Got schooled on job site pricing by a retired contractor at a hardware store in Tacoma

I was picking up some flashing last month and an old guy saw my estimate sheet on the passenger seat. He pointed at my labor line and said, 'Kid, you're charging for hours, not for solving the problem.' I've been adding a flat 'complexity fee' to every bid since then. How do you all price out tricky jobs that eat up more time than materials?

4 comments

4 Comments

paul6083mo ago

That old guy in Tacoma nailed a huge problem in our whole economy. We see it with mechanics charging book time instead of diagnostic skill, or tech support billing in fifteen minute blocks. You're paying for their know-how to find the issue, not just turn a wrench. My uncle's plumbing business almost failed because he priced a simple pipe swap, not the thirty years of experience it took to know which joint would fail next. Charging for the solution, not just the clock, is the only way skilled trades stay alive. That complexity fee is you putting a price on your brain, not just your hands.

fisher.jessica1mo ago

That Tacoma guy's advice reminds me of how my mechanic charges the same flat fee for an oil change whether it takes him ten minutes or an hour... @blake_owens basically figured out what every good tradesperson eventually learns, which is that you're really selling your time and experience to solve someone's headache, not just the physical parts.

the_hayden3mo ago

My first boss in Seattle made me redo a whole deck quote because I just counted boards and hours. He said the real cost was knowing how to frame around that old cedar without it cracking in the sun. I started adding a 20% "headache tax" on any job with existing water damage or weird angles. That fee covers the time I spend staring at the problem before I even pick up a tool.

blake_owens3mo ago

Man, I used to just add a basic markup on materials and call it good. But after getting burned on a few jobs with hidden rot, I finally get it. Now my quotes have a separate line for "problem solving" that scales with how much of a puzzle the job looks like. It's saved me from losing my shirt on what seemed like simple siding repairs.