Debate: Should we charge customers for wall fish sticks we break on the job?

Talked to an old timer named Dave from Denver last week. He said if you snap a fish stick on a tough attic pull, you eat the cost because it's part of the job. But I've lost 4 sticks in 3 months on old homes with blown insulation. That's $60 out of my pocket. My boss says tack it onto the bill as a materials charge. Dave says that's bad business and makes us look cheap. What do you guys do when you break gear on a rough run?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_miles8d agoMost Upvoted

So Dave from Denver says we should "eat the cost" like it's some kind of sacred tradition? Man, I bet Dave also thinks paying for your own coffee is part of the job. If you snap four sticks in three months, that's a tool failure, not a character flaw. Either your boss pays for the replacements out of overhead, or the customer pays for the ones you break on their particular job. I'd rather look "cheap" on a invoice than eat the cost of a bad attic pull every single week.

juliam408d ago

Man, quoting "bad attic pull" hits different when you've done one yourself. I once spent 45 minutes trying to fish a cable through a wall and ended up snapping the stick so hard it flew back and hit me in the face. That's not tool failure at that point, that's just me being a clumsy idiot. But yeah, Dave from Denver probably also thinks losing your tape measure is a sign you're not serious about the trade. I've gone through four of those things just by leaving them on roofs. Maybe I should start charging customers for my own incompetence, but at least I'm honest about it.