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Thread: Truck costs are a much larger % of income..........

  1. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Again, agreed.. Im right there with ya. That said, I have honestly never worked in an area where guys with tools in a pickup tool box were ever even remotely worth 50 and hour as a stand alone guy. Im talking just your average carpenter. So I guess I would either love to be in your area if the skill level is that high, or hate to be in your area for the pain it would cause my, and my customers, wallet.

    A common rate around here for two men, and an equipped vehicle (van or truck) is 90 an hour. It often bills out at 800 a day. Thats from the time they get rolling in the morning til' the time they get back so it includes supply house/yard time and so on. Thats a rate the company would bill for those two guys. Its common to have commercial electricians and so on billing at 700-800 a day for a guy with a helper.

    Now we both know, thats day work. When you fold it into a large job things are much different.

    Yeah, that sounds more like it.

  2. #47
    When I had my room done last year, I hired out the installation of the split system. The HVAC guy who visited me twice installed it for me, and he sent out a guy and a helper for $750, and they ended up staying almost the entire day. I could hardly believe that he'd make two visits for an estimate and send two guys out for that long for that rate.

    (I have no idea why it took them most of a day to install a split, but they did a neat and tidy job for a flat fee, so I didn't care. The exchange of buying the split and having them install it as part of the job saved me $1500 vs. the local "diamond" plumber)

  3. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    I have actually had this conversation with a few people and while its definitely clear that vehicle quality and longevity has increased I have often wondered if the real reason you are seeing such high mileages with less maintenance is merely a factor of people commuting much farther distances daily as well as road maintenance. Now Im not saying a 60's or 70's car would run forever on long commutes and the roads of today but I will bet they would have run many many times longer than they did.
    Well I certainly can't argue that you're wrong. It would seem likely that there is some combination of the factors. I do know what materials science has gotten vastly better in a lot of cases so I'm pretty sure that that and better tolerances come into play but how much is what is well outside my knowledge space.

  4. #49
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    I've worn out I forget how many vehicles since the early '70s. Tires are better, fuel systems are better, lubricants are better, ignition systems are better, transmissions, brakes are better. Change those things back to 1970 technology, and I'm not sure you'd get one to last longer than they did back then.
    Last edited by Tom M King; 10-15-2014 at 6:55 PM.

  5. #50
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    I agree that Behr has an issue with masking tape if you wait too long to pull the tape. With any paint you need to use proper brushes and roller covers and know how to load them to get the paint to the wall and cover in one coat (similar colors) or two coats (contrasting colors). Too many DIY'ers try to stretch the paint with a dry brush or roller. I always use two hands on the roller using an appropriate length handle extension and apply some pressure to squeeze the paint out of the roller cover as I go, keeping my strokes vertical and moving methodically "like a robot". It isn't until you scrape the paint out of a roller cover during clean up that you realize how much a 3/8" or 1/2" cover can hold. I had a friend who was a high end pro painter and when we painted our church sanctuary just before Christmas 5 years ago, I bought Behr paint. He commented that he liked the way it went on and covered. But, like many pros, he went back to his favorite pro supplier paint store because they knew him, he had an account, and he got their discount.

    SW Pro Classic is a great paint for trim and cabinets, it goes on nice, self levels and is tough and is tape friendly.
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 10-16-2014 at 9:09 AM.
    NOW you tell me...

  6. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Mooney View Post
    Quite some time before that (60's-70's) there was also a major devaluation of the absolute value of most cotton fabric when a lot of the processing went overseas and (more importantly) moved to high speed looms (even domestically before the great outsourcing).

    The strength of a piece of cloth is primarily predicated on the strength of the thread used for the warp (the weft is - for reasons past my understanding - somewhat less important). The older cotton thread used on the warp was twisted quite tightly which made it very strong, it also made it more abrasive and required higher tension to maintain the cloth form. The higher speed looms would fail rather spectaularily when a piece of hard twisted warp broke and they were also wearing out much faster because of the abrasive nature of the thread. So softer twisted thread started being used because it was both cheaper to make, less hard on equipment, and was easier to work with but caused a corresponding decrease in the quality of the resulting product.
    The problems I am seeing with cotton pants wearing out a lot faster only started a few years ago around the time cotton pricing got real high. The price of the pants has gone up only a dollar or two, but quality went way down.

    Back on topic, I don't think cars are lasting longer due to better roads. The roads in my area are mostly falling apart with terrible potholes. Yes, weather has a lot to do with our roads getting potholes, but a properly rebuilt road can go for years before starting to develop potholes. Taxpayers have been complaining for years about terrible roads and politicians are finally starting to respond. The city of St. Paul is spending some $50 million on roads next year which is a huge amount compared to a typical year. St. Paul is also doing some badly needed paving projects on an expedited basis this year.

  7. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    I agree that Behr has an issue with masking tape if you wait too long to pull the tape. With any paint you need to use proper brushes and roller covers and know how to load them to get the paint to the wall and cover in one coat (similar colors) or two coats (contrasting colors). Too many DIY'ers try to stretch the paint with a dry brush or roller. I always use two hands on the roller using an appropriate length handle extension and apply some pressure to squeeze the paint out of the roller cover as I go, keeping my strokes vertical and moving methodically "like a robot". It isn't until you scrape the paint out of a roller cover during clean up that you realize how much a 3/8" or 1/2" cover can hold. I had a friend who was a high end pro painter and when we painted our church sanctuary just before Christmas 5 years ago, I bought Behr paint. He commented that he liked the way it went on and covered. But, like many pros, he went back to his favorite pro supplier paint store because they knew him, he had an account, and he got their discount.

    SW Pro Classic is a great paint for trim and cabinets, it goes on nice, self levels and is tough and is tape friendly.
    I get something good out of your post - something I hadn't thought of before, which is to remove the tape immediately and suck it up and put the tape back down for coat #2. You're right, I have been letting the first coat dry and then taking the tape right off with the second coat, but the first coat is already ready to tear by then.

    Behr paint *is* durable on the wall once it's on, and it may be that pliability. the S-w pro classic is a harder paint, and I think I may have used that also on the wall, but probably not - I'd have to check the container. My kids have managed to scuff the walls in a few places, but the room is their room to play and has wheeled vehicles and such, they'd probably rip off any paint. I agree with you entirely on getting paint on the brush or roller and getting in on the wall without trying to be cheap with it or stretch it out by working it a long time.

  8. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    The problems I am seeing with cotton pants wearing out a lot faster only started a few years ago around the time cotton pricing got real high. The price of the pants has gone up only a dollar or two, but quality went way down.

    Back on topic, I don't think cars are lasting longer due to better roads. The roads in my area are mostly falling apart with terrible potholes. Yes, weather has a lot to do with our roads getting potholes, but a properly rebuilt road can go for years before starting to develop potholes. Taxpayers have been complaining for years about terrible roads and politicians are finally starting to respond. The city of St. Paul is spending some $50 million on roads next year which is a huge amount compared to a typical year. St. Paul is also doing some badly needed paving projects on an expedited basis this year.

    I don't know that I noticed a difference due to the cotton prices so much as with the full roll-out of wrinkle-free clothes. I haven't yet found anything wrinkle free that is as durable as shirts that aren't wrinkle free. The wrinkle free cotton appears to not be very durable around stuff like cuff ends and collars. I've tried shirts from $25-$75 of various brands and all of them are like that. You can wear them about 75 times before some part of them breaks down, and when I think about paying a dollar each day I wear a shirt, I don't like that much.

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