Rant: Charged flat rate for a fence repair and it totally blew up in my face

I took a job fixing a wooden fence in Denver, quoted a flat $400 because I thought it'd be a simple afternoon. Turns out the rot went way deeper than I guessed, and I ended up spending 14 hours on it with extra lumber. At my normal hourly rate of $45, that would have been $630 easy, so I basically worked for free. Anyone else have a flat rate deal that backfired because you couldn't see the hidden damage up front?

3 comments

3 Comments

scott.alex9d agoMost Upvoted

Man that "simple afternoon" turning into 14 hours is brutal. I feel your pain, flat rate jobs like that are the worst when you can't see the hidden rot until you're already elbow deep.

the_laura9d ago

That "elbow deep" part is exactly the trap... once you're already into the job and see how bad it is, you can't just walk away without feeling like you screwed the homeowner over.

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gracej997d agoOG Member

Watched a buddy lose his shirt on a flat rate deck job once.

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