10 replies to this topic

[betonjim]

It seems that most appliance techs earn around 30 to 35 thousand a year.  Does this sound about right to most of you?

[Cactus Bob]

only if you work for someone BIG .  if you own your Co that is what i made in my PRIME when customers FIXED appliances or bought USED . last year i made 14,000 ... this year it will be WORSE  i am thinking about closing my store . I am tired of WORKING FOR NOTHING and makeing  everone else RICH

[certified tech group 51]

Hey Bob, how about downsizing. I don't have a store, the phone rings at the office at the my home. The wife answers and schedules the appointments.   We will sometimes answer up till 6 P.M.  I rent a small warehouse that holds my parts with a small repair area to do repairs.  I can do Saturday repairs if I want, refers only, most people will pay a few extra $ to fixitnow..... I avg. 3 calls a day plus I do installs..  ( If you touch it for repair, your liable, so I may as well do installs,  about $120 per install.)  The biggest plus is I'm the only  local one  ( or dumb enough ) that will do  L.G.'s  Asco's, and Bosch......

[grey shrek]

Lots of guys here in the great frozen north have a phone and desk. Parts are in the van or still at wholesaler. Still a few places selling used , but getting less all the time. The best I can do is wish you good luck in whatever decision you make.

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

It's a rough bidness we in, mah bruvahs. Back in my hay day, I was running 8 to 12 calls a day, everyday, including holidays and Sundays. I drove anywhere to fix anything for anyone. I grossed over $100K one year. And it about killed me. My family hardly saw me, my kids grew up and I didn't even know 'em, and it was rough on my marriage. My life sucked and I knew something had to change.

So, Mrs. Samurai, being real good with money and budgets, ran some interesting calcumulations. Turns out that out of that $100K+ that I made, we only kept a little more than half after we paid all the local, state, and federal taxes, including the self-employment tax, and medical insurance. We have three kids and medical insurance for a family of five is well over $1000/month, which would not be an onerous expense if I was allowed to simply keep the money that I earned. And I was making too much money to qualify for medicare for the kids.

Suddenly, the light bulb went off. We realized that if I simply worked less, my tax rate would go down, maybe even to the point that I would get earned income credits; we could qualify for medicare for the kids and maybe some other gubmint handout programs, too; and the quality of our family life would improve.

Now, I'm not a fan of all these gubmint handout and redistribution programs. But the sad reality is that most people are and keep electing socialists and Marxists to the White House and Congress because they think they're going get to a free lunch. So, our reality check: welfare ain't going away in our life time; the tax system is constructed in such a way to keep people from becoming financially independent, not to "tax the rich," as the class-warfare rhetoric goes. With that kind of confiscatory taxation, there was no incentive to work hard because all it was gonna git you was ulcers, a wrecked family life, and a big spare tire around your waist.

Since making money was not the answer, we looked at the other end of the money equation: spending less. We radically simplified our life and sold off a bunch of stuff we don't need, started a garden and raise chickens. Food is probably the second biggest expense in every household (rent or mortgage payment is usually #1). I do swap work with an organic dairy in Vermont (I fix his equipment in exchange for organic raw milk). This has substantially reduced our food expense. We rarely eat out at restaurants. We do not take expensive vacations to resorts or Disney World or any of that crap. But we do take vacations-- we go family camping in the summer. We don't go out to the movies; we rent from Netflix, instead. My 16 year-old daughter helps with income by babysitting and doing sewing repairs for people. My two boys help me on service calls. Mrs. Samurai homeschools the kids and is a consummate frugal gourmet. And now, with a lower income, the kids may soon qualify for medicare so we can drop our medical insurance. And our federal taxes have been slashed to almost nothing.

Our family life is vastly improved but we lament that the System is setup such that in order to survive with any kind of quality of life, you have to plan on deliberately living at the poverty line. The Welfare State has changed the "Land of the free and home of the brave," to the "Land of the freeloaders and home of the depraved." And, unless you're making several million dollars a year, like Hank Paulson was as CEO of Goldman Sachs, then the System forces you to live at the poverty line; it is futile to try to earn your way out of it because they just take more and more of what you make. The solution: work less, make less money, suckle the teat of the Welfare State, and cultivate an appreciation for things that don't require money (or not much, anyway): family, friends, a beautiful sunset, a cool garden, fresh eggs from your own chickens, a good book, a hike up a mountain, and hangin' here wif mah homeys. :afro:

[betonjim]

I like repairing appliances.  I like the people I work for most of the time.  I've only been doing this three years.  I don't know whats fair and what I could end up making in the future.  I've thought about going back to apartment maintanace or checking into HVAC.  I don't think I could handle running my own bussiness, I hate paperwork and telephones!!!!!! I do have health insurance.  Thanks for the info everyone.  I just heard today that Best Buy now charges one hundred dollers for their service call which covers you for 20 minutes inside the house than it's i think based on 100.00 per hour after that. I now someone who used to work their who claims he was making 22 dollers per hour. I don't know I'm still young and have thought about college but lot's of people around here have degrees and it's not doing them a whole lotta good. 

[completeapplianceservice]

your pay all depends on who you work for. you can make $18-27 per hour working for the large companies i.e. factory service, sears, a&e. or like what I did, work for a small family owned company and make a percentage. when i quit after 5 yrs. I was making 35% of the labor I billed, normally 32-35k per year. now with the larger companies, they expect you to run 10-12 calls a day, and work Saturdays.

i was never really interested in the big companies. i just wanted to work for someone for a few yrs. and then go out on my own.

[That Guy]

When I started out, I worked 6 days a week and way too many hours. After three years of barely breaking even, I stopped working 6 days a week and tried only 5. Same result. Broke even at the end of the year. No vacations, no real time off.

At about 5 years in I managed to screw up my right shoulder. I didn't have heath insurance and couldn't afford an operation, so I tried to keep working. I then screwed up my left shoulder, then my back. After 13 years of running my own business, my left knee is starting to fail too. Appliances are hard on your body and you probably won't get rich. (I'm pretty much broke)

I'd have been much better off staying with my former employer. By now I'd be in a lot better shape both physically and fiscally. The problem with running your own small business is the government never, ever helps you. Now if you make a mistake, they are more than willing to jump down your throat and screw you into the ground.

If you haven't noticed, we are moving to a two part society. The very rich and poor or the soon to be poor. If you aren't very rich, then soon you will be forced into poverty. Taxes and more taxes are our future. Mega government is here and it wants to regulate every part of your life. It will force you to do this, force you to do that and if you don't want to, it will fine you as well as tax you to death. Your best bet is to quit trying and live on welfare. I struggled on through lots of pain and very little sleep. Trying to keep working, trying to make money. Is the government compassionate? Not a chance. they want "their" money, and if you don't pay it in, they are more than happy to stomp all over you to get it.

My advise, don't start a small business.

[appl.tech.29501]

I think it depends a lot on where you live as well, where I work we have 4 full time and 2 part time employees...we service and sell new and reconditioned appliances gross business annualy is usually 800k~1 mil. Although I make no more than the average tech. I could easily start my own business and do well...I feel confident in that...... Guess it just depends....are business has grown every year for the past 22....hopefully it will continue that trend.

[TroyAC]

I worked for a Mom and Pop store for 13 years. It was base pay (Not very Much) plus a commission of each call, labor only. It has been almost 4 years ago since I went on my own. But I think it was 10 percent of labor if I remember right. But in a rural area the most calls you could ever hope to have in a week was at the most 20. I know I tracked it for 6 years. So you were lucky to be at 12 to 15 an hour roughly. But they did have great insurance and retirement when I started but faded like most. I did try a big company out in another state and the techs did very well. But you paid for all the gas in the truck you used. You got a big portion of the whole ticket. But there was some major price gouging going on. 45 to 50 bucks for a range cord. I found this to be a bit wrong. Plus you can calls until there were no more for the day. In Denver,CO  this could be untill 9 at night.

[DrFrige]

[user=27301]appl.tech.29501[/user] wrote:

I think it depends a lot on where you live as well

This is KEY right here... When I hear 30K a year, I about fell off my chair. Southern California has at least DOUBLE that ... Then again, rent for a 1 br here can run about 2k a month. (location of course)

One guy I trained about 16 years ago, his boss told me he made over 100k in 2008 (when the economy was still-a-kickin') Wouldnt surprise me though if he grossed 70k in 2009