This is what i was thinking. I graduated high school in '98. We had a wood shop, metal shop, we also built homes one at a time on the lot. When it was done it was given to a family in need and transported to their land. None of that exists any longer at the school :( Edit: we also had a drafting class with manual drafting desks, we had computers with autocad as well but the focus was on the manual drafting.
Learned to do Drafting(with pencils), Wood Working, Auto Repair, Weld, Machining, Child Care, Sewing, Meal Prep, Typing all before graduating HS. My how times have changed
Spent 47 years as a transmission builder. Had several people come to me wanting to learn and I tried to teach them but they gave up quickly. I wanted to retire and build furniture for myself. Retired in 2020 and the shop had to close for there's no builders that could keep a transmission out the door.
No transmission rebuilders in my area. They all closed. Can't even find a shop to replace one anymore. Just had to replace mine laying on the garage floor.
@@arcf1561 It's the same close to me. It's what big industry wanted with their " remanufactured" , I have to bite my tongue here, transmissions. My first job was at a Chevy dealership. We built engines, trans, alternators, starters, a/c compressors, wheel cylinders, calipers. We even had a valve grinder, seat grinder. By the 80's transmission builders were the last of the builders. If you tried to get a diode triode, reticifier bridge for a alternator the parts person laughed at you. That's what I saw.
For sure! Remember the days of stopping by, know one home and the door was open. Walk on in grab a beer go back and sit on the porch and wait for Rupert to get home! Those days are gone and it's sad!
I recently retired from being a military contractor making $200k a year in California building stealth bombers, and couldn't afford to buy a house. Most of us lived in RV's in the parking lot. I put all my money in the stock market fortune 500 index fund, and utility bonds. Now I live in Oklahoma and most towns are ghost towns, but they still want a fortune for shoddy-built homes. RV baby!
This is it. It was a gigantic mistake from all of the Western world and shifted an enormous amount of production value - and above all know- how and hi tech equipment- to countries where the labor force is paid peanuts, and human rights in general are so and so. It should've been somehow politically prevented, but unfortunately there's no way we could have reached a concensus to prevent companies from all of Europe and the USA from doing it.
1,550 sq ft house, black ABS run 42 feet from kitchen thru outer wall, wrong fittings, plastic hangers snapped in HVAC basement chase & plugged. They wanted $1,700 to fix it. It took the weekend and $18 in parts. Lived here for 30+ yrs, wife said door bell don’t work, I checked & worked fine. 4 time, no bell. Took meter into furnace room and found 24 Vac transformer wired into furnace blower fan. Only works if heat or A/C was on! This all happened after Covid! We live in a throw away society and “Joy-Stick” workers. If they get dirty or sweat, they don’t come back to work! It’s a problem. Thank you kindly for sharing. I had to watch after seeing #3 on the porch! RUclips can be full time job. I fighting back pain while fixing around the house bent over. I am up between 4-6AM after 12 midnight, can’t sleep.
As a manual machinist and a 20-year programmer, I got into machinist work because of the work force shortage in the 80's. It's almost impossible to find qualified manual machinists. No one wants to work for a living anymore. They have been convinced that they can sit and make 100k a year. And yes, some can. But not everyone can. If I weren't disabled and 3 hrs away, I'd come and hunt you up for a tryout. Thanks for your time.
Hello from Ireland. 😀 I'm an old school machinist for 40 years now and I still love it Something different every day. Your accent is fantastic, keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍
You are an honest person who charges a reasonable price for their work. Most people who need a plumber have no clue (unlike you) as to what it is going to take to do the job and so some plumbers will quote a ridiculous price and most of the time will get it. Me, I do all my own work, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, engines, cars, computers, etc. And that saves me thousands every year. I really enjoy your channel.
The number of people that have no clue about what we used to consider general knowledge is increasing everyday. These are the same people that are easily taken advantage of by these high prices because they don't understand what it takes to do a job.
Agreed. Most people don’t have clue what it really costs or how to fix it. Their house is where they live and they will pay anything to get something fixed, so they can get back to their busy life. A lot of times, they don’t even get multiple quotes. The first guy comes in and they pay whatever the asking price is.
Back in the early '90's I worked at a small aircraft company across the runway from Piper Aircraft who was in a down period and had laid off most of their workers. I'd spent months on our Bridgeport machining out brackets and fittings for our aircraft kits and the owner wanted me to hire one of the many laid off Piper machinists to free me up for other things that needed done in the shop. What an eye opening situation unfolded! We only had basic equipment for the mill but I was easily able to make parts that met +/- .005" tolerances and interviewed 8 'journeymen machinists' that answered our ad. Every single one of them immediately complained that I couldn't expect them to make the parts on this mill because they needed this special tool or that....and to respond I pointed to several large tables that were filled with parts that I'd machined with the tooling we had...and to a man they couldn't believe it. Anyhow most just walked away when it became clear that I expected good work but a few were willing to do a test....which consisted of me giving them a 1" thick chunk of scrap 7075 and telling them 'Make me a cube'. That was it. "How big they asked"? I responded " I don't care...just make it with what you have here" which obviously only being 1" thick limited the size...but what I was looking for was their ability to make something that measured the same on all sides. You wouldn't believe what they turned in!!! Lopsided doesn't begin to describe what they proudly handed me saying they thought it was 'perfect'. Nothing within .125" or even worse...and these were papered aircraft machinists!! The ability to do quality work comes from within and must be self taught....how to run a particular machine just takes training...but to make a quality part takes patience and attentiveness which seems to be lacking in many these days who expect the machine to do all the work and is why so much is now made by CNC. Very sad state of affairs...but watching the work done on this website gives me hope that there ARE still good machinists out there! Thank you!
I can make you a .997” cube “ with a tired Bridgeport and dull hss end mills. I got a garage full of machines and change 65 an hour and still don’t get every job I quote.
@@quickturn66Yea....anyone 'should' be able to make a damn cube if they have ANY machinist blood in them...but sadly the guys making Piper aircraft couldn't do it. Keep that in mind next time you get a chance to fly in one....I have.
You are spot on with all the points. I learned the old school manual way and went through an 8,000 hr Machinist apprenticeship program, and then did another 2,000 hr apprenticeship program to get my Tool & Die papers as well. When CNC started to come in to being, I jumped on that seeing it was going to give me job security. I always did my own programing and setups. I had a boss that was not CNC literate, and he would complain about my times to do some of the one-off job shop jobs. I told him I could be half way done with the job if I would just be doing it manually. CNC is fantastic for doing more than one of the same part, not so much for one part. Fast forward to now, and like you said look at the wages for a CNC machinist, they are in the dumps. These places now want to have one person doing the programing and setup, and then have an unskilled button pusher that they refer to as a CNC machinist, when in reality they are just a CNC Operator. I retired when I was 62, and the sad thing is that the company had the attitude that machinist are a dime-a-dozen. Never once did I get to mentor a young person, so all my 45 years experience of working in job shops doing anything and everything left when I packed up my toolbox. The real kicker was when they would have the monthly sales meetings, and would complain it was a bad month because they only made $10,000,000 profit the month before, and then come out and give us a 1.5% raise and say things are tight. Retirement is great!!
I’m a tool and die maker , started apprenticeship in 1970 $2.11 hr ended career in 2016 with CNC experience last 10 years, $36.10 hr. I hear ya bout the other trades . My buddy the plumber wanted me to machine him a part for his race car but he wouldn’t do my plumbing for trade because his labor is worth more lol I didn’t do the job because I raised my rate to match his , he said not fair lol. I’d love to work for ya but too far away , I’m on the Mississippi River Iowa by I-80 crossing, had my own crank grinder 10 years , fabricated race cars and parts since ‘70 , still hotrodding 😊
I’m a x-professional motorcycle road racer and built homes my whole life, I always was amazed how much a machine shop had to invest compared to the hourly rate. Doesn’t make sense compared to other trades…
Great porch talk! You hit the nail on the head, in so many areas. There are a boatload of people that get your thinking 100%. Thank you for sharing these porch talks with us. Congratulations on hitting the 18K Sub mark. You deserve many more. Keep preaching it, and they will come. 😉
I totally agree with you . I'm a master Automotive technician with 35 years of experience and I had to help this guy fix my washing machine and loan him tools and he charged me 425.00 I was upset .😊
Sir. I live in Kansas City and I had a short block rebuild done for around $700 at a local Shop here in Independence/Kansas City area. They did an excellent job and I was glad to get it done by a real Machine Shop. I still had to dress it out and install the motor. Quite an experience. An old, small shop in an old neighborhood. Had an old boy straightening a crank with a torch and a hammer (wild stuff). Younger guys doing grunt work. Owner directing and working on stuff too. My first time walking around a real "machine shop." Nothing like yours. This one did great work, were always busy with motors lined up for pickup and drop off. Four man show. But neat, clean, and tidy was not to be found. Ya had to be careful walking around in the place, the owner was kind enough to let me look around. Great experience here and they actually do quality work. But you and Andrew and the Misses are over the top great!! I watch a lot of you videos. A lot - even though most of the time I don't know what your taking about. Still trying to figure out what an "Ls1" motor is. But love you guys!
Well said my friend. My auto repair shop in northern ohio is busy as can be but cant find help. Raising prices to pay techs top dollar may be the ticket. My fear is finding qualified reliable people. Seems they dont exist anymore. Thanks for your videos!
I'm in Southern Ohio. How much you paying your techs? I'm a mechanic and I left the trade (only ever had one vehicle come back). I'm about to start working with a friend packing boxes for 22+ an hour. Realistically what do I wanna do? Wrench on computerized garbage for 18 an hour or pack boxes and drive a forklift for 22? The wendy's near by is paying 18 to flip burgers. There's about to be a serious reckoning in this country. Skilled labor is gonna have to increase wages probably double what they pay now before they really start getting workers. Of course, that 1500 dollar plumbing job is gonna cost 4000+.
It's that word reliable that kills it. When our government is willing to pay people not to work, it's hard to compete. Many are willing to work some hours, but not enough to jeopardize that FREE money.
That's because the new generation has been raised online with zero practical experience fooling with mechanical items much less repairing them. Hell they can't even change a spare tire, hell new cars don't even come with spare tires anymore! The world is getting dumbed down day by day, and this is not by accident.
I was a mechanic for 5 years working in a fleet shop making $19/hr towards the end of 2019. I left and took a job building vehicles on an assembly line and I’m now making almost $35/hr. I was wanting to gain more skill as a mechanic, but I’ve got a family to feed and a mortgage to pay for.
Why , they didn't want to pay a man...I work 12 years at crankshaft specialist, 15 at comp cams and was the only machinist lunati had from 2014-2019 and nobody wanted to learn the trade and the companies wouldn't pay an appropriate wage...so I just stopped doing that work...
You hit the nail on the head! I'm sick and tired of contractors filling their pockets when people complain about my $85/hr. You're absolutely correct that machinists/mechanics should be making way more money. I feel like one issue is the whole "Need to be certified" thing. Big Corp pushed the agenda that everyone needed to be certified and if you're not, don't go to them. That has caused a whole industry full of people who only know what someone told them. They have no hands-on experience. Backyard mechanics were the ones who figured things out. All the ordinances, laws, etc, keeping people from working on their cars in the driveway has hurt things also. For whatever reason, like you said, people will pay someone to glue pipe or put wire in big money, but mechanics/ machinists get crumbs? I've had customers tell me it must be nice to have all my tools. In the same breath, they act like they were given to me. The other day, a customer told me they just paid my mortgage for this month. I said, "No, you paid volvo penta for a gear set to fix your boat, and I didn't even make enough to pay my electric bill." The gear set was $1650, my labor was $150, so his bill was $1800. But that's the way people think.
I’m a long distance trucker, and your videos help me kill the time when I’m not driving. Great content as always. Would love to see more front porch videos. Thank you for keeping this channel going, one of the best on RUclips. Thanks Daniel
Woh lmao….. true I’m a precision machinist cad mastercam cnc programming fanuc n code manual machinist and cnc machinist 3 years of school and 6 years for Halliburton. Pissed me off running new parts and green jobs getting paid 18 dollars an hour, then being called over to a morisiki to help a cnc operator ie button pusher who was not a machinist who was making 30 an hour for 15 years; to figure out why he’s scrapping parts turns out he increased the feed speed. I was to stressed punching numbers all day sneaking up on tollerances no scraping running and modifying code for new parts that was not on parr making changes programmers got wrong and for what 18 bucks for 6 years and no raises. I went to Napa to get a sleeve bearing pressed they said 30 bucks roter tuned down .005 60 dollars I’m a machinist really that’s literally 3 to five minutes I just did it myself lol. I need to work for Napa
Thanx for taking the time to do all the videos you do. I’ve owned my own plastics injection molding business the past 40 yrs. My opinion it all started in the 1990s when manufacturing went to China. Machine shops started closing, no work, and at the same time technology (CNC) became more affordable (computer technology). Young people migrated to technology and no one learned basic machining. Fast forward today….basic machine shop equipment are basically museum artifacts no current “ machinist” knows how to run. Yet I can still machine some basic parts the old way faster than I can program a CNC. Thanx again for your time
This is my opinion. When I was in school we were told forget trade school or apprenticeships because theres no money or work. The manufacturing base, mining, and machine shops that supported them shutdown and moved overseas by the mid 90s. And they werent coming back. Lo and behold thats changed recently and a lot of places have opened shop. Literally dozens of manufacturers and machine builders in 5 years. Theyre hiring machinists, welders, electricians at decent money but cant fill them. Why? Its because an entire generation, MY GENERATION. Got left behind. Companies outsourced products, pride, and quality. And 90 percent of the old guys didnt give a damn about if the next generation had a job or could run a bead or use a mic. Theyd just whine about how hard they had it. And these kids dont know anything. Dont have options in school. Shops wont give you a chance to learn fresh out of high school. You can sweep up lathes and grind for 12 an hr. Or work at chick fil a for 18. Idk whatever. All a mess
You are spot on on manual machining versus CNC. CNCs are nice for some things, but not everything. And the cost of the equipment, nobody understands what your equipment and tooling costs.
When I went to U.T.I. back in 07 the precision measurements and science of engine building really got my attention and I loved it....I graduated,entered the work force at dealers and such and no one was rebuilding engines .....I often think I should've gone to school to be a machinest.....becuase thats what I truly enjoy....I love precision! My love for the science quickly became just a "replace a unit" and over time I have lost my love for working on cars.....but watching your videos fires me back up.Nobody appreciates or understands what he have to do,and know as techs.....they think any old Joe blow can do it.....As an auto tech I had to learn hvac,electrical,suspension,engine repair,driveabilty,,drive ability,,, so forth and so on...and I've never broken over 60k a year.....
I live in Ontario Canada and my 3.3 Chrysler jumped time and bent several valves. Since it's an old junker and all I can afford. I can't find an engine machinist to replace the valves and do a valve job. I was a mechanic for over 50 years and there were at least 4 or 5 engine machine shops in my area. The one I used the most did very good work has closed up. Now there are none unless I want to go to Toronto which is an hour from me. I even had a problem finding valves for it. One of the most used engines ever and can't find valves? I had to wait for the dealer to order them and can barely walk after paying for them. I dug out my compound and my lapping stick and did it myself. Fortunately, the seats and guides were still in reasonable condition. I wonder where this world is heading these days. I enjoy your videos, so keep smiling and carry on. We have a place to live and food to eat. I suppose that's all that really matters.
As a person in the plumbing related, well drilling & pump industry, when we get a call looking for an estimate and tells us what materials and how much time they think it will take, we already know we're probably not getting that job. Additionally we're probably not interested because they'll be looking over our shoulder the whole time asking tons of questions, getting in the way and trying to micro manage us. Especially when there's lots of work out there to be had. So throwing a high number at it is more polite than saying not interested. You asked how did it get to that point? It's pretty much always been that way with anything that requires professional licensing. I enjoy your channel, great content.
I love your channel. Let me just say the going rate is the going rate. If you think it’s to much do exactly what you did do it yourself. The price of a shop,trucks,equipment, insurance so on and so on. I do industrial HVAC we can’t find anyone. Our mean age in the shop is 53yrs old when it should be 35. Fewer men = higher wages because that’s what it takes to keep the good labor that makes you money.
I really enjoyed your talk. I can relate. I had a main water line fail just past the meter because of a faulty coupler. I tried calling around looking for a plumber and no one was interested in repairing the broken line. As "luck" would have it, I was told to call a retired plumber/neighbor who lives up here and said he would fix it for me. It took him a little over an hour to dig down 18" and replace the coupler. He charged me $600. I'm almost 80 years old and really couldn't do it myself, so he had me over a barrel. I only know, I would have never done that to him or any other neighbor or person.
Love these "From The Porch" videos. You have really good points, especially in regards to tools. The world has gotten topsy turvy and hopefully people like you prevail and things can go back to right side up. 👍
I have been a machinist since 1991 and I have always been aggravated about the pay discrepancy. I worked in an electric motor shop for about 10 years all manual work, I loved that type of work.
It’s crazy, just wired my brother to put cam phasers in his f150, he got a5000$ quote from his local dealer. I priced it for the pats at the dealer I work at for 525$ parts and I told him I’d do the labor for half, 1900$ for everything for me to do it on the side. I told him to sell it, he’s still got a 10 speed in it that hasn’t been through, yet! I can make what I make in about a week or two, in one day giving him a break.
You are exactly right that most people don’t know what things cost and most contractors know that. Try to get one to give a detailed estimate of hours of labor and parts all broken out. They will look at you like you are crazy and they won’t break it out for you.
I worked in aerospace/defense as a design engineer for a couple decades - doing a lot of development/prototype design. I was always surprised to see how little the machine shop jobs were paying relative to how much value they brought to the table.
Hey Danell, Donald here I had to pause your video a few times and let memory lane take over. remember back in the 80s-90s when 1 out of 3 NAPAs had a machine shop&repair center and business was good! those rates 30-40 years ago havent changed much if any at all! however you dont see those all in one shops any longer.... our rates need to increase. another thing i want to mention before setting my point is social media. im old enough to remember when WWW. came about and AOL following with the Forums and then myspace and then Facebook. we as Business owners and masters of our craft are out numbered by the internet "gurus" that say "its not needed" or "i can do it cheaper" and the sad thing is majority of the potential customer base will follow what they read or hear from online social media or their friend. i see it every day and so do you. it walks thru my shop doors weekly and the stories never change. i stumbled onto your channel couple weeks back and i like that youre putting this out there. it needs to be seen and heard. we spend thousands and thousands on tooling and machines to be charging such a low rate for the skill it take to turn the work out.
Great topic Daniel. I know exactly what you are saying to be true. The Risk Reward has a serious imbalance. We have alot of investment machinery, infrastructure, knowledge and experience. I called plumber to my house to estimate replacing a frostproof faucet that had froze, he told me 285.00 plus tax. I figured it would be like 125.00 parts and labor. I told him no thank you. He said that would be 140.00. I said what, you said free estimates. He said free if he got the job. I gave him his check and told him to get out of my house now!. They are not honorable people. I told my wife, today you and I are going to be a plumber. So I loaded up, went to Lowes and purchased a valve, Propane torch, solder and copper pipe cleaning brushes. Came hom turned the water off. Unsoldered the old valve, was under the kitchen sink, easy access. Cleaned it up. Installed the new valve had my with hold it from the outside of the house. I soldered it and it was a better install than the original that was installed by a plumber. Going to Lowes, back home fixed it in like 1.5 hours. And I have the torch to use at the shop now. For a total of about 85.00. You left out another thing about help. No one wants to work or get dirty. They want easy money. Have a great day. Take care, Ed.
I used to be a manual machinist in a fab shop back in the day. Did a lot of line boring on mining equipment as well as fitting, welding and cnc programming. Had to leave the field because working conditions and pay were taking a nose dive. 12hr shifts and $14/hr with almost no medical insurance. It's a shame seeing how shops are screwing over potential talent.
I share your concern. I am not an automotive machinist although trained at a tech school for auto service. A gearhead at heart, I lost many positions because I thought doing a good job was priority 1, but apparently didn't make enough money for the company. Watching many of your posts and the level of expertise demanded on a regular basis, I would gladly pay your bill. I am not exactly nearby though. Until junk work with a big ticket is unexceptable, we will have the same conditions continue. The internet geniuses have not helped either. Learned several things from you, keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate you, sir and God Bless You.
Good evening , I agree I wanted to go back into machining I have been a tech all my years but started in a machine shop and really enjoyed it. I hope yall are doing well ? Thanks for the video.
Yep, and now that I am 66 years old the future does not look too bright. If I were a younger man, I would seriously consider uprooting and going to work for Mr. Powell, as I put in some machine shop time as a young man, both job shop and automotive. I was the cylinder head man at a couple of shops, including performance work for racing. As you well know, the power is in the cylinder heads.
I know exactly what you’re saying....being a mechanic myself with my own shop I witness this all the time. One of the things I’ve always said about the mechanic field compared to the other skilled trades, is that we were stupid years ago of constantly advertising our prices to the public.....the general public gets those figures ingrained into their head and they’ll call you out on it. Most people can tell you what they think a brake job or an oil change should cost, but ask them how much should it cost to plumb a bathroom, or to replace a furnace and they don’t know. The other thing is, not many young people want to enter the skilled trades.... For 23 years I was an adjunct instructor at 2 different community colleges here in northwest Ohio, teaching in the automotive and diesel technologies....I’ve witnessed the attendance levels drop considerably since the early 90’s to a point where both schools are on the verge of closing their programs. Back when I was a young fellow in the late 60’s / early 70’s, what we did for fun was play with our cars to see if we could make them run better.....the majority of young kids today don’t even know how to open the hood, much less want to work on it.....but with today’s technology, I can’t blame them....especially when the local McDonalds is starting 16 year olds out paying more than most repair shops do. But yes, I’m as confused as you about CONtractors....when it takes 2 guys 5 hours to replace a furnace and heat pump that costs $4500, and charges you $12,000....I know I couldn’t get away with that on someone’s car.
A friend of mine owns a transmission shop in Washington State, he was sweating it out going from 130.00 to 150.00,I needed an attorney they changed 610.00 per hr.,I called my friend and suggested he raise his rate to 200.00 per hr.
You are spot on ! i am a retired manual machinist and I never made the money a journeyman machinist should make. Like you said many jobs were making a new one from this old worn out part and most of the time we made it better than the original part. You touched on the cost of equipment and it is so true, a small job can require three to five machines and the tooling for each machine. It takes skill and patience to be a good machinist to deal with the stress of producing a good product. I also agree with you that the good customers, in particular other good trades people understand and want a good job done and price isn't the issue. A good place to start is in the schools showing respect for machinists. I ask people if they know what .0001" is, most don't. Thanks for bring this topic up.
13:51 I started my career using total manual machines. Sometimes, I had a print to work from, but most of the time, I had the old part to duplicate. Made gears of all kinds. Around 1980 we tried to hire some help. Had fellows that said they could do the job but not. We had to put digital readouts on the equipment because they couldn't figure out the concept of backlash on the manual screw controls. It continued to get harder and harder to find people even with good wages. At one time Navy vets were good machinist but later they were not good at reproducing a part without the automation of a CNC machine. We need to teach our young people to think for themselves. It seems they all need to be told how and what to do. Good luck growing your business. Have a great day!
Great video. Myself I am a plumber of 29 years. Ill be 51 coming next month. I say that you are very correct on pricing. some plumbers tend "stick it" to ya.....Can glue, cutters and level.....I make 32.00 an hour....but I am also a Licensed Master Plumber. But long run is in my area we had 4 machine shops and 3 of shops the gentlemen that owned them have passed away, up in there 70's. We have one left which is a "NAPA" owned machine shop and Mark is retiring this year after 38 years, and no one want come in and learn etc. But I do agree with you machinist are very under paid. Think alot fairness is the pricing in any trade, plumbing, electrical, brick, tile etc. I been in the "game for over 35 years I start as a greenhorn and moved up to where I am now. It took several years in crawl holes fixing sewer lines etc....digging. But as any tradesman will till you,,,,ya never start a t the top. thanks for videos again I really enjoy your channel.
I’m a Tech in NJ for a township and the biggest issue I thing not many people what do this kind of work. When I was high school in the 90’s most my teacher’s tried to push my away from this trade and some family too. I have done other trades they were not for me. I love what I do.
When I was a teenager and went into high school, I wanted to be a machinist, but the guidance counselors would look at your grades and push you towards college as their statistics told them that these trades were dying out and that the kids who did not do so well academically would be better suited for the trade (we had trade and industrial which was auto body and machine shop). Well as time went on those kids that were not so hot academically actually made out OK as there became a demand for their trade. And as reflected in the construction industry there is quite the demand for skilled labor. So, the college education is not always the best for students although there is a need for better educated people in the trades as well.
Man you hit the nail on the head, I left my automotive machinist job to become a Millwright, more than tripled my hourly pay. Loved the machine work and still miss it, but it just didn't make sense to stay there. Still done the machine work as a Millwright just not automotive.
Around here, plumbers are charging 3500-5000 to replace a single 40 gallon hot water tank, boggles my mind. I only charge around 1300-1700 and feel like I'm taking advantage of my customer at that. Interesting to learn Plumbers in your area are charging as much or more as around here.
You are exactly right. I went to engineering school a couple yrs ago and trained on lathe,mill,grinder,etc. Bought a few tools etc. And when all was said and done, a starting machine operator position was 15-20 at best. I can work when I want as much as I want making 40+ an hour delivering food or groceries. 1200 a week part time is pretty normal here In Alabama. When I lived in Los Angeles I made 60k part time working for Grub Hub.
My free advice, which is worth exactly what you pay for it, would be to continue to raise prices until you order backlog reaches about 45 days. I bet your plumber could get to you before July.
Yup as retired carpenter/contractor who bought all his tools who wants to do this anymore a new truck is 80,000 bucks now put tools in it another 4000 or so then some low life steals it think I will be a plumber hots on the left cold is on the right and payday is Friday lol started doing home machinist work now I'm buying cheap expensive tools again just to do a 100.00 job I hate plumbing!🤣
My insurance company stopped paying for stored material. As soon as it hit the job site the illegals would take everything. Tool trailers and everything had to be stored offsite. Theft is expensive.
A breath of fresh air, logic, facts, and rational thinking! People should watch your videos, I feel smarter after instead of being smeared with negativity and nonsense, lowering my brain functions. I get inspired to put down the phone and work on my 61 Mercury when I watch guys like you and Bad Chad, and other people who do actual things and work, with good commentary great job!
I enjoy this series and appreciate your effort to put together thinking videos like this. You’re on the right track with bringing your prices inline with what the market. Being a machinist myself I’m also a diy guy and have a hard time with prices. Y’all know the old saying, “price what the market will bear”, holds true.
The exact same thing has happened here in Australia. Unfortunately I don't have any answers either but I think you need to put your prices up and have fewer customers who pay more. Your clientele will become more the type you want to deal with as the time wasters disappear. Your skills are becoming more valuable than you think, keep up the great work 👍.
If you're swamped with work and grinding six days a week, RAISE your prices! I know what it's like to want to make everyone happy but at some point you gotta look out for yourself. Anyone with a brain knows quality work commands a higher rate., they'll pay it with a smile on their face. I need a roller for my 427 FE because I'm not going to risk my engine with a flat tappet,,I don't care what it costs!
This is a serious message. Firstly, I am absolutely flabbergasted and shocked that you only charge $125/hr. I thought for sure you charged $200+/hr give or take on the job, I would pay that honestly, and even at that price I think that's plenty fair for the work you do. If you raised your rates, I wouldn't blame you, you're worth it brother. Secondly, if you ever decide you want to hire a teardown/gopher/apprentice part time please do let me know sir. I would come work for you doing whatever you needed, so long as youd be willing to teach me machining until I could machine full time for you. Pray on it and if you decide to take a chance on someone, let me know and we can have a sit down and discuss it. Hell if not, no hard feelings, not even remotely. I enjoy your channel and all the learning that takes place here and I'll continue to as long as you post. Cheers to you and yours good sir! 🍻
I know what you mean about plumbers. I recently had to have my entire house re piped and the first estimate I got was $11K, then I got another one for $8K. Finally after getting quite a few more estimates the cheapest I was able to get it done was $4K. Total time the $4K plumber spent on the job was 8 hours. Probably $400 in PEX pipe and fittings. And that was just for the actual plumbing. I had to do all the sheet rock repair from him cutting holes in the wall. I just didn't have the knowledge to re pipe a whole house. New pipes were run in the attic and the first time we had temps drop below freezing I had frozen pipes. I then spent $300 on insulation and about 8 hours in my attic properly insulating the pipes what the plumber should have done. Average cost of getting a 40 gallon gas water replaced here is $2000-$2500. I did my last one myself. I paid $500 for the tank and all new fittings at a plumbing supply store not a big box store and it took me 1 1/2 hours start to finish. I'm sure the plumbers that buy there get wholesale pricing so they don't even spend that much and do it faster than I can. The only thing worse than plumbers is heat and air repairmen. HVAC
One thing you have to consider is supply and demand. Machining blocks, cams, cranks, valves and heads even using your rates can be close if not cheaper than all the Chinese brand new parts or reconditioned over seas then shipped back for pennies on the dollar. Will the quality be there??? I doubt it would be even close to the work you do. But people want it cheap and want it now. That’s what the auto parts chains offer. It’s sad! There used to be half a dozen auto machine shops within 15 minutes of where I grew up. Now I would have to drive 30-45 minutes to find one and they are so busy the lead time on most parts are a month or two. Another thing to consider on the difference between construction work and hands on machining and getting help for each is that when I was growing up (I believe we are similar in age) we were being preached that you REALLY need to get a college education. Mike Rowe touched on that in an interview I saw some time ago. It got to the point that no one wanted to do the manual labor stuff when they have a college degree. That left a huge hole in the construction field and those fields are paying big money to people who will work. There is a huge construction market. Whereas the manual machining market is being replaced either with big companies who have CNC machines that regrind parts in mass or cheap overseas parts. Everyone wants cheap and wants it NOW. We have settled for cheap parts at our own expense!
And this is the reason why I'm doing home remodels now. I was an ASE certified technician for 20 years, I make just as much money now with way less headache, and I haven't made a Snap-On payment in 5 years😂
Hi Daniel, Thanks for the videos! I live in SW Pa. in the woods, 4.6 acres 1350 sq.ft. house $147K. Been here 44 YRS. Old farm house Built by the owner 80+ yrs ago. Work in progress I got the Septic and well water. I'm a retired auto (tech) mechanic Most of the work is mechanical any how! My Wife can't under stand why I won't hire someone to do the work on our house I can do just about anything, carpentry.pluming,electrical , it might take me alittle longer but I get it done and I do the best work that I can with in reason. Some of the work is a little sketchy that I have to redo , and you might have to go further than first planned,but I'm sure you understand. I had windows installed when I first bought the place Because I had the foundation excavated and did the sealing pointing the block,blueboard and french draining and backfilling my self 92 tons of lime stone by hand, I lost my helpers. After having the windows installed that was the last time had anyone do the work ,garbage! I could not believe the shoddy work! If anyone is watching these videos you would think you would have people lined up at your door! I'm not a machinist , I have done some in the military and if I lived in your area I would be more than happy to help you out in anyway I could! We used to got to Darlington every year and we like the south, we lived in Chattanooga for awhile. Ok I'm done. Thanks Daniel! I also have three Vehicles to keep up!🔧🔧🔧
Dont lose heart, man, good kids are still out there. My 16y.o. knows his way around a toolbox, helps me whenever I have maintanence to do and he currently runs the mech of a bowling alley from the 50s! Sometimes you gotta find the kid on the edge of trouble ( like my boy, the cops got him in a work apprentice program at 15!)
The lack of people is ridiculous, I rebuilt a case 580b backhoe, engine hydraulics etc. Some of the bushings for the hydraulics were no longer available but I found the specs for lots of case bushings and found some that were close but needed machining. A shop told me it would take 3 months due to backlog. So I bought a 1940 lathe for 500 bucks and did them myself :)
As a teen in the early 90s I picked up a set of Time Life home improvement books used from a thrift store. Best money ever I spent . Just starting out as an apprentice technician money was tight so those books came in handy , now as a 30 plus year master technician I still use them to complete home repairs and improvements instead of paying somebody who calls themselves a professional , charges top dollar for unskilled half assed work you'd expect from a jr high shop class . I refuse to pay somebody to do shoddy work and expect premium prices . It's inconvenient as hell ,but saving thousands , and even more frustration when you have to redo the work a short time later because of quality , or even worse loan the " professional tradesmen " tools to complete the job ... the world has gone to hell. Half these guys don't understand the basic principles or concepts of the job they do anymore but demand top dollar.
I agree with you about your prices being low. The reason the other trades are so much is because they are going to your house/property. In Calif I need to have 3M + liability insurance and 15K bond, 2M truck insurance, just to hold a $500 c-10 electrical license so that I can stand on your property and give you a quote. I am sure you know all about all the other taxes and fees as well. That's what's going on
You pretty much nailed it. I've always used the number of hours I have to work to cover the bills and not the hourly wage amount. I just had some machine work done on a jeep motor and it's been probably 25 years since I've had any work done and couldn't believe the prices. I think they are the same as I used to pay in the 90's and even trying to find a shop was a challenge. It's a disappearing trade and society needs to quit being so disposable. I think it took a month for the block and 2 months at another shop that did the crank. It used to be about a week to get my old FE motors done. Now that I'm older I don't look for speed only quality, hell I started this project in July and hopefully will finish this weekend.
Great video, you absolutely nailed everything you said I myself am 21 I’ve worked in a shop very similar to yours minus the online end since I was 16, in school and out of school I’m known as an outlier with all my friends, I work non stop it’s exactly like you said and a similar environment me the boss and one part time retired machinist who helps out from time to time. Same story we are absolutely overloaded mid to late summer lead times and no slow down in sight us and the one other quality shop in the area have even been working together to slowly increase rates to a more fair point and with also hoping some of the hagglers and hillbilly’s we call them will turn away we have stacks of blocks 3 high all over to the point there is no space left for more coming in. Benches full of heads layed out apart being worked on and then on top of it at any point parts we need can become unavailable and we have to chase around all the warehouses and also custom manufacturers to find what we need. You would think as hard as someone like you or us works for a quality product we would have more to take home but unfortunately still not the case yet.
My shop experiences every single issue you’ve spoken about too, I’ve been an automotive machinist since I was 19. I’m 22 now and still working in the same shop with my boss and one coworker. I only make $10/hr cash despite rebuilding/doing every cylinder head and quite a few other short block associated things. We have plenty of work and plenty of customers but my boss still charges 1980 prices and as consequence I literally cannot afford to buy myself dinner most nights. I’m the ONLY one who takes care of the worn out equipment, my coworker refuses to take pride in his work and just wants to get stuff out the door as quickly as possible because he makes his money off of commission vs hourly like me. He gives me so much shit everyday for literally doing things correctly and the right way instead of just slapping shit together, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of LITERALLY starving, getting picked on for being younger, getting shit for fixing broken ass equipment or doing a good job and taking pride in my work so the customers engine doesn’t just fall apart on first start up. Everything I send out that door that I’ve had my hands on doesn’t come back because I do it RIGHT the first time and always check my work, the same cannot be said for my coworker who has literally sent an entire long block out without torquing the rod bolts which caused my boss to have to eat the entire thing and rebuild it for the guy cause it blew up on start up after 5 mins. I’m not the best cylinder head guy/automotive machinist out there but Im worth a hell of a lot more than $10/hr, I love my job but I literally can’t afford to do it anymore. Come summertime I’m going to the plants with a buddy of mine for $34/hr and saving up for a few years until I can start my own damn shop, I’ll do it the right way, take pride in my work and the equipment and won’t starve my workers.
If what you say is the truth, you should move on as soon as possible. If you really do good work with a good attitude, you'll have no trouble making double that money.
Wow, you hit the nail on the head! What I see as a manual machinist is that everybody seems to think that CNC is the only way to do something. I can do what I do on a manual mill or lathe quicker than some "program" then set up machine and push buttons and still get it wrong. If you are doing dozens of parts CNC is good but the one off's are usually manual only and quicker on manual machines IF the machinist is good enough to get it correct. I see parts coming back because somebody relied on the computer to get it right but they never checked it. Unfortunately I don't make any more money than a CNC but I can do CNC too, to a certain degree. Everything is so screwed up now.
I am a retired machinist and have been down that road. I took machine shop at a local trade school in the seventies. When I graduated I bought all my tools and boxes and started looking for work. I got a job in a local shop in an entry position and worked my way up to general machinist. My next position was working for a chemical plant in there machine shop and I though I had it made making six dollars per hour. But the plant closed after three years. My next position was at a government pilot plant at twelve dollars per hour that lasted four years. In 1984 I went to work in an aircraft plant that got a contract to build military aircraft and the starting pay was 7.91 and lasted eight years. I lived in a camper because I couldn’t afford to buy a house working for Lockheed aircraft. I got a job with a local oil refinery in ninety’s and stayed with them till retirement. I only reason I stayed in machine shop was that I enjoyed the work and wanted to stick with my trade . I have told all my kids and grandkids to never be a machinist unless you want to be at bottom of the social scale and starve to death.
You are 100% right I tell my wife all the time she just don't know how lucky she is that I fix everything house cars plumbing electrical we hardly ever pay anyone to do stuff. I almost dropped over the other day my neighbor has a rental property she needed a switch installed an electrical switch she paid almost $400 I couldn't believe it but it's true.
My brother I would kill to learn how to grind camshafts and build motors with you The state of our country is sad. I’m an automotive mechanic at a dealership and our pay scale absolutely sucks. Topped out at 35 an hour Plumber’s ain’t worth 300 an hour that’s why I make the time to do all my own work. I tiled our entire house cause it was cheaper to buy the tile saw and tools and teach myself. Then I did all the drywall and painted I ain’t gonna pay these prices I don’t care how much money I got Love your content brother!!!!
Wish we could have crossed paths many years ago. I would have loved to work for you. I'm retired now. Manual machinist here who has made untold thousands of parts from blueprints in a job shop environment. I also spent a couple decades working for Cummins recon as a machinist. Resurfacing heads, engine blocks, align boring, rod boring, valve jobs including assembly and dyno testing.
It's the same thing different day all over again. We went through this same crap back in the early 1970's , the gas crisis was a thing you may or may not remember. I don't know your age but I am 64 and can recall a lot of the early 70's. A lot of the imbalance you speak of is a result of technology. Remember when you could exit the armed forces with gas turbine experience and make a very good wage working for Boeing or any of the jet engine companies. Remember when you could go to Microsoft school and earn a degree and end up making a real good wage doing programming. And then the market was flooded with these folks and now neither trade pays enough to live on. I realize its not exactly the same but it is enough so that I recognize it for what it is. I appreciate your vlog and your videos , I do enjoy watching and listening.
I agree with a lot of what you say. I am older and not so healthy now days. I wound up having to pay for some tree trimming, 700 dollars hour. The comment you made about 300 an hour cost and it winds up being 30 an hour work is all to common. It's throw it together and get the money, by the time it starts causing problems we will be long gone. It seems like people don't want to train people any more. I worked in a factory years ago and when it closed down they brought people in to help you find future work but most of it was go to school ,spend money you don't have only to maybe get a job. And also I agree with you about the of being a machinest vs a plumber . Machining equipment is very expensive. Last thought for now, if you can't make money you can't spend money, to many jobs out there that are only paying wal-mart wages .
I follow a couple of expert manual machinists on here. Abom79 is fantastic, I am sure he is doing quite well. Very few people have the large, heavy manual machines, let alone, the KNOWLEDGE to make a quality part from scratch. The plumbing nonsense is crazy up here in PA too. 200 to 300 per hour all day
Great topic. If I had to guess off hand. I would guess the Plumbers Union got it to this point. I don’t mean to come off wrong. A good plumber has some outstanding skills and is worth paying for. However, you are absolutely right $300+ is ridiculous. I remember talking to a career plumber and he was explaining how difficult it to even get fully certified. Something like 8 or so years. Maybe a plumber can chime in.
Great video but were them chickens mating while you were doing video? 😂 Great content. so you figure company bill rate for plumber is 125 per hour, plus 75 an hour for truck and 100 per hour to cover owner overhead cost.
Interesting, as we've lost quite a few business here in Ontario Canada to the Carolinas. Your difficulties there, are very similar here. Try and find a reputable automotive machine shop here. There once was multiple, now expect to travel for the right one, and get your wallet out. Great channel. I enjoy your insights.
My buddy has a one-man machine shop. He keeps raising prices with hopes people will go away. They don't - they keep placing orders for work. He also can't find qualified help. Good luck with your situation.
I’m a flat rate tech, started doing almost 20 years ago, I’m making percentage wise less now than what I was making 10 years ago when I became a master tech. Total bull crap. This inflation crap has to stop.
Man, you are spot on. I own a cabinet shop full of specialty woodworking tools with employees, and people complain about $75.00 an hour. It blows my mind how other professions can charge ridiculous amounts of money with no overhead, and no specialty equipment. Keep up the good work.
Moral of the story, getting rid of Wood and Metal shop from Public High Schools was not the best idea.
This is what i was thinking. I graduated high school in '98. We had a wood shop, metal shop, we also built homes one at a time on the lot. When it was done it was given to a family in need and transported to their land. None of that exists any longer at the school :(
Edit: we also had a drafting class with manual drafting desks, we had computers with autocad as well but the focus was on the manual drafting.
@@briana3467 "... and the kids are not allowed to touch anything."
What school district?
I smell a liar.
Learned to do Drafting(with pencils), Wood Working, Auto Repair, Weld, Machining, Child Care, Sewing, Meal Prep, Typing all before graduating HS. My how times have changed
Born in 65 . So I can relate.
Worst idea EVER!!!, besides removing music.......music is math, woodshop/metalshop is math, it helps the brain process intricate information!!!
Spent 47 years as a transmission builder. Had several people come to me wanting to learn and I tried to teach them but they gave up quickly. I wanted to retire and build furniture for myself. Retired in 2020 and the shop had to close for there's no builders that could keep a transmission out the door.
Yep, I believe every word!
@@powellmachineinc I'm 1.5 hours south of you, in the country. I fully understand about those shops in bad places. Made too many drives to Columbia.
No transmission rebuilders in my area. They all closed. Can't even find a shop to replace one anymore. Just had to replace mine laying on the garage floor.
@@arcf1561 It's the same close to me. It's what big industry wanted with their " remanufactured" , I have to bite my tongue here, transmissions. My first job was at a Chevy dealership. We built engines, trans, alternators, starters, a/c compressors, wheel cylinders, calipers. We even had a valve grinder, seat grinder. By the 80's transmission builders were the last of the builders. If you tried to get a diode triode, reticifier bridge for a alternator the parts person laughed at you. That's what I saw.
Porch talks always enjoyable like stopping by an old friends house.
We really appreciate that!!
For sure! Remember the days of stopping by, know one home and the door was open. Walk on in grab a beer go back and sit on the porch and wait for Rupert to get home! Those days are gone and it's sad!
has 16,000 view too :)
I recently retired from being a military contractor making $200k a year in California building stealth bombers, and couldn't afford to buy a house. Most of us lived in RV's in the parking lot. I put all my money in the stock market fortune 500 index fund, and utility bonds. Now I live in Oklahoma and most towns are ghost towns, but they still want a fortune for shoddy-built homes. RV baby!
You're exactly right. I own a machine shop and people cry because I'm charging $85 per hour.
Way, way long ago, offshoring as much manufacturing as possible was the beginning of the end.
This is it. It was a gigantic mistake from all of the Western world and shifted an enormous amount of production value - and above all know- how and hi tech equipment- to countries where the labor force is paid peanuts, and human rights in general are so and so. It should've been somehow politically prevented, but unfortunately there's no way we could have reached a concensus to prevent companies from all of Europe and the USA from doing it.
1,550 sq ft house, black ABS run 42 feet from kitchen thru outer wall, wrong fittings, plastic hangers snapped in HVAC basement chase & plugged. They wanted $1,700 to fix it. It took the weekend and $18 in parts. Lived here for 30+ yrs, wife said door bell don’t work, I checked & worked fine. 4 time, no bell. Took meter into furnace room and found 24 Vac transformer wired into furnace blower fan. Only works if heat or A/C was on!
This all happened after Covid! We live in a throw away society and “Joy-Stick” workers. If they get dirty or sweat, they don’t come back to work! It’s a problem. Thank you kindly for sharing. I had to watch after seeing #3 on the porch! RUclips can be full time job. I fighting back pain while fixing around the house bent over. I am up between 4-6AM after 12 midnight, can’t sleep.
Yep
As a manual machinist and a 20-year programmer, I got into machinist work because of the work force shortage in the 80's. It's almost impossible to find qualified manual machinists. No one wants to work for a living anymore. They have been convinced that they can sit and make 100k a year. And yes, some can. But not everyone can. If I weren't disabled and 3 hrs away, I'd come and hunt you up for a tryout. Thanks for your time.
I love the sound of the chickens in the background.
They were a little "extra" that day...
Hello from Ireland. 😀 I'm an old school machinist for 40 years now and I still love it
Something different every day. Your accent is fantastic, keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for watching! We really appreciate you
You are an honest person who charges a reasonable price for their work. Most people who need a plumber have no clue (unlike you) as to what it is going to take to do the job and so some plumbers will quote a ridiculous price and most of the time will get it. Me, I do all my own work, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, engines, cars, computers, etc. And that saves me thousands every year. I really enjoy your channel.
Ty! We really appreciate you
The number of people that have no clue about what we used to consider general knowledge is increasing everyday. These are the same people that are easily taken advantage of by these high prices because they don't understand what it takes to do a job.
Agreed. Most people don’t have clue what it really costs or how to fix it. Their house is where they live and they will pay anything to get something fixed, so they can get back to their busy life. A lot of times, they don’t even get multiple quotes. The first guy comes in and they pay whatever the asking price is.
Back in the early '90's I worked at a small aircraft company across the runway from Piper Aircraft who was in a down period and had laid off most of their workers. I'd spent months on our Bridgeport machining out brackets and fittings for our aircraft kits and the owner wanted me to hire one of the many laid off Piper machinists to free me up for other things that needed done in the shop. What an eye opening situation unfolded!
We only had basic equipment for the mill but I was easily able to make parts that met +/- .005" tolerances and interviewed 8 'journeymen machinists' that answered our ad. Every single one of them immediately complained that I couldn't expect them to make the parts on this mill because they needed this special tool or that....and to respond I pointed to several large tables that were filled with parts that I'd machined with the tooling we had...and to a man they couldn't believe it.
Anyhow most just walked away when it became clear that I expected good work but a few were willing to do a test....which consisted of me giving them a 1" thick chunk of scrap 7075 and telling them 'Make me a cube'. That was it. "How big they asked"? I responded " I don't care...just make it with what you have here" which obviously only being 1" thick limited the size...but what I was looking for was their ability to make something that measured the same on all sides. You wouldn't believe what they turned in!!! Lopsided doesn't begin to describe what they proudly handed me saying they thought it was 'perfect'. Nothing within .125" or even worse...and these were papered aircraft machinists!!
The ability to do quality work comes from within and must be self taught....how to run a particular machine just takes training...but to make a quality part takes patience and attentiveness which seems to be lacking in many these days who expect the machine to do all the work and is why so much is now made by CNC. Very sad state of affairs...but watching the work done on this website gives me hope that there ARE still good machinists out there! Thank you!
I can make you a .997” cube “ with a tired Bridgeport and dull hss end mills. I got a garage full of machines and change 65 an hour and still don’t get every job I quote.
@@quickturn66Yea....anyone 'should' be able to make a damn cube if they have ANY machinist blood in them...but sadly the guys making Piper aircraft couldn't do it. Keep that in mind next time you get a chance to fly in one....I have.
You are spot on with all the points. I learned the old school manual way and went through an 8,000 hr Machinist apprenticeship program, and then did another 2,000 hr apprenticeship program to get my Tool & Die papers as well. When CNC started to come in to being, I jumped on that seeing it was going to give me job security. I always did my own programing and setups. I had a boss that was not CNC literate, and he would complain about my times to do some of the one-off job shop jobs. I told him I could be half way done with the job if I would just be doing it manually. CNC is fantastic for doing more than one of the same part, not so much for one part.
Fast forward to now, and like you said look at the wages for a CNC machinist, they are in the dumps. These places now want to have one person doing the programing and setup, and then have an unskilled button pusher that they refer to as a CNC machinist, when in reality they are just a CNC Operator.
I retired when I was 62, and the sad thing is that the company had the attitude that machinist are a dime-a-dozen. Never once did I get to mentor a young person, so all my 45 years experience of working in job shops doing anything and everything left when I packed up my toolbox.
The real kicker was when they would have the monthly sales meetings, and would complain it was a bad month because they only made $10,000,000 profit the month before, and then come out and give us a 1.5% raise and say things are tight. Retirement is great!!
I’m a tool and die maker , started apprenticeship in 1970 $2.11 hr ended career in 2016 with CNC experience last 10 years, $36.10 hr.
I hear ya bout the other trades . My buddy the plumber wanted me to machine him a part for his race car but he wouldn’t do my plumbing for trade because his labor is worth more lol I didn’t do the job because I raised my rate to match his , he said not fair lol.
I’d love to work for ya but too far away , I’m on the Mississippi River Iowa by I-80 crossing, had my own crank grinder 10 years , fabricated race cars and parts since ‘70 , still hotrodding 😊
Awesome!
I’m a x-professional motorcycle road racer and built homes my whole life, I always was amazed how much a machine shop had to invest compared to the hourly rate. Doesn’t make sense compared to other trades…
Great porch talk!
You hit the nail on the head, in so many areas. There are a boatload of people that get your thinking 100%.
Thank you for sharing these porch talks with us. Congratulations on hitting the 18K Sub mark. You deserve many more.
Keep preaching it, and they will come. 😉
Enjoy the porch talk , just as much as your build videos sir! Makes me miss my pap and Saturday morning coffee on the back deck❤
Right on
I totally agree with you . I'm a master Automotive technician with 35 years of experience and I had to help this guy fix my washing machine and loan him tools and he charged me 425.00 I was upset .😊
Yep, it's insane
Sir. I live in Kansas City and I had a short block rebuild done for around $700 at a local Shop here in Independence/Kansas City area. They did an excellent job and I was glad to get it done by a real Machine Shop. I still had to dress it out and install the motor. Quite an experience. An old, small shop in an old neighborhood. Had an old boy straightening a crank with a torch and a hammer (wild stuff). Younger guys doing grunt work. Owner directing and working on stuff too. My first time walking around a real "machine shop." Nothing like yours. This one did great work, were always busy with motors lined up for pickup and drop off. Four man show. But neat, clean, and tidy was not to be found. Ya had to be careful walking around in the place, the owner was kind enough to let me look around. Great experience here and they actually do quality work. But you and Andrew and the Misses are over the top great!! I watch a lot of you videos. A lot - even though most of the time I don't know what your taking about. Still trying to figure out what an "Ls1" motor is. But love you guys!
Well said my friend. My auto repair shop in northern ohio is busy as can be but cant find help. Raising prices to pay techs top dollar may be the ticket. My fear is finding qualified reliable people. Seems they dont exist anymore. Thanks for your videos!
I'm in Southern Ohio. How much you paying your techs? I'm a mechanic and I left the trade (only ever had one vehicle come back). I'm about to start working with a friend packing boxes for 22+ an hour. Realistically what do I wanna do? Wrench on computerized garbage for 18 an hour or pack boxes and drive a forklift for 22? The wendy's near by is paying 18 to flip burgers. There's about to be a serious reckoning in this country. Skilled labor is gonna have to increase wages probably double what they pay now before they really start getting workers. Of course, that 1500 dollar plumbing job is gonna cost 4000+.
It's that word reliable that kills it. When our government is willing to pay people not to work, it's hard to compete. Many are willing to work some hours, but not enough to jeopardize that FREE money.
That's because the new generation has been raised online with zero practical experience fooling with mechanical items much less repairing them. Hell they can't even change a spare tire, hell new cars don't even come with spare tires anymore!
The world is getting dumbed down day by day, and this is not by accident.
I was a mechanic for 5 years working in a fleet shop making $19/hr towards the end of 2019. I left and took a job building vehicles on an assembly line and I’m now making almost $35/hr. I was wanting to gain more skill as a mechanic, but I’ve got a family to feed and a mortgage to pay for.
They’re out there the problem is they all have jobs already. You’re going to have to pay them enough that making the change makes sense to them.
Why , they didn't want to pay a man...I work 12 years at crankshaft specialist, 15 at comp cams and was the only machinist lunati had from 2014-2019 and nobody wanted to learn the trade and the companies wouldn't pay an appropriate wage...so I just stopped doing that work...
Yep, unfortunately that's where it's headed 😕
me too.
Roofing, heating and air, tree service etc. prices are going thru the roof. It makes me feel bad 😢
I was a millwright/custom machine builder and my wages pretty much stagnated from 1990 to 2015. I could not wait to retire.
You hit the nail on the head! I'm sick and tired of contractors filling their pockets when people complain about my $85/hr. You're absolutely correct that machinists/mechanics should be making way more money.
I feel like one issue is the whole "Need to be certified" thing. Big Corp pushed the agenda that everyone needed to be certified and if you're not, don't go to them. That has caused a whole industry full of people who only know what someone told them. They have no hands-on experience. Backyard mechanics were the ones who figured things out. All the ordinances, laws, etc, keeping people from working on their cars in the driveway has hurt things also.
For whatever reason, like you said, people will pay someone to glue pipe or put wire in big money, but mechanics/ machinists get crumbs?
I've had customers tell me it must be nice to have all my tools. In the same breath, they act like they were given to me. The other day, a customer told me they just paid my mortgage for this month. I said, "No, you paid volvo penta for a gear set to fix your boat, and I didn't even make enough to pay my electric bill." The gear set was $1650, my labor was $150, so his bill was $1800. But that's the way people think.
I’m a long distance trucker, and your videos help me kill the time when I’m not driving. Great content as always. Would love to see more front porch videos. Thank you for keeping this channel going, one of the best on RUclips. Thanks Daniel
We really appreciate that 🙏
CNC operators are part loaders for the most part.
They could qualify as a plumber 😂😂😂
Woh lmao….. true I’m a precision machinist cad mastercam cnc programming fanuc n code manual machinist and cnc machinist 3 years of school and 6 years for Halliburton. Pissed me off running new parts and green jobs getting paid 18 dollars an hour, then being called over to a morisiki to help a cnc operator ie button pusher who was not a machinist who was making 30 an hour for 15 years; to figure out why he’s scrapping parts turns out he increased the feed speed. I was to stressed punching numbers all day sneaking up on tollerances no scraping running and modifying code for new parts that was not on parr making changes programmers got wrong and for what 18 bucks for 6 years and no raises. I went to Napa to get a sleeve bearing pressed they said 30 bucks roter tuned down .005 60 dollars I’m a machinist really that’s literally 3 to five minutes I just did it myself lol. I need to work for Napa
Machinist starting pay should be no less than 25 an hour it’s a very skilled trade.
Thanx for taking the time to do all the videos you do. I’ve owned my own plastics injection molding business the past 40 yrs. My opinion it all started in the 1990s when manufacturing went to China. Machine shops started closing, no work, and at the same time technology (CNC) became more affordable (computer technology). Young people migrated to technology and no one learned basic machining. Fast forward today….basic machine shop equipment are basically museum artifacts no current “ machinist” knows how to run. Yet I can still machine some basic parts the old way faster than I can program a CNC. Thanx again for your time
💯
This is my opinion. When I was in school we were told forget trade school or apprenticeships because theres no money or work. The manufacturing base, mining, and machine shops that supported them shutdown and moved overseas by the mid 90s. And they werent coming back. Lo and behold thats changed recently and a lot of places have opened shop. Literally dozens of manufacturers and machine builders in 5 years. Theyre hiring machinists, welders, electricians at decent money but cant fill them. Why? Its because an entire generation, MY GENERATION. Got left behind. Companies outsourced products, pride, and quality. And 90 percent of the old guys didnt give a damn about if the next generation had a job or could run a bead or use a mic. Theyd just whine about how hard they had it. And these kids dont know anything.
Dont have options in school. Shops wont give you a chance to learn fresh out of high school. You can sweep up lathes and grind for 12 an hr. Or work at chick fil a for 18. Idk whatever. All a mess
Boy you hit the nail on the head. I lived through those times.
You are spot on on manual machining versus CNC. CNCs are nice for some things, but not everything. And the cost of the equipment, nobody understands what your equipment and tooling costs.
When I went to U.T.I. back in 07 the precision measurements and science of engine building really got my attention and I loved it....I graduated,entered the work force at dealers and such and no one was rebuilding engines .....I often think I should've gone to school to be a machinest.....becuase thats what I truly enjoy....I love precision! My love for the science quickly became just a "replace a unit" and over time I have lost my love for working on cars.....but watching your videos fires me back up.Nobody appreciates or understands what he have to do,and know as techs.....they think any old Joe blow can do it.....As an auto tech I had to learn hvac,electrical,suspension,engine repair,driveabilty,,drive ability,,, so forth and so on...and I've never broken over 60k a year.....
I live in Ontario Canada and my 3.3 Chrysler jumped time and bent several valves. Since it's an old junker and all I can afford. I can't find an engine machinist to replace the valves and do a valve job. I was a mechanic for over 50 years and there were at least 4 or 5 engine machine shops in my area. The one I used the most did very good work has closed up. Now there are none unless I want to go to Toronto which is an hour from me. I even had a problem finding valves for it. One of the most used engines ever and can't find valves? I had to wait for the dealer to order them and can barely walk after paying for them. I dug out my compound and my lapping stick and did it myself. Fortunately, the seats and guides were still in reasonable condition. I wonder where this world is heading these days. I enjoy your videos, so keep smiling and carry on. We have a place to live and food to eat. I suppose that's all that really matters.
As a person in the plumbing related, well drilling & pump industry, when we get a call looking for an estimate and tells us what materials and how much time they think it will take, we already know we're probably not getting that job. Additionally we're probably not interested because they'll be looking over our shoulder the whole time asking tons of questions, getting in the way and trying to micro manage us. Especially when there's lots of work out there to be had. So throwing a high number at it is more polite than saying not interested. You asked how did it get to that point? It's pretty much always been that way with anything that requires professional licensing.
I enjoy your channel, great content.
I love your channel.
Let me just say the going rate is the going rate. If you think it’s to much do exactly what you did do it yourself.
The price of a shop,trucks,equipment, insurance so on and so on.
I do industrial HVAC we can’t find anyone. Our mean age in the shop is 53yrs old when it should be 35. Fewer men = higher wages because that’s what it takes to keep the good labor that makes you money.
💯
I really enjoyed your talk. I can relate. I had a main water line fail just past the meter because of a faulty coupler. I tried calling around looking for a plumber and no one was interested in repairing the broken line. As "luck" would have it, I was told to call a retired plumber/neighbor who lives up here and said he would fix it for me. It took him a little over an hour to dig down 18" and replace the coupler. He charged me $600. I'm almost 80 years old and really couldn't do it myself, so he had me over a barrel. I only know, I would have never done that to him or any other neighbor or person.
Love these "From The Porch" videos. You have really good points, especially in regards to tools. The world has gotten topsy turvy and hopefully people like you prevail and things can go back to right side up. 👍
I have been a machinist since 1991 and I have always been aggravated about the pay discrepancy. I worked in an electric motor shop for about 10 years all manual work, I loved that type of work.
It’s crazy, just wired my brother to put cam phasers in his f150, he got a5000$ quote from his local dealer. I priced it for the pats at the dealer I work at for 525$ parts and I told him I’d do the labor for half, 1900$ for everything for me to do it on the side. I told him to sell it, he’s still got a 10 speed in it that hasn’t been through, yet! I can make what I make in about a week or two, in one day giving him a break.
Absolutely
You are exactly right that most people don’t know what things cost and most contractors know that. Try to get one to give a detailed estimate of hours of labor and parts all broken out. They will look at you like you are crazy and they won’t break it out for you.
I worked in aerospace/defense as a design engineer for a couple decades - doing a lot of development/prototype design. I was always surprised to see how little the machine shop jobs were paying relative to how much value they brought to the table.
Hey Danell, Donald here
I had to pause your video a few times and let memory lane take over.
remember back in the 80s-90s when 1 out of 3 NAPAs had a machine shop&repair center and business was good!
those rates 30-40 years ago havent changed much if any at all! however you dont see those all in one shops any longer....
our rates need to increase. another thing i want to mention before setting my point is social media. im old enough to remember when WWW. came about and AOL following with the Forums and then myspace and then Facebook.
we as Business owners and masters of our craft are out numbered by the internet "gurus" that say "its not needed" or "i can do it cheaper" and the sad thing is majority of the potential customer base will follow what they read or hear from online social media or their friend.
i see it every day and so do you.
it walks thru my shop doors weekly and the stories never change.
i stumbled onto your channel couple weeks back and i like that youre putting this out there. it needs to be seen and heard.
we spend thousands and thousands on tooling and machines to be charging such a low rate for the skill it take to turn the work out.
Great topic Daniel.
I know exactly what you are saying to be true.
The Risk Reward has a serious imbalance.
We have alot of investment machinery, infrastructure, knowledge and experience.
I called plumber to my house to estimate replacing a frostproof faucet that had froze, he told me 285.00 plus tax.
I figured it would be like 125.00 parts and labor.
I told him no thank you.
He said that would be 140.00.
I said what, you said free estimates.
He said free if he got the job.
I gave him his check and told him to get out of my house now!.
They are not honorable people.
I told my wife, today you and I are going to be a plumber.
So I loaded up, went to Lowes and purchased a valve, Propane torch, solder and copper pipe cleaning brushes.
Came hom turned the water off.
Unsoldered the old valve, was under the kitchen sink, easy access.
Cleaned it up.
Installed the new valve had my with hold it from the outside of the house.
I soldered it and it was a better install than the original that was installed by a plumber.
Going to Lowes, back home fixed it in like 1.5 hours.
And I have the torch to use at the shop now.
For a total of about 85.00.
You left out another thing about help.
No one wants to work or get dirty.
They want easy money.
Have a great day.
Take care, Ed.
I used to be a manual machinist in a fab shop back in the day. Did a lot of line boring on mining equipment as well as fitting, welding and cnc programming. Had to leave the field because working conditions and pay were taking a nose dive. 12hr shifts and $14/hr with almost no medical insurance. It's a shame seeing how shops are screwing over potential talent.
I share your concern. I am not an automotive machinist although trained at a tech school for auto service. A gearhead at heart, I lost many positions because I thought doing a good job was priority 1, but apparently didn't make enough money for the company. Watching many of your posts and the level of expertise demanded on a regular basis, I would gladly pay your bill. I am not exactly nearby though. Until junk work with a big ticket is unexceptable, we will have the same conditions continue. The internet geniuses have not helped either. Learned several things from you, keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate you, sir and God Bless You.
Good evening , I agree I wanted to go back into machining I have been a tech all my years but started in a machine shop and really enjoyed it. I hope yall are doing well ? Thanks for the video.
All is well
It's good to see you have plenty of work even if you are overwhelmed at times. Have your cam grinding videos increased the amount of camshaft work?
Absolutely
I feel your pain, we are in the same Boat, body and paint shops are looking for help everywhere! I been looking for help for over two years .
Yep, and now that I am 66 years old the future does not look too bright. If I were a younger man, I would seriously consider uprooting and going to work for Mr. Powell, as I put in some machine shop time as a young man, both job shop and automotive. I was the cylinder head man at a couple of shops, including performance work for racing. As you well know, the power is in the cylinder heads.
I know exactly what you’re saying....being a mechanic myself with my own shop I witness this all the time.
One of the things I’ve always said about the mechanic field compared to the other skilled trades, is that we were stupid years ago of constantly advertising our prices to the public.....the general public gets those figures ingrained into their head and they’ll call you out on it. Most people can tell you what they think a brake job or an oil change should cost, but ask them how much should it cost to plumb a bathroom, or to replace a furnace and they don’t know.
The other thing is, not many young people want to enter the skilled trades....
For 23 years I was an adjunct instructor at 2 different community colleges here in northwest Ohio, teaching in the automotive and diesel technologies....I’ve witnessed the attendance levels drop considerably since the early 90’s to a point where both schools are on the verge of closing their programs.
Back when I was a young fellow in the late 60’s / early 70’s, what we did for fun was play with our cars to see if we could make them run better.....the majority of young kids today don’t even know how to open the hood, much less want to work on it.....but with today’s technology, I can’t blame them....especially when the local McDonalds is starting 16 year olds out paying more than most repair shops do.
But yes, I’m as confused as you about CONtractors....when it takes 2 guys 5 hours to replace a furnace and heat pump that costs $4500, and charges you $12,000....I know I couldn’t get away with that on someone’s car.
A friend of mine owns a transmission shop in Washington State, he was sweating it out going from 130.00 to 150.00,I needed an attorney they changed 610.00 per hr.,I called my friend and suggested he raise his rate to 200.00 per hr.
Exactly
You are spot on ! i am a retired manual machinist and I never made the money a journeyman machinist should make. Like you said many jobs were making a new one from this old worn out part and most of the time we made it better than the original part. You touched on the cost of equipment and it is so true, a small job can require three to five machines and the tooling for each machine. It takes skill and patience to be a good machinist to deal with the stress of producing a good product. I also agree with you that the good customers, in particular other good trades people understand and want a good job done and price isn't the issue. A good place to start is in the schools showing respect for machinists. I ask people if they know what .0001" is, most don't. Thanks for bring this topic up.
Very well said brother
Much appreciated
13:51 I started my career using total manual machines. Sometimes, I had a print to work from, but most of the time, I had the old part to duplicate. Made gears of all kinds. Around 1980 we tried to hire some help. Had fellows that said they could do the job but not. We had to put digital readouts on the equipment because they couldn't figure out the concept of backlash on the manual screw controls. It continued to get harder and harder to find people even with good wages. At one time Navy vets were good machinist but later they were not good at reproducing a part without the automation of a CNC machine. We need to teach our young people to think for themselves. It seems they all need to be told how and what to do. Good luck growing your business. Have a great day!
I agree 1000%
Great video. Myself I am a plumber of 29 years. Ill be 51 coming next month. I say that you are very correct on pricing. some plumbers tend "stick it" to ya.....Can glue, cutters and level.....I make 32.00 an hour....but I am also a Licensed Master Plumber. But long run is in my area we had 4 machine shops and 3 of shops the gentlemen that owned them have passed away, up in there 70's. We have one left which is a "NAPA" owned machine shop and Mark is retiring this year after 38 years, and no one want come in and learn etc. But I do agree with you machinist are very under paid. Think alot fairness is the pricing in any trade, plumbing, electrical, brick, tile etc. I been in the "game for over 35 years I start as a greenhorn and moved up to where I am now. It took several years in crawl holes fixing sewer lines etc....digging. But as any tradesman will till you,,,,ya never start a t the top. thanks for videos again I really enjoy your channel.
I’m a Tech in NJ for a township and the biggest issue I thing not many people what do this kind of work. When I was high school in the 90’s most my teacher’s tried to push my away from this trade and some family too. I have done other trades they were not for me. I love what I do.
When I was a teenager and went into high school, I wanted to be a machinist, but the guidance counselors would look at your grades and push you towards college as their statistics told them that these trades were dying out and that the kids who did not do so well academically would be better suited for the trade (we had trade and industrial which was auto body and machine shop). Well as time went on those kids that were not so hot academically actually made out OK as there became a demand for their trade. And as reflected in the construction industry there is quite the demand for skilled labor. So, the college education is not always the best for students although there is a need for better educated people in the trades as well.
Man I love these episodes! I can listen to you talk all day it’s kinda weird lol
Man you hit the nail on the head, I left my automotive machinist job to become a Millwright, more than tripled my hourly pay. Loved the machine work and still miss it, but it just didn't make sense to stay there. Still done the machine work as a Millwright just not automotive.
Well said
Around here, plumbers are charging 3500-5000 to replace a single 40 gallon hot water tank, boggles my mind. I only charge around 1300-1700 and feel like I'm taking advantage of my customer at that. Interesting to learn Plumbers in your area are charging as much or more as around here.
Love your vids. ‘Specially the chickens!!
Lol, ty!
You are exactly right. I went to engineering school a couple yrs ago and trained on lathe,mill,grinder,etc. Bought a few tools etc. And when all was said and done, a starting machine operator position was 15-20 at best. I can work when I want as much as I want making 40+ an hour delivering food or groceries. 1200 a week part time is pretty normal here In Alabama. When I lived in Los Angeles I made 60k part time working for Grub Hub.
I've always said that rural Southern people are the most honest, and you my friend are a prime example!
This is a 100% pure video. You are speaking the gospel about this.
My free advice, which is worth exactly what you pay for it, would be to continue to raise prices until you order backlog reaches about 45 days. I bet your plumber could get to you before July.
Yep, the next day....
loved hearing them yard birds in the back ground 🤣thats country
Yup as retired carpenter/contractor who bought all his tools who wants to do this anymore a new truck is 80,000 bucks now put tools in it another 4000 or so then some low life steals it think I will be a plumber hots on the left cold is on the right and payday is Friday lol started doing home machinist work now I'm buying cheap expensive tools again just to do a 100.00 job I hate plumbing!🤣
My insurance company stopped paying for stored material. As soon as it hit the job site the illegals would take everything. Tool trailers and everything had to be stored offsite. Theft is expensive.
A breath of fresh air, logic, facts, and rational thinking! People should watch your videos, I feel smarter after instead of being smeared with negativity and nonsense, lowering my brain functions. I get inspired to put down the phone and work on my 61 Mercury when I watch guys like you and Bad Chad, and other people who do actual things and work, with good commentary great job!
I enjoy this series and appreciate your effort to put together thinking videos like this. You’re on the right track with bringing your prices inline with what the market. Being a machinist myself I’m also a diy guy and have a hard time with prices. Y’all know the old saying, “price what the market will bear”, holds true.
The exact same thing has happened here in Australia. Unfortunately I don't have any answers either but I think you need to put your prices up and have fewer customers who pay more. Your clientele will become more the type you want to deal with as the time wasters disappear. Your skills are becoming more valuable than you think, keep up the great work 👍.
If you're swamped with work and grinding six days a week, RAISE your prices! I know what it's like to want to make everyone happy but at some point you gotta look out for yourself. Anyone with a brain knows quality work commands a higher rate., they'll pay it with a smile on their face. I need a roller for my 427 FE because I'm not going to risk my engine with a flat tappet,,I don't care what it costs!
I agree!
This is a serious message. Firstly, I am absolutely flabbergasted and shocked that you only charge $125/hr. I thought for sure you charged $200+/hr give or take on the job, I would pay that honestly, and even at that price I think that's plenty fair for the work you do. If you raised your rates, I wouldn't blame you, you're worth it brother.
Secondly, if you ever decide you want to hire a teardown/gopher/apprentice part time please do let me know sir. I would come work for you doing whatever you needed, so long as youd be willing to teach me machining until I could machine full time for you. Pray on it and if you decide to take a chance on someone, let me know and we can have a sit down and discuss it. Hell if not, no hard feelings, not even remotely. I enjoy your channel and all the learning that takes place here and I'll continue to as long as you post. Cheers to you and yours good sir! 🍻
I know what you mean about plumbers. I recently had to have my entire house re piped and the first estimate I got was $11K, then I got another one for $8K. Finally after getting quite a few more estimates the cheapest I was able to get it done was $4K. Total time the $4K plumber spent on the job was 8 hours. Probably $400 in PEX pipe and fittings. And that was just for the actual plumbing. I had to do all the sheet rock repair from him cutting holes in the wall. I just didn't have the knowledge to re pipe a whole house. New pipes were run in the attic and the first time we had temps drop below freezing I had frozen pipes. I then spent $300 on insulation and about 8 hours in my attic properly insulating the pipes what the plumber should have done. Average cost of getting a 40 gallon gas water replaced here is $2000-$2500. I did my last one myself. I paid $500 for the tank and all new fittings at a plumbing supply store not a big box store and it took me 1 1/2 hours start to finish. I'm sure the plumbers that buy there get wholesale pricing so they don't even spend that much and do it faster than I can. The only thing worse than plumbers is heat and air repairmen. HVAC
100%....
One thing you have to consider is supply and demand. Machining blocks, cams, cranks, valves and heads even using your rates can be close if not cheaper than all the Chinese brand new parts or reconditioned over seas then shipped back for pennies on the dollar. Will the quality be there??? I doubt it would be even close to the work you do. But people want it cheap and want it now. That’s what the auto parts chains offer. It’s sad! There used to be half a dozen auto machine shops within 15 minutes of where I grew up. Now I would have to drive 30-45 minutes to find one and they are so busy the lead time on most parts are a month or two.
Another thing to consider on the difference between construction work and hands on machining and getting help for each is that when I was growing up (I believe we are similar in age) we were being preached that you REALLY need to get a college education. Mike Rowe touched on that in an interview I saw some time ago. It got to the point that no one wanted to do the manual labor stuff when they have a college degree. That left a huge hole in the construction field and those fields are paying big money to people who will work. There is a huge construction market. Whereas the manual machining market is being replaced either with big companies who have CNC machines that regrind parts in mass or cheap overseas parts. Everyone wants cheap and wants it NOW. We have settled for cheap parts at our own expense!
Owner and operator for over 30 years everything was paid for. I shut it down to go make three times the money an hour you’re right.
Unfortunately
And this is the reason why I'm doing home remodels now. I was an ASE certified technician for 20 years, I make just as much money now with way less headache, and I haven't made a Snap-On payment in 5 years😂
Lol....1000%
Hi Daniel, Thanks for the videos! I live in SW Pa. in the woods, 4.6 acres 1350 sq.ft. house $147K. Been here 44 YRS. Old farm house Built by the owner 80+ yrs ago. Work in progress I got the Septic and well water. I'm a retired auto (tech) mechanic Most of the work is mechanical any how! My Wife can't under stand why I won't hire someone to do the work on our house I can do just about anything, carpentry.pluming,electrical , it might take me alittle longer but I get it done and I do the best work that I can with in reason. Some of the work is a little sketchy that I have to redo , and you might have to go further than first planned,but I'm sure you understand. I had windows installed when I first bought the place Because I had the foundation excavated and did the sealing pointing the block,blueboard and french draining and backfilling my self 92 tons of lime stone by hand, I lost my helpers. After having the windows installed that was the last time had anyone do the work ,garbage! I could not believe the shoddy work! If anyone is watching these videos you would think you would have people lined up at your door! I'm not a machinist , I have done some in the military and if I lived in your area I would be more than happy to help you out in anyway I could! We used to got to Darlington every year and we like the south, we lived in Chattanooga for awhile. Ok I'm done. Thanks Daniel! I also have three Vehicles to keep up!🔧🔧🔧
Exactly the same here in Australia your speaking true words mate 👍🏻 love ya channel.
Much appreciated
Dont lose heart, man, good kids are still out there. My 16y.o. knows his way around a toolbox, helps me whenever I have maintanence to do and he currently runs the mech of a bowling alley from the 50s!
Sometimes you gotta find the kid on the edge of trouble ( like my boy, the cops got him in a work apprentice program at 15!)
The lack of people is ridiculous, I rebuilt a case 580b backhoe, engine hydraulics etc. Some of the bushings for the hydraulics were no longer available but I found the specs for lots of case bushings and found some that were close but needed machining. A shop told me it would take 3 months due to backlog. So I bought a 1940 lathe for 500 bucks and did them myself :)
As a teen in the early 90s I picked up a set of Time Life home improvement books used from a thrift store. Best money ever I spent . Just starting out as an apprentice technician money was tight so those books came in handy , now as a 30 plus year master technician I still use them to complete home repairs and improvements instead of paying somebody who calls themselves a professional , charges top dollar for unskilled half assed work you'd expect from a jr high shop class .
I refuse to pay somebody to do shoddy work and expect premium prices . It's inconvenient as hell ,but saving thousands , and even more frustration when you have to redo the work a short time later because of quality , or even worse loan the " professional tradesmen " tools to complete the job ... the world has gone to hell. Half these guys don't understand the basic principles or concepts of the job they do anymore but demand top dollar.
I agree with you about your prices being low. The reason the other trades are so much is because they are going to your house/property. In Calif I need to have 3M + liability insurance and 15K bond, 2M truck insurance, just to hold a $500 c-10 electrical license so that I can stand on your property and give you a quote. I am sure you know all about all the other taxes and fees as well.
That's what's going on
Yep surprised you’ve been the only person here to bring this up, politics continue doing their thing and messing shit up.
You pretty much nailed it. I've always used the number of hours I have to work to cover the bills and not the hourly wage amount. I just had some machine work done on a jeep motor and it's been probably 25 years since I've had any work done and couldn't believe the prices. I think they are the same as I used to pay in the 90's and even trying to find a shop was a challenge. It's a disappearing trade and society needs to quit being so disposable. I think it took a month for the block and 2 months at another shop that did the crank. It used to be about a week to get my old FE motors done. Now that I'm older I don't look for speed only quality, hell I started this project in July and hopefully will finish this weekend.
Great video, you absolutely nailed everything you said I myself am 21 I’ve worked in a shop very similar to yours minus the online end since I was 16, in school and out of school I’m known as an outlier with all my friends, I work non stop it’s exactly like you said and a similar environment me the boss and one part time retired machinist who helps out from time to time. Same story we are absolutely overloaded mid to late summer lead times and no slow down in sight us and the one other quality shop in the area have even been working together to slowly increase rates to a more fair point and with also hoping some of the hagglers and hillbilly’s we call them will turn away we have stacks of blocks 3 high all over to the point there is no space left for more coming in. Benches full of heads layed out apart being worked on and then on top of it at any point parts we need can become unavailable and we have to chase around all the warehouses and also custom manufacturers to find what we need. You would think as hard as someone like you or us works for a quality product we would have more to take home but unfortunately still not the case yet.
My shop experiences every single issue you’ve spoken about too, I’ve been an automotive machinist since I was 19. I’m 22 now and still working in the same shop with my boss and one coworker. I only make $10/hr cash despite rebuilding/doing every cylinder head and quite a few other short block associated things. We have plenty of work and plenty of customers but my boss still charges 1980 prices and as consequence I literally cannot afford to buy myself dinner most nights. I’m the ONLY one who takes care of the worn out equipment, my coworker refuses to take pride in his work and just wants to get stuff out the door as quickly as possible because he makes his money off of commission vs hourly like me. He gives me so much shit everyday for literally doing things correctly and the right way instead of just slapping shit together, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of LITERALLY starving, getting picked on for being younger, getting shit for fixing broken ass equipment or doing a good job and taking pride in my work so the customers engine doesn’t just fall apart on first start up. Everything I send out that door that I’ve had my hands on doesn’t come back because I do it RIGHT the first time and always check my work, the same cannot be said for my coworker who has literally sent an entire long block out without torquing the rod bolts which caused my boss to have to eat the entire thing and rebuild it for the guy cause it blew up on start up after 5 mins. I’m not the best cylinder head guy/automotive machinist out there but Im worth a hell of a lot more than $10/hr, I love my job but I literally can’t afford to do it anymore. Come summertime I’m going to the plants with a buddy of mine for $34/hr and saving up for a few years until I can start my own damn shop, I’ll do it the right way, take pride in my work and the equipment and won’t starve my workers.
If what you say is the truth, you should move on as soon as possible.
If you really do good work with a good attitude, you'll have no trouble making double that money.
Where you from? Go work for a older reputable builder near you and take it over when he retires!
Wow, you hit the nail on the head! What I see as a manual machinist is that everybody seems to think that CNC is the only way to do something. I can do what I do on a manual mill or lathe quicker than some "program" then set up machine and push buttons and still get it wrong. If you are doing dozens of parts CNC is good but the one off's are usually manual only and quicker on manual machines IF the machinist is good enough to get it correct. I see parts coming back because somebody relied on the computer to get it right but they never checked it. Unfortunately I don't make any more money than a CNC but I can do CNC too, to a certain degree. Everything is so screwed up now.
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@@powellmachineinc I enjoy all your videos. Very informative!
I am a retired machinist and have been down that road. I took machine shop at a local trade school in the seventies. When I graduated I bought all my tools and boxes and started looking for work. I got a job in a local shop in an entry position and worked my way up to general machinist. My next position was working for a chemical plant in there machine shop and I though I had it made making six dollars per hour. But the plant closed after three years. My next position was at a government pilot plant at twelve dollars per hour that lasted four years. In 1984 I went to work in an aircraft plant that got a contract to build military aircraft and the starting pay was 7.91 and lasted eight years. I lived in a camper because I couldn’t afford to buy a house working for Lockheed aircraft. I got a job with a local oil refinery in ninety’s and stayed with them till retirement. I only reason I stayed in machine shop was that I enjoyed the work and wanted to stick with my trade . I have told all my kids and grandkids to never be a machinist unless you want to be at bottom of the social scale and starve to death.
You are 100% right I tell my wife all the time she just don't know how lucky she is that I fix everything house cars plumbing electrical we hardly ever pay anyone to do stuff. I almost dropped over the other day my neighbor has a rental property she needed a switch installed an electrical switch she paid almost $400 I couldn't believe it but it's true.
My brother I would kill to learn how to grind camshafts and build motors with you The state of our country is sad. I’m an automotive mechanic at a dealership and our pay scale absolutely sucks. Topped out at 35 an hour Plumber’s ain’t worth 300 an hour that’s why I make the time to do all my own work. I tiled our entire house cause it was cheaper to buy the tile saw and tools and teach myself. Then I did all the drywall and painted I ain’t gonna pay these prices I don’t care how much money I got Love your content brother!!!!
Ty!!
Wish we could have crossed paths many years ago. I would have loved to work for you. I'm retired now. Manual machinist here who has made untold thousands of parts from blueprints in a job shop environment. I also spent a couple decades working for Cummins recon as a machinist. Resurfacing heads, engine blocks, align boring, rod boring, valve jobs including assembly and dyno testing.
Yep, all the good machinist are about to or already have timeed out
It's the same thing different day all over again. We went through this same crap back in the early 1970's , the gas crisis was a thing you may or may not remember. I don't know your age but I am 64 and can recall a lot of the early 70's. A lot of the imbalance you speak of is a result of technology. Remember when you could exit the armed forces with gas turbine experience and make a very good wage working for Boeing or any of the jet engine companies. Remember when you could go to Microsoft school and earn a degree and end up making a real good wage doing programming. And then the market was flooded with these folks and now neither trade pays enough to live on. I realize its not exactly the same but it is enough so that I recognize it for what it is. I appreciate your vlog and your videos , I do enjoy watching and listening.
I agree with a lot of what you say. I am older and not so healthy now days. I wound up having to pay for some tree trimming, 700 dollars hour. The comment you made about 300 an hour cost and it winds up being 30 an hour work is all to common. It's throw it together and get the money, by the time it starts causing problems we will be long gone. It seems like people don't want to train people any more. I worked in a factory years ago and when it closed down they brought people in to help you find future work but most of it was go to school ,spend money you don't have only to maybe get a job. And also I agree with you about the of being a machinest vs a plumber . Machining equipment is very expensive. Last thought for now, if you can't make money you can't spend money, to many jobs out there that are only paying wal-mart wages .
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In the mechanic trade(diesel, forklift, heavy equipment, etc.) there is a lack of teachers, or least there was 15-20 years ago.
I follow a couple of expert manual machinists on here. Abom79 is fantastic, I am sure he is doing quite well. Very few people have the large, heavy manual machines, let alone, the KNOWLEDGE to make a quality part from scratch.
The plumbing nonsense is crazy up here in PA too. 200 to 300 per hour all day
Yep, Adam is great, I was watching him when he started
Great topic. If I had to guess off hand. I would guess the Plumbers Union got it to this point. I don’t mean to come off wrong. A good plumber has some outstanding skills and is worth paying for. However, you are absolutely right $300+ is ridiculous. I remember talking to a career plumber and he was explaining how difficult it to even get fully certified. Something like 8 or so years. Maybe a plumber can chime in.
Great video but were them chickens mating while you were doing video? 😂 Great content. so you figure company bill rate for plumber is 125 per hour, plus 75 an hour for truck and 100 per hour to cover owner overhead cost.
Interesting, as we've lost quite a few business here in Ontario Canada to the Carolinas. Your difficulties there, are very similar here. Try and find a reputable automotive machine shop here. There once was multiple, now expect to travel for the right one, and get your wallet out.
Great channel. I enjoy your insights.
I have always wanted to learn what you do in machine shops
My buddy has a one-man machine shop. He keeps raising prices with hopes people will go away. They don't - they keep placing orders for work. He also can't find qualified help. Good luck with your situation.
I’d love to work as a machinist at a performance shop but the pay just isn’t there for me.
I’m a flat rate tech, started doing almost 20 years ago, I’m making percentage wise less now than what I was making 10 years ago when I became a master tech. Total bull crap. This inflation crap has to stop.
Yep, just thinking the same 100 dollar bill today is worth a 1/3 of the 100 dollar bill 25 years ago.....
You bring that house up here to Fayetteville North Carolina next to Ft. BRAGG, THAT HOUSE is $350 to $500k house.
Exactly
Man, you are spot on. I own a cabinet shop full of specialty woodworking tools with employees, and people complain about $75.00 an hour. It blows my mind how other professions can charge ridiculous amounts of money with no overhead, and no specialty equipment. Keep up the good work.
My man you are way more than a machinist!!
Well, I try hard!, ty