtack, Home Advisor and Yelp to advertise for my business. Remember, these companies are advertising companies, payed by the contractor. I can throw Angie's List in there too. The contractors pay these companies to put their names in front of you. Thumbtack was cheap but they don't do much to screen their contractors and they send your name to quite a few contractors. They also tend to be regional to an extent. For some reason, they don't have much exposure in this area (Baltimore/DC). Home Advisor does a background check, credit check and calls references, so does Angie's List. The problem with Angie's list is that they're expensive so not many small contractors use them. Yelp is also quite expensive for the contractor. The company who pays the most with Yelp, gets top billing. But, you'll get every contractor in the metro area. You can sift through them all. I'm a non paying contractor on Yelp so my add is on the 7th page even if I specify my address. The top billing on the first page in my field is 50 miles from here. The top payers can also edit their reviews and pay to have bad reviews removed. I'm only listed on Yelp so people can review me on Yelp. I don't expect any leads from them. Home Advisor will give your lead to no more than 4 contractors. They will all get a text and email with your particulars. If a contractor on Home Advisor is busy, he shuts off his leads (they cost $20 each) so the busy contractors don't see your lead. When he's not busy, he turns them back on. The theory is that only contractors who can respond quickly and start quickly will get the leads. You will also get contractors close to the job address because the contractors set up prioritized zip codes on HA. If they're all busy, the area expands to bring in the next closest contractors.

I went with Home Advisor. Not the cheapest but I felt they did the best job of pairing the right contractor to the client.

[Snipe Hunter]

When I managed in the car business, the dealer had to make $46.00 per hour, per employee to break even. That included rent, cars on the lot, insurance, workman's comp and everything else needed to run a retail facility. That was just over 10 years ago. I'm sure that's gone up, particularly with the hike in health care costs. That $46 does not include paying the help. You could add another $25 (avg) on to that $46 to cover their pay. So that's $71 per person, per hour to operate at zero profit.

[ed kerns]

Thanks for the insights guys, very interesting. Funny you should mention it, thooks, but I did notice you folks have a little traffic situation down there. Most of my career I lived about 2 miles from my job site. There were days going to work when I wouldn't see a single other car on the road. I have to say I appreciate small town life. It makes visiting the big cities that much more fun.