State Specific Question About: ARIZONA (AZ)

Enough to do it right. ;-)

Slightly sarcastic, but the bottom line is I've had complete doofuses claim they could do it for $20 and broke the blinds vs. competent skilled guys who wanted $60 for their time. I've found a nice middle ground is $40 to compensate for time and gas money, but you have to find someone willing to do a one-off job for 2 twenty spots, which may not be easy. These guys like full days of work as much as the next guy.

How much do you pay for a service call, with other trades? Taxes, gas, tools and a truck...don't come free. :)

If I was a handyman and someone called me to do just that, I'd either pass on the job or charge them high.

Why would you hire that out?

I am going to assume here you hired this out or attempted to hire this out. You're either unhappy with the bill you got or unhappy with the bid.

The handyman probably though if you were nieve enough to hire something like that out, that he could get away with a high bill.

More than HALF the price of whatever you were charged is the hassle of going to the STORE! Why would that be part of the quote??

Buy the blinds. Have them there. Tell him he can stop by before or after work, during lunch whatever he wants.

About the same as when you bring 2 slices of bread, bacon and 3 eggs to the diner, hire the gas - butter - clean plate - silverware - cleanup - and the tip...

Depending upon whether these are inexpensive mini blinds from a big box store, semi expensive vertical blinds or the expensive open from the top or bottom style blinds, I could easily justify charging a client anywhere between $100.00 to $500.00 to determine what's actually needed, obtain the blinds, remove & dispose of the old blinds, install the blinds and process the paperwork to bill the client. I did some new blinds at a church's daycare center which required a permit & an inspection by the local fire department. These ended up costing them over $650.00 per opening by the time it was finished.

My company has a 2 hour minimum for any service call. Depending upon the skill level & equipment used, my lowest paid worker is billed out at the rate of $40.00 per hour with the 2 hour minimum. Of course this is for a legitimate company carrying licenses, paying taxes & full insurance. Most of my clients understand this & would normally group several things together to get the best value for their dollar.

don't pay much if you never want to use them again. You should recognize when someone is GOOD. This is how you build your data base.

My full time gets 21.00 hr for first 40. Has a guarantee of 30 hrs - whether he works it or not. 31.00 for anything over 40 hrs. CASH. Just "gave" his family a dodge van can take seats out if need be for working.

I use a company that specializes in window treatments. They install a quality 2 in faux wood blind in all my windows. The product is great, lightweight, easier to clean than the heavy plastic ones the box box stores sell.

The price includes the blinds and installation. If even a blind is damaged they can repair it for a nominal cost. Last house I just did total cost for 7 blinds was $677.00.

Sizes were all different but a 52" one (not sure on length) is $90 installed.

Brad said figuring out how much your time is worth and sub out any work that is under that rate..

I got $60/hr before tax from my day job.. so, I would do most stuff myself or my $15/hr handyman.. I won't hire out simple tasks for over $50/hr..

7 blinds can be installed within an hour.. plus time to buy them.. 2 hours worth of work..

When part of a turnover list I pay $3 per blind to replace them.

In your case I'd pay $10 to go to the house, $10 to install, plus $20 for time at Lowes and mileage. Sounds like $40.

BUT...

What's going on? Did the res break these and is still in the house? Work a deal witht he res to do it. The RES can go to Lowes and get them. cut them, and install them. We charge $15 per small ($6) blind minimum.

Where these numbers seem like they are across the board, the real issue becomes what is the fee for the service call and is there any other work at that specific job site where you could use a handyman.

It seems foolish to just hire a handyman for just blinds. But if blinds, a lock swap out and swapping out of frigs.....suddenly a $50 a hour service call and $16 a hour is a bargain.