What would be fair?

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KL Smith

KL Smith

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Posts
277
Location
Jordan Village, ON, Canada
Some of you may remember the client I had a few months back, in which my wife and I hung approximately 170 pictures in his home which we had framed over the last year. It took us about 8 hours to complete the work. I debated whether we should charge him for this and in the end decided not to. In return he has taken us out for a few very fine evenings. Everybody is happy and we have established a friendship between us above the professional relationship.

90% of the work was installed in the basement in a custom built room housing his ancient military collection (of which these framed pieces are part of). He awoke the other day to find wetness on the basement floor. The sump pump had failed and long story short, the carpet and hardwood flooring plus the lower 4 feet of drywall on all walls has to be replaced. His insurance is paying for this repair.

He asked me today to provide him with a price to rehang all the work again, for which he hopes to be reimbursed. At this point I do not know what the contractors have done to the walls and if they have removed all the hangers or not, but assuming we have to start from scratch, I am wondering what to charge for this. I am not interested in ripping off an insurance company, but the price should look professional so they don't think he has hired some kid down the street to do the work.

What say ye?

TIA
 
This is a perfect example of where a "shop rate" fee is in order.

You might consider $40-50 for materials and 2x 8 hours (16 hours). our shop rate happens to be $60/hr. $40 + $960 = $1,000 or there abouts. Yes, an itemized bill is appropiate.
 
Ken -
Ditto what Jerome & Jerry said - - -
"Time & Materials" and do an itemized quotation noting that there would be additional charges for any unforseen problems during the reinstallation. Just in case the job doesn't go as smoothly as it did the first time.
 
Ken,
You should certainly not be concerned about ripping off an insurance company! You are NOT doing anything fraudulent, after all! No doubt this home owner has home owner's insurance. He/she has paid for this unfortunate occassion. YES, you charge him and he gets reimbursed! After all, the insurance company isn't going to pay this nice gentleman to take you out to dinner for your work....I just betcha! ;)
 
Ken, along with providing the customer with an estimate for repairs and rehanging so he can get reimbursed by the insurance company, you might let him know about emergency backup sump pump systems.
A lot of people with sump pumps are not aware that these exist.

I installed one in my basement last year, and that little fella paid for itself the first time the power went out. During the winter, my neighborhood lost power 3 times while I was at work. The emergency back up pump comes on automatically when the primary pump fails to operate (loss of power, pump failure, etc.).


Some insurance companies will reward you for putting one in. Saves a lot in worry and insurance claims.
 
Terry, when the power goes out.... how does the back-up pump work? Or is that the squirrel opperated one?

Ken, just what the others have said 16 shop hours + materials.

What nobody has mentioned is that, now your good customer will know how much you valued his business and friendship before when you comped the work.

Or he will just think that you weren't a good business person way back then..... :D naaaah.
 
Baer, Ron is correct. Many of the emergency back up systems run on a deep cycle marine battery.

They are stored in a plastic box which is above or to the side of the primary pump. The battery is connected up to your power source so that it is recharging when not in use. There are lights and buzzers that let you know when the back up pump is operating, when it is recharging, and when it is low in power.

The emergency pump itself will sit in the sump beside the primary pump, or is mounted out of the sump if there is not room for it in the sump - depends on design and space issues. There is a float mechanism that is set slightly above the primary pump float to trigger the emergency pump when the primary pump fails.

The emergency pump discharge can be spliced into the discharge pipe that the primary pump uses, or it can be discharged out a separate line to outside the home or into a downspout drain.

The down side is that you have to check those batteries and replace them when they are getting low. Most of these batteries last a minimum of 3 years, some as long as 10. Many of the batteries will pump 6 to 24 hours pretty much nonstop (depends on amount of water pumped, size of pump, and height of lift to discharge point). My pump was pumping out 600 - 700 gallons per hour for 6 hours in one outage before the power came back on. It was fully recharged in a couple of hours.

There are several back up pumps that work utilizing your main water system. They use the venturi principle - water lifting water - so for every gallon of water the pump pumps out, the water line uses about a gallon or more to provide the lift. There are no mechanical parts like in a pump. There are no batteries to check and replace and it will work indefinitely - so long as your water system has water.

These systems splice into the main water line under the house, and then discharge in similar fashion to the battery operated back up pumps.

The downside is that you will end up with a large water bill if the primary pump is inoperable for a long period of time.

Sorry to take this discussion so far away from Ken's question.
 
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