cuz it makes me money, but DAY-um some people shouldn't be allowed to operate equipment.

Dale the Builder - and his ham-fisted crew - are a steady source of repair projects. He dropped off a 5x8 trailer for "some repairs" yesterday.

Tongue jack - missing.

Lights - Every.Single.One. Missing or broken. Both tail lights and all four marker lights. And this is after I built "crash boxes" around both tail lights!

Wiring - In tatters. Flat 4 pin plug has been ground down from dragging on the pavement.

Fenders - I can't really blame this on abuse, it's mostly rust. Cut the remnants of both off and ground off the welds to put new ones on.

Railing - Right front corner broken almost completely off, 2/3rds of front rail twisted beyond repair.

Between, parts, steel and labor, he'll have $600 in repairs. Still cheaper than a new one, but paying attention (and not loaning your equipment out) is a lot cheaper.

You do not charge enough!

Looks like I misunderestimated [/yogiberra] the cost. I'm at $410 on materials and 6 hours of labor with at least 2 more hours, probably 3. Got the new lights installed, need to wire them and then do the fabrication on the railing and weld on the fenders.

I only charge $30/hr because A) I'm an amateur and 2) I work when I feel like it so III) it gets done when it's done.

And that's not charging for the time/mileage to go get the steel. I had other business in the area and I'll keep the drops so I'll cut him a break on that.

I tend to get a rash out of the way people treat their kids.

Same as you ,
I should mind my own self

I had a brother in law that apparently had so much money that he took a lot of his possessions for granted . I got in his truck one day and he had a Ruger Red Label O/U shotgun on the floor with mud all over it where it had been stepped on repeatedly .

Good News/Bad News

Good News:

Just as I was finishing up the last weld on the trailer repair, the MIG started sputtering and popping since it ran out of gas. Whew, snuck in under the wire! Billed it out at $750 materials and labor. Seeing as a new trailer runs between $1800 and $2200 I guess that's not horrible.

Bad News:

I drove to town to swap for a fresh cylinder of Stargon (25% CO2, 75% Argon) and the company I lease from no longer maintains an exchange depot in Ellsworth. Nope, gotta go to Bangor 40-ish miles further away. Yeah...uhhhhh...NOPE!

A different company maintains a depot at the local NAPA so I set up an account with them and $167.04 later between lease fees, hazmat fees, sales tax and the actual fucking cylinder of gas, I'm good to go. Almost.

In order to avoid getting dinged for another year's lease, I have to return the empty to the depot in Bangor. And just to make sure the ol' starfish is good and raw, when my Oxy/Acetylene rig lease runs out in July, I get to do it all over again.