Honest opinions please - o.t.

Now, I used my pickup and 24' fifth wheel equipment trailer I use in my excavation business. We traveled down to pick up the rest of the material at the auction yard, came back to the spot where his trailer failed, transferred all the material to my trailer, tied it down, turned his trailer over and winched it up on top of the load and tied it down. This is in 90 degree heat next to 70mph interstate traffic. None of this was easy. I put 488 miles on the truck and burned $90 worth of fuel. It took 13 hours not including my time getting ready, going back to his place to retrieve my trailer after it was unloaded etc.

Now, the question is, was $350 too much to charge him? He thought it was outrageous and called me back, I tried to explain it to him, but he hung up on me. Your honest opinions please.

I would ask for at least gas + a percentage for time & wear & tear.
Now, this may be extreme, but if it gets to a point in the debate where you truly want to justify your charge, get a quote from a company that does that type of rescue. That will accurately quantify and justify.
Compare and see who is right and hash it out from there.

Those type of people who have no respect for people or their time & thoughtfulness absolutely AMAZE me.

Just my 2 cents.
-Chad

P.S. Let us know how it turns out.

1. Assuming the auction yard was half the distance, you charged him $1.43 per loaded mile. And you got nothing for the extra labor for loading the junk.

2. If you were charging based on expenses, you charged $90.00 for fuel plus $20.00/hr. for labor.

Either way you look at it you were at or below fair market value for the service.

You should have also thrown in an inconvience fee (maybe $100.00) to cover having to drop everything to bail his cheap butt out, and working under hazardous conditions. You could have also added another, say 30%, to cover overhead (you didn't win that truck, trailer, chains, load binders, etc. in the lottery did you?).

This guys poor judgement got him into a situation that would have cost him a lot more if he had to deal with a recovery company with no prior scheduling.

Bottom line: No way you charged him too much. He should feel blessed that there was someone who was able to put his life on hold to get his junk off the highway and out of the auction yard.

flathead

If you charged $20.00/hour - That works out to $38,400/year(240 days @ 8hr/day). From that subtract 30% for overhead (small equip costs, electricity, insurance, equipment maintenance, etc.) = $29,583. Then subtract large equipment costs ($30,000 for a 3/4 ton truck with a service life of 5-years = $6,000/year and $4,000 for a trailer with a service life of 10-years = $600/year). = $23,138. Then subtract income tax say 28%.

You are left with $16,660 annual income and your business made no profit. If you paid yourself any more your company would go bankrupt.

I would stick with excavating if I were you. If your neighbor calls again, tell him your recovery business went under due to lack of profit and income.

Don't feel guilty, you did him a big favor.

flathead

I think in this case I would have said " I spent xxx dollars and thirteen hours and spoiled my day" Pay me what you think it is worth" in a nice way.

If he offered you too little in your mind, the next time, I would have a flat on the trailer when he called.

Do you own a horse trailer?

I don't know if anybody does what you did professionally, but if they did I'd put the price at $500-$600 minimum. I think your time alone is worth more than you asked for.

You've treated this guy like a friend, he treated you like a doormat. Sorry for the rant, but ingrates burn me up.

Jeff

The problem is not the bill, the problem is HIS valuation of other people's time, equipment and expense.

Sounds like it won't be a future problem and even if he doesn't pay you, it may be worth it.

duey

The IRS and most businesses allow 40.5 cents per mile. 488 miles X .405 = $198 (rounding)
198 + 90 you spent for gas = $288.

$350 - $288 = $62 (labor)

$62 (Labor) divided by hours you worked (13)

equals $4.77 per hour for your labor.

Yeah I'd say he got away pertty cheap!

Now let me tell you a true story. A friend of mine wanted to borrow my motorcycle one Sunday afternoon and go riding. I said; "Jeff its out of registration." Jeff said; "That's OK I don't mind." So he rode it around all afternoon and at church Sunday night handed me my keys back along with the ticket he got for riding without it being registered. I handed him back the ticket and reminded hin that I had told him it was out of registration. He said; "Well I'm not paying it". I said; "Suits me, they don't come after the bike's owner - they come after the rider." He picked up the ticket and said; "Well, would you split it with me?" I said "No." But the good thing that came out of all that was I now had an excuse to not ever let himm ride the bike again. People are strange.

If I was in the same situation I would call my neighbor back and apologize. I would say "I am really sorry we have a difference of opinion on the value of my time. You owe me nothing. Goodbye" hangup.

I would be tempted to yell and scream and tell him to stay on his side of the street, etc, etc, But then again that would make me look like an idiot like him. Instead, smile when you say goodbye Knowing you will never have to deal with again.

Write if off and walk away. Be happy.

I use those calcs as i generally work 6 days a week.. and If i am helping someone for 13 hours.. I've lost a day.. or 2 half days worth of work.

If this were a friend...depending on the circumstances.. It might be a fuelplus, fuel only, or free.. again.. depending on the 'level' of friendship.. and how we treat each other.. etc.

In any case.. He'd have paid more to rent a trailer and a hired hand to do the same work..

If he's making a huge issue out of it.. you can always call him back and ask him what he felt it was worth.... accept whatever he said.. ( even if 'free', then I'd loose his phone number and I'd just chalk it up to him being a freeloading cheap b@****d, and write him off forever..

Soundguy

Maybe that will cure him of overloading his tiny trailer and keep him from calling on you again!

Zane

Unloading that stuff and hooking it all up, the whole thing, on the side of a busy highway with traffic going 70 mph -- that's the kind of situation that often results in a fatality at the least and a chain-reaction pile-up at the worst. And he put you squarely in the middle of it. You were out of your vehicle, walking around, carrying stuff, right? With people whizzing past you. Highway workers in speed-controlled zones and police officers with rotating lights on their cars get killed in those situations.

If this was the first time he'd done it, I could see him not having realized what a fool he was to overload his trailer that way. And even then, I would expect him to have been seriously sobered by the consequences, and wanting to do anything he could to thank you for putting it all on the line to bail him out. But it was the second time. The SECOND! I can't believe he did it again! I think you would be within your rights to never have anything to do with him again. He obviously doesn't care about you at all.

Or at least, that's how it seems to me. $350 is cheap. YOU could have paid for this with your LIFE.

(I hope I am not being overly-melodramatic. I know I see things like this a little differently from a guy sometimes.)

Dawn

If you really want a reasonable estimate of what your services was worth, you could call a towing company and just see what a 488 mile tow and recovery would cost for a disabled trailer in your area. I called a friend at a local towing company and asked him, I was told a roll back (flat bed truck) at 488 miles would be $375 plus $45 recovery fee plus if the driver felt that the load of the trailer and contents would overload or would cause a hazard in the transport of the trailer, then the owner would be obligated to unload a portion or maybe all of the load or pay an additional $35 per hour labor fee for the towing company to handle the unloading. If the materials was unloaded by the tow company it would be placed on the side of the road and would be the owners responsibility. In addition he said that if the owner opted to unload the trailer himself the tow driver would not be obligated to wait on him to occomplish the task, and it would still cost $45 for the driver to have come out.

Sounds like you are a true friend and have given him a great bargain. I figure that this would have cost well over $800 around my neck of the woods.