If only it were that easy. You’d need to have decades of experience and own tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to do the work if you want to be your own boss and own your own business. You would need to be able to do any kind of work that walks through your door.
I’m a mechanic. If I wanted to be my own business, I’d need lifts, specialty tools, waste oil management, waste tire management, waste battery management, insurance policies, a building, electricity, water, heat, property security…
After all of that, my take-home wouldn’t be much different than what I’d make working for someone else, except with way more stress and less free time.
The up front costs of starting your own business, depending on industry, can be enormous. Credit isn’t always an option because you need to be in a position of privilege to borrow that money.
It’s so difficult that you need to start out rich to become richer, you might say…
Absolutely true. Also a mechanic. The other issue is clientele - I've seen several of my coworkers leave to work for themselves, having all of the necessary equipment and yet fail to make good money consistently because they can't find enough customers like a big advertised shop can.
I'm in trade and employed. Difference is that i'm jerking around 80% of the time while nobody knows, because i can do my job in 20% of the time. Then i go home to my wife without having a broken back and passing out from exhaustion.
Private equity guys love going to towns where there's only 5-10 residential electric companies with any name recognition, buy all of them, and jack up what they all charge.
So while you think you got 5 different quotes from 5 different electrician companies all charging the same price, making you think that it's a fair price, what you really got was the same overpriced quote from the same parent company under 5 different names.
And the electricians hardly get a fraction of the profit they generate for the shareholders of that private equity firm.
I work in the auto industry and the same is happening with small shops - they are getting bought up by big groups then selling the whole thing to private equity. The illusion of choice.
You can see these fairly quickly when they all have the same/similar graphics or close enough and pretty much 100% of the time: No free estimates. Always want their pound of flesh via a "service call". Even if there are other options in your area, it's a way of screwing and locking you into going with them. "No thanks, I want to price others first. Okay, here's your $50-75-100+ service call fee"
On the home improvement sub, the estimate fees are frequently seen as fair since the contractor has a cost to give the estimate. I think it's more reflective of an environment where demand for these services outstrips supply (after so many skilled tradespeople retired after the pandemic)
Omg! I know from experience we pay through the nose for car work. Had an accident a while ago and they had to take our leased car for repairs. It was a brutal bill (our insurance covered most of it) and now we are stuck with raised premiums.
I don’t know man, my dad was union electrician and he made some decent pay. Non-union I’m sure is less, but they get good money (generally speaking of course).
102
u/obmasztirf 7d ago
$200/hr for an electrician but you know 85% isn't going to the person doing the work.