hey Everyone,
I’ve been hanging out mostly in “Over the Fence” lately, but I thought I’d poke my head in here to ask how you would handle this… Here’s the situation.
I am a student of Civil Eng. With a focus on transportation design. Remember conversations from days gone by in here, I mentioned to a contractor the other day that I would be willing to do his legwork for him and get his permits/engineering reports, etc. and take care of the city hall/office people ends of things for him. He was excited by the prospect, and asked me to come meet with him to discuss how we could work the arrangements.
Now I’m trying to figger out whether to charge by the hour (which I think is fairest), by the job, or just what would work best. I know this guy is just an average Joe trying to make a living, ,and I’m a student (albeit with kid and mortgage) so I can’t say I’m worth big bucks or anything.
In any case how much would you guys be willing to pay for this service, and what kind of services would you expect of the provider??
Yer input is appreciated,
JAG
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“I have never let my Schooling Interfere with My Education” – Mark Twain Zone 5b Brantford Ontario, Canada |
Replies
I would maybe suggest split rates....low for the running around, standing in line at the permit office, that anybody that breathes could just about do...a higher rate for the tech side of it, prepping the permits, filling in the forms, etc. I worked like this in college (different job/field), and this it what worked, and we both had the warm fuzzies over the pricing.
I'd guess most people who'd use this service would want predictability in the fee. You may have to assess the complexity of the work on each job, and fix the fee for that assumed complexity. I do that on design jobs, and clients seem more comfortable than with a per hour rate that really doesn't help them budget. You'll work out over the first few just how many hours are required and then decide what you wanna make per job (or what the contractor thinks it worth). Hopefully your value and his value have some overlap.
I worked for a swimming pool company in Las Vegas, and they hired a permit-runner to process their applications. They did about 800 pools per year, and only had to deal with 4 different municipalities, so the runner constantly had a reason to visit each office (either to pickup or drop off). She was paid $75 a permit, so that worked out to about $60k/year (she was a 1099'd consultant). Of course, if you don't have the volume of work, or the repetition that she had, you'll need to charge more.
Kinda depends on exactly what you'll be providing- if you're just standing in line and dropping off/picking up paper, I wouldn't expect to make too much more than you can working retail. But if you're actually making the applications, following up on questions from the code officials, etc., that's a different story. You'd best know the codes and application requirements inside-out though, or you could end up costing the contractors some serious $$.
Just my two cents,
Bob
To some degree, this depends on the nature of the work. If just as a leg man to run around and stand in line a fee plus costs (mileage, fees, postage, long distance phone, etc) would sound right to me.
I do quite a bit of this but as a consultant - to shepherd applications through the approval process. In proximity to the ocean, we have a lot of lots with restrictions. It can take a lot of research and of stategic planning to formulate the right language and design to win approval. I know the ordinance (helped write some of it and sat on the board for several years.) and that makes my time worth more to some owners. ie. I might automatically know what would take a novice ten hours of studying to find out. I charge hourly because some applications are only a few hours and others take forever.
I am currently on one that was objectionable to a neighbor so it is going to the appeals process next. I begin to understand why lawyers have to charge so much. Stress and ulcers.
But for basic running to the office and filing, I would think it worth $75 - 100. Get an idea how much time you will be saving him and what his time is worth. That is your competition. Since he was enthusiastic about it, you can bet he hates doing it himself.
Excellence is its own reward!
Here in San Antonio there was a woman (wife (ex-wife now) of a contractor) who would do the leg work and a little, but not much, form filiing-out for $100 per job. She did very well, financially. The fee covered everything...mileage, parking, etc. Part of the benefit was that she got to know the permit staff, and was able to know who to talk with, which days were best, etc. I think she only made runs 2-3 times a week, but still made pretty good money.Do it right, or do it twice.
piffin, did I read your post right, stress and ulcers??, I most certainly hope that you do not have ulcers, this stress thing, well piffin I have thought about asking how others deal with it, and for you , I wouldn't think that you would be the one to be stressing , well at least not so much any way's. Reading your post's I can see that you always seem to have a plan that will work- before you start "project", good communications skills, etc. Sleep good tonight, Jim J
thanks!
I do fairly well overall but I probably internalize certain things.
In light of the day it is, maybe I will copy and paste this into a new thread. I thionk it's a worthwhile discussion subject..
Excellence is its own reward!
thanks for the input guys.
I am looking forward to working with this guy. He sounds pretty decent.
JAG
"I have never let my Schooling Interfere with My Education" - Mark Twain
Zone 5b Brantford Ontario, Canada