Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

[bob112]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

A lot of negative stories here guys! I think I have had enough experiences through other businesses to vet people. Despite all the negatives, I have never really had a bad customer. Probably because as mentioned above, if I sense they are just looking to screw someone, I instantly get "real busy and can't do the job right now"....

I think one of the reasons I don't run into too many issues is I am rarely the cheapest and I don't want to be. Not to toot my own horn, but I am usually smarter than my competition and try to use my melon to some advantage. As well, with my dad and prev const co, we built PGA level golf courses. In short, you have no idea what precision is until you are grading out an 1/8th in sand for a putting green. I think that is the part that frustrates me though. People bid cheap because I find so many that are happy with "cheap", but I focus on customers that say "I want it right"..... They we do business and I am always looking for that comment from the customer that they are blown away. In many cases it was cleaning up the street after some work, or in one case, brooming out a garage after we tracked some mud in. These small things stand out.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

As a contractor, meeting clients to see what they want done is always the first step in bidding the job. I'm not just looking at the job, I'm deciding if I want to work for them, and then I'm trying to figure out if they will be a good client, or a pain in the rear to work for. One of the biggest red flags is when they start telling me about suing the last guy, or how many people that they have taken to court. While I agree that a bad contractor should be held liable for a bad job, there are a lot of bad clients out there that are impossible to satisfy and it's not worth the headache to deal with them.

I imagine after doing it for years, you can usually tell who's gonna be unpleasant to work for. That comes with experience. My brother in law always worked for contractors and never had to deal with the business side. It was a bitter lesson. I wish he would have stuck it out. It could have turned into steady work that he was good at.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

A lot of negative stories here guys! I think I have had enough experiences through other businesses to vet people. Despite all the negatives, I have never really had a bad customer. Probably because as mentioned above, if I sense they are just looking to screw someone, I instantly get "real busy and can't do the job right now"....

I think one of the reasons I don't run into too many issues is I am rarely the cheapest and I don't want to be. Not to toot my own horn, but I am usually smarter than my competition and try to use my melon to some advantage. As well, with my dad and prev const co, we built PGA level golf courses. In short, you have no idea what precision is until you are grading out an 1/8th in sand for a putting green. I think that is the part that frustrates me though. People bid cheap because I find so many that are happy with "cheap", but I focus on customers that say "I want it right"..... They we do business and I am always looking for that comment from the customer that they are blown away. In many cases it was cleaning up the street after some work, or in one case, brooming out a garage after we tracked some mud in. These small things stand out.

A lot of people don't realize the money is in the details. Also, "good enough" drives a lot of folks VS "perfect". Some accept good enough. Some will pursue perfection all the way to the poor house. Some find the happy medium. When I do things for myself, I'm frequently satisfied with good enough. Doing things for other people, and my employer, I'm only satisfied when they're satisfied and always strive for perfect unless told otherwise.

 

[grsthegreat]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

i do work for a guy up here that specializes in septic systems. 95% new work on his end, and i only help out on new systems. i told him flat out i wont work on running systems, as my health is too important for me. no working around those stink pots for me. he has 2 excavators and a hydraulic hammer also. Truck and dump trailers. he trucks in sand and gravel as he has no dump trucks.

His machines are no wheres near 27 tons. the trucking fees on that size machine will suck unless you have a dump and trailer. He brought in a 30T machine to swing in a 1000 gal concrete septic tank that was traffic rated (had to lower over a hill) and needed a tractor trailer with lowboy trailer to deliver. makes a good living and is always backlogged in work. lots of interacting with health department and alot of government BS to deal with on his end. the high end systems that they require here next to a lake are so complicated most guys just dont bid them. were talking 2 1000 gal septic tanks, a sand and gravel recirc pit to help breakdown solids and a 500 gal holding tank. multiple pumps, a recirculating drip field, automatic backwash, filters, etc.

i told him when i retired to find a new electrician. i have sent him 3 companies, and all have quit. i ended up having to finish their installs.

i hope the systems in your area dont involve these complicated systems.

 

[bob112]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

Our installs here range (as required by officials) range from the cheapest gravity system, up to advanced treatment units with sprinklers and chlorination. A typical install will require at least a single 1500gal tank, if not 2, 1000gal tanks. I don't think people understand why the tanks are that size and it has to do with time...... Time for bacteria to do the job, but with an active system, the 'time' factor is reduced substantially. The other factor is non-biodegradables that must be pumped periodically. Much of that comes from washing clothes and people misusing the system.

What shocked my family member is after I built remediation devices into the system, there is no odor! We have an inspection port so I can see flowline in the laterals and there is zero odor when that cap is removed.

When I started my learning, I went all the way to municipal level treatment plants to understand the process and this has driven my ideas. Anaerobic digesters are common for the first stage, followed by very aggressive aeration and agitation, but that can bring wastewater into acceptable BOD levels within hours of entering the plant. In many cases, the effluent is simply sprayed onto a rock bed where mother nature finishes the job.

We have a lot of people around here building on only 1-2 acres and have no foresight about the wastewater. Basic systems here generally require a minimum lot size to allow enough room to build a completely new system if ever needed. This is why advanced systems are required on some lots. No room! Or they have next to no percolation and no room for a lagoon either.

I think I just get frustrated with both the officials and home owners. Officials require maint contracts just to install a filter! I realize why, but it detours home owners and their system will eventually fail as a result. Home owners will avoid every expense they can. I think old gravity septics will become a thing of the past because something as simple as a tiny aerator can double the life of a system.

I had to explain this to my family that the soil should never stop "taking water". Yet, word on the street is lateral fields "wear out and stop taking fluid"....What gives? That black sludge in the pipes and surrounding area is NOT your poo! That is waste from bacteria. Aerobic bacteria don't do that! I will have to see if I can find pics.....lol

Attached is a lateral in FULL failure. This system now runs clear! I can see the white bottom of the pipe at flowline. This recovery process cannot be achieved in a few hours though! I guess it could be that my efforts should be towards fixing these rather than new installs, but I won't do it cheap! There was premium fecsue and irrigation over this system so digging the whole system was the last option. I had to rely on my own confidence because no one believed it could be fixed.

 

[two_bit_score]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

A lot of people don't realize the money is in the details. Also, "good enough" drives a lot of folks VS "perfect". Some accept good enough. Some will pursue perfection all the way to the poor house. Some find the happy medium. When I do things for myself, I'm frequently satisfied with good enough. Doing things for other people, and my employer, I'm only satisfied when they're satisfied and always strive for perfect unless told otherwise.

You can have 'Quick, Good or Cheap'. You pick any two.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

A lot of people don't realize the money is in the details. Also, "good enough" drives a lot of folks VS "perfect". Some accept good enough. Some will pursue perfection all the way to the poor house. Some find the happy medium. When I do things for myself, I'm frequently satisfied with good enough. Doing things for other people, and my employer, I'm only satisfied when they're satisfied and always strive for perfect unless told otherwise.

I was in sales but one of the engineering mgrs and i were buddies and he had a heck of a time managing engineers. He used to say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

 

[bob112]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

I was in sales but one of the engineering mgrs and i were buddies and he had a heck of a time managing engineers. He used to say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

Ironically I fit that statement to the letter as an engineer with the perfection flaw. I have had to train myself for "good enough". I also manufacture aircraft parts in my other business so that seems a good fit for my issues....lol I sometimes am the one cussing about ridiculous tolerances knowing some rookie engineer made the drawing with no understanding of how it gets made.

I thousands of these little plastic thingies over the years and we have always fought the tolerances due to the material. Thickness of +/-.0025". I later found this to be a mundane door handle part. End user said +/- .015" would work just fine..... But.....we have to build (and quote) per the drawing.

 

[JethroB]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

I was in sales but one of the engineering mgrs and i were buddies and he had a heck of a time managing engineers. He used to say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

In accounting for 25 years I strived for perfection in reporting profits or losses. My last CEO at a smaller company would roll his eyes to this and say, Just round it to the nearest $100,000. I learned to like him.

 

[two_bit_score]

Re: Man with an excavator here. Considering doing a little "for hire" work.

I was in sales but one of the engineering mgrs and i were buddies and he had a heck of a time managing engineers. He used to say, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

Perfect> Fine> Good> Good Enough> Tolerable> Poor> Unacceptable> Terrible.