How much to charge to install a 4-way Ocean Motion.

[Corals Mania]

What do you think is a fair amount to charge, to plumb a 4-way ocean motion? I'm also curious in the event someone ask me to install one...LOL
A good friend, who happens to be in the hobby. He hired a vendor from the same club/forum, not here. This vendor charged this ridiculous amount of money to plumbed together PVC to 4-way OM to a Reeflo dart about $75 an hour. At first the vendor was charging more than that an hour. Believe me, I tried to talk my friend out of it, in fact I suggested him to post a thread, for help! I'm sure that someone in the hobby with adequate experience would have helped for beer and pizza...maybe a little cash
If I had to pay for a service, I would have given that person $200 tops for his time. This job took nearly 2 full days, do the math!
This was an abuse of the hobby, a friendship that we are suppose to have in these forums. I understand that a vendor have to make somewhat a living (a profit), but when this vendor has no storefront, meaning no overhead this is insane.
Like to hear your input!

 

[JuniorMC8704]

you could plumb one in under an hour, maybe two.

Even if you had to drill the tank, and install the bulkheads.

If they are a pro, they need to be able to work at the pace of a pro. You cant charge someone extra for your inexperience, as its not there fault you dont know what you are doing.

also, ive found that there is aways someone willing to give a hand that has the skill set that is needed, whatever the tank at hand may be.

for example i work for beer and frags, and more times than not, i end up taking pics of their tank to boot.

sounds like your buddy got taken for a ride =(

I would talk to the person who did the work, and explain that what they did was horrible, and that you will also let your local community know too.

 

[Garth Schafluetzel]

yead thats ruff man i never plumbed anything befor my tank and i got that done in less than 5 hours lol

 

[oceanparadise1]

wow thats ridculas! this hobby cost enough as it is and we as reefers are supposed to help off set that cost by helping each other!

 

[I-K@ndY]

Wow Johnny I see this thread everywhere lol... hope that you get the answers you were lookin for

 

[reefboy]

75.00 is a tad high but you gotta remember he is taking on liability plus if he's a business he has business license to pay for I have to have one for each county I work in which is 75.00 a year x5 with my maintenance company but me it been more like 45-50 a hour but depends on my drive time.Without seeing the job I cant honestly say if he got taken advantage of but I've done serious pluming and tank setup on large systems(200-300gal) within a day so sump-thins up lol.

 

[AquaWorldPSC]

$75 an hours is a good rate if they guy knows what he's doing. That is how much we would charge and get it done in about 2.5 hours tops. The vendor must be inexperienced if it took him 2 days. Like the others said i would talk to the vendor and tell him what's up or and print this thread out.

 

[VanGogh121]

I do beleive 75 an hour is an excellent rate. Was the tank running? Did it have to be drained and drilled?
How many hours did he work each day?
It would take me two days to put a om 4way on my existing tank. Draining and removing livestock in itself would take 6 hours.

Now if it was an empty tank, I could get it done in 2 to 3 hours.

 

[Corals Mania]

Hey Steve, at this moment I do not want to report this to the community board, just trying to get your feedback here. Its upsetting, we are talking about a one man company! This is not his bread and butter, this is side work. The plumb work was on a 100G tank, the holes and bulks heads were in place already.

 

[I-K@ndY]

Well my input is always ask for help first just like everyone else said . There are a lot of people that will do it for Beer ,Frags and some will be nice enough to do it for free.

I think I am with all this people comments. Nothing really new to share or comment

 

[Psychographic]

What do you make an hour? Who cares whether he is a one man operation or whether it is his side job. If you are hiring someone to do a job, you should pay that individual for his/her time and expertise.

I will agree that 2 full days is rediculous. I think an average amount of time would be 4hrs or less.

I find is funny that people will pay a vendor $300 for a tiny frag, but don't think someone is worth $75 an hour to plumb a tank. Who do you think makes more for the least amount of work? My money is on the person fragging up a colony.

To be honest, that would be the only way you could get me to plumb a tank for someone anymore, $ talks, anyone else can walk.

Out of curiousity, if you thought this was too much to pay, why did'nt you offer to do it for him?