From the local paper: Firefighters responded after a house exploded. The guy was in the basement redoing a bathroom. He unhooked “what we thought was a sewer line” said his wife, and it smelled bad, so they put a fan down there to try and air things out.
Well, obviously now, it was a gas line. And it went boom. It fractured the foundation walls, blew out all the windows, lit the house on fire, and the guy is in critical condition at the hospital.
I feel for him, but that was just dumb. Moral of the story, if you dont know what you’re doing, dont.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
Replies
how was he going to remodel a bathroom and not know a gas line from a sewer line?
I had a customer who was too full of enthusiasm and too empty of common sense like that.Some people should not even own homes, let alone work on them. Take their screwdrivers away from them before they hurt somebody!
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Could have been sewer gas that exploded.
Ozlander
As a little side job I framed a basement remodel for a guy in our neighborhood. He said he wanted to help - I said - OK whatever. While I was there, I taught him how to read a tape measure and some other similar things. 3 months later I see him at the big box and he tells me he is installing his HVAC unit and asks me what fittings to use to hook up the gas. I declined to give a (nearly worthless) opinion and said he really needed to hire someone to do that for safety sake.... For the next year whenever I drove by his house I looked evidence of a fire or explosion.
Suggested charge-out rates:
$35/hr.
$45/hr. if you want to watch
$55/hr. If you want to help
$75/hr if you tried to fix it first.
$75/hr if you tried to fix it first.
The good thing is if they actually did try to fix it themselves, they'll have some respect for the skill that it takes to do the job well. Whenever homeowners talk about doing something themselves, I go ahead and encourage them to do so. After a weekend of sweat and tears, they fully and completely understand that $75 an hour (or whatever) is a good deal!
$100/hr. if.... um,.......your a real PITA! Yea, that's it.
Ah,.. hold on, how do you explain that to the client?
I was getting excited about the $, maybe I haven't quite thought this through.
My local True Value owner has been giving my name to folks who ask for someone to fix something around their house. Got a call from a Realtor who asked what all I did and said he had a couple of rental trailers. Told him I shyed (run like he11) away from them as usually they were a poorly built (and not maintained) Pandora's box.
He asked what I charged and I told him 40-50/hr, he said he did not think you could get that around here, he has been paying $10/hr. Told him he should stick with whatever he had, I had no problem getting what I charged. Thank you for calling, (don't call back).
I think some of those guys wear an orange smock and can help you!
Have a good day
Cliffy
I got to pour a concrete slab tomorrow, " oh my husband and brother in law will help" I hate having diyer help. I hate being boss, I hate teaching people how. I will end up doing all the work myself and they will stand around drinking beer.But what really chaps my azz. they will get six people to help, but not one will have rubber boots, shovel or float. They will have $200 tennis shoe " Oh I cant get in the mud, I ruin my shoes" " I will pull the screen board from here" Have you ever pulled one " No, but i watch it on TV"I think i will show up tomorrow with my pair of rubber boots and one float. no screed board, no shovel, no edger, no bull float. If I was smart I leave the rubber boots.yes maam a #2 with cheese please.
I live south of Wash DC, and remember reading an article in the Washington Post about a doctor, I think who was using a mini back hoe to dig around his Mom's house to install PVC perimeter drains. Of course he failed to call Miss Utility. Nicked a gas line, blew the house to smithereens. Fortunately no one was nearby or inside. Good thing he's a doctor, he can afford to buy his Mom a new house. Then again, bad thing is he's a doctor; I gotta dig up his name so if I'm ever hospitalized he doesn't treat me. If he can do that much damage digging a hole, no telling what he'll do with something sharp lika a scalpel.
Steve
couple months ago, we hit a gas line, and we knew where it was. Shut down, downtown Mobile for the afternoon. it was a main line not a trunk line.
That reminds me. Bout 10 years back now, a dentist, got some grease on his saturday work clothes, soaked them in gas to get the grease out, threw them in the wash to get the gas out. No insurance on the house. Amazing. That boom then I think cost him about $450K.
Things like that make ya feel like, ok, I have a downer of a day now and again, but it aint too bad!Real trucks dont have sparkplugs