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Getting paid

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Great question to ask before taking the leap.

It is also a great question to state to the new prospective customer. My usual statement before taking a job is "how are you going to pay for my service." I bill on Fridays for general on going work. I bill at the completion of single jobs if that is all I'm doing for you. I don't come back until all past invoices are paid. I charge a markup on all parts I provide. I take credit cards. Potential good customers don't hesitate to the terms. I walk away from those who question any part of that.

I have been bit in the past on bankruptcy filings but have since learned to use my contacts to check out potential clients.
 

Simon C

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
663
Location
Rocky Mountain House , AB., Canada
Occupation
Heavy Equipment Mechanic
I've spent 4-5 hours trying to get some small parts to get a unit going, made only $10 on the part and nothing for the time to get the part. Got the unit running very good, the customer paid me 2 months later and bitched about the price of the part. He said I had nothing better to do with my time. He has called 2 times since to get some work done, but I never find the time for him anymore. Washed my hands clean , and work where the customer just cuts a check. Have walked away from a few folks that could not afford to pay for their own oil changes. Zero chance they would pay me. You can sniff some out on the phone.
Simon C
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,056
Location
Delton, Michigan
I went the self emoyed route over 2 years ago after getting laid off from a 'safe' job with a Fortune 50 company. Not always easy, but I'm very surprised at how my phone just keeps ringing. I haven't had any non-payments for work completed, but I have had a couple that stretched the meaning of my Net 0 payment terms. Most folks hand over payment after I hand them the invoice. Its been a blessing. I had one customer that withheld payment for a month due to a pending lawsuit that occurred after I performed my work. Another didn't pay for a month and wouldn't return my calls or texts. Then I got his business partner's contact number, reached out to him, and got paid that afternoon.

I've had a couple folks tell me I'm too expensive. I said, "If you think I'm too expensive, then you're right. I am too expensive, for you." I happily walked away. If I'm doing the work for you, it's going to be done the correct way, with no half-assed short cuts. If you don't like it, hire someone else. I'm booked through February as of right now, and the phone keeps ringing.

Overall, I've been blessed with great customers.
 

Coaldust

Senior Member
Joined
May 9, 2011
Messages
3,286
Location
North of the 60
Occupation
Cargo Tanks, ULSD, RUG, Methanol, LPG
Wait, what are we talking about?
I’m hitting the meth hard today, can’t focus. Customer asked me to wait until January to invoice. Sure, no problem. AB49679C-B45E-40D2-B8CA-D7DD4B4F4061.jpeg
 

Mike L

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
1,895
Location
Texas
Occupation
Self employed field mechanic
I’ve been very lucky and haven’t had to chase too much money. I’ve always gotten paid eventually. The slow payers get slow or no service. The guys who take care of me get taken care of. There are too many good customers out there to bother with bad customers but it does take time to build relationships with them and figure out who the good ones are.
 

92U 3406

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
3,098
Location
Western Canuckistan
Occupation
Wrench Bender
Another thing I've wondered about is business licenses. Everything I seem to find on the city/county websites seem to refer to a business with a physical and fixed location. Nothing really pertinent to a mobile based business which could operate in several cities and 2, maybe 3 counties.
 

Simon C

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
663
Location
Rocky Mountain House , AB., Canada
Occupation
Heavy Equipment Mechanic
92U 3406 . Are you in Alberta or B.C. It is fairly easy to get a business license in Alberta. Go on their gov't website to register. Did not cost much from what I can recall.
Of course you will need to collect and remit G.S.T. every 3 months. Its not too bad. It helps me keep tabs on money made, owed, and spent.
If you have any questions direct message me.
Simon C
 

92U 3406

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
3,098
Location
Western Canuckistan
Occupation
Wrench Bender
92U 3406 . Are you in Alberta or B.C. It is fairly easy to get a business license in Alberta. Go on their gov't website to register. Did not cost much from what I can recall.
Of course you will need to collect and remit G.S.T. every 3 months. Its not too bad. It helps me keep tabs on money made, owed, and spent.
If you have any questions direct message me.
Simon C
Yep, Alberta.

I'm just in the planning stage right now. Weighing options, deciding what services to offer etc. Thank you for the offer, much appreciated.

I more or less do just hydraulics these days but got thrown out of my normal comfort zone with doing a blown turbo on a newer machine recently. Kind of made me realize how much I miss having a bit of variety. Went on a solo service call the other day too and forgot how much I used to enjoy going all over the place.
 

Simon C

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
663
Location
Rocky Mountain House , AB., Canada
Occupation
Heavy Equipment Mechanic
A guy with some gauges and O-Ring face Tee-Taps can figure out lots. Is there pressure, Yes or No. Does the pressure hold , Yes or No. JIC Tee Taps are hand as well as the Komatsu style taps.
The Cat Style Quick Connects are very handy. Also good to have a buddy working for a dealership for some technical info.
Hope things work out for you.
Simon C
 

bam1968

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2014
Messages
528
Location
IA
Occupation
Excavating Contractor
Most of my customers pay within a week of receiving my bill. One of my customers lives about a half mile away from me. Most of the time his jobs a fairly small. I know when he is going to be calling me to do some work when I get a check in the mail from the last job I did for him. :rolleyes:

How about the old school guys that pay all there bills at the end of the year. Gotta a couple like that as well!!!!
 

Mike L

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
1,895
Location
Texas
Occupation
Self employed field mechanic
Neither of those situations would work with me. “Uh, hello, mr mortgage company? Yeah this is Mike. Hey listen, I’ll be right down to make my payment as soon as bob old school pays me at the end of the year. Hello, hello?”
 

thepumpguysc

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
7,445
Location
Sunny South Carolina
Occupation
Master Inj.Pump rebuilder
THIS is exactly why I specialize in 1 thing.. Diesel Fuel Injection Pumps..
I get paid BEFORE the pump leaves the shop..
& if I’m contacted to pull the pump and reinstall it.. I givem a flat price.
And believe me, I’m about 500.00 cheaper than JD or Case or Cummins.. so I “usually” get the job..
I can do it so fast that I make $$ on the labor..
And if they have ANYTHING ELSE WRONG, sorry, I ONLY DO injection pumps..
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
Having been self-employed since 1990, I should write a book...........but I hate having to think and type at the same time. o_O
Before you jump ship, you should have 1 of 2 things established.............a customer following or a dam good reputation. Going self-employed without 1 of either will be very difficult. Do you know any of the customers of the equipment you repair? Do they know who you are? You will need to separate yourself from others in the same line of work. If you are in a shop situation, you are usually just a piece of the shop.......and the shop gets the credit for machine repairs and the reputation.........not the guy that does the work.

Another thing is customer expectations. If you have a field truck and are charging....say $100.00 an hour.............expectations of your abilities will be high. If you were to go out on a job that a customer thinks may be a hydraulic problem and you find it is an engine problem.................what do you do, then? If you put yourself in the position of only being able to take care of hydraulic problems and nothing else, you are going to be very limited on the type of work you can do. It will be tough to survive in that scenario. You will need to be the "Johnny on the spot" that can take care of and troubleshoot whatever may come up. If you cant do that, your good competitors will eat you alive.

Collecting money has never been a big issue for me. I've got screwed a few times.........it happens..........you just have to learn from it and make adjustments as you go. Don't let the size of the customer and how much equipment they have, or the condition of their equipment be the guide for your prospective business customers. I would never expect the small company doing $1M a year to be near the same class of a company doing $50M a year in the way they take care of their equipment. Too many times throughout my career..........it's been that farmer with 2 tractors, that contractor with 7 pieces of equipment, my neighbor with a track hoe and a dump truck, that super small paving company that only does driveways, or that county that can find no one to do anything...............those are the ones that kept me alive when the economy went to **** and the big companies cut back on expenses.

Now the part that concerns me the most.........you stated you are in a position where you are thinking of a career change? Outside of the BS, do you love what you do repairing equipment? There will always be BS, even being self-employed........that will always be there. I would encourage you to stick this out, whatever it takes. Your time will come............you just need to have your ducks in a row before you make that leap.

A suggestion, and some here may not agree with it. When I was doing shop work, almost every piece of equipment I worked/repaired had a huge company sign on it.........or I saw the work order, so I knew who's it was. My boss NEVER contacted a customer after their machine left. I DID! A week after their machine left, I would call the company and ask how the machine was doing and if they needed anything else. This did 2 things...........I made sure they knew my name and that I was the one that took care of their issue. It also helped build a relationship with that customer when doing shop work would have never allowed this. The company I worked for considered it good customer relations...................hell, I even got paid a bonus from the owner of the company I worked for as he made an example out of my doing so. I never promoted myself to take business away from the company, so it was never an issue. What i DID do was put me on the map. ..........for the future.
 

Mobiltech

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
1,680
Location
Sask.
Occupation
Self employed Heavy duty mechanic
To get started on your own you will definitely need to do some jobs outside your comfort zone. When you are at a job site the customer almost always has a “ while you’re here” list. You will get a lot more call backs if you can at least try to get them running.
Air conditioning service is a good gig in the summer. Gets you out to more jobs that will have other work once you’re there.
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,273
Location
sw missouri
Another thing I've wondered about is business licenses. Everything I seem to find on the city/county websites seem to refer to a business with a physical and fixed location. Nothing really pertinent to a mobile based business which could operate in several cities and 2, maybe 3 counties.

I realize you are in Canada, but here's how it works in the states. I send my cranes out all over, but my business "address" is the house, and our "business" all takes place at that location. The checks get sent here and the invoices leave from here.

I do have a business license from a couple cities that complained about me "working" in their town. But I compare myself to the trucking or concrete plants / rock delivery guys. They don't have a license for every little burg they deliver to, the "business" takes place at the home office.

I really like Vtech's post. It applies to all businesses, people like working with people they know. I call certain places for parts or info, and I have a list in my head of who I want to talk to at those locations. I've followed a couple parts guys to their next job, because they knew what they were talking about. I don't care if they were working for Mack, Fleet Pride, Inland, or Kenworth, I just want to talk to Jake.

I think in the mobile mechanic game, you are going to have to want to be in the field, and enjoy the challenge of working on anything. I think its going to become harder for the independents, simply because of the proprietary electrical/ computer diagnostics, that the dealers are going to want you locked out of.

I don't know that there isn't a place to be a "specialist" either if that's what you want. Be it rock crushers, line boring, welding, engine diagnostics, or like the "pumpguy" in injections pumps. But you're going to have to have the experience to be the "expert".
 

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,484
Location
Mo
I just think of all the problem a guy would have being on his own. I am a hour or more from much of any parts. Parts specailty tools, weather , getting paid , scheduling, long hours, why? If you had 3 or so good customers that paid and understood it could work but chances of that would be like playing the lottery.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
We have sales taxes in this state which are assessed at the point of the repair. I don't have to have a license for every place where I do business. I do get a listing and I have internet access to all the tax districts where I have done work in. I used to have to spend a Saturday at the end of every quarter just in filling out the state taxes and getting them paid and sent in. I don't do much repair business anymore so only have to fill out those forms once a year.

A specialist isn't a thing unless there are a lot of examples of something that you can specialize in. Fuel injection pumps are a great example. There are lots of them on multiple types of diesel engines which can be removed and sent in to someone. Sometimes a brand of machinery can work that way. For me it was Komatsu but there are specialists in this state that work on Link-Belt and Kobelco that can make a decent living. I've only known a couple of independents who worked on Cats and none that specialized on Case machinery. There are lots of people who can work on Cats and lots of Cats out there but they seem to attract the kind of people who seem to think paying for repairs is somehow optional. You basically need to the horsepower to make someone pay the bill. Maybe the dealer has conditioned them to work that way. Not a lot of people around here run Case construction stuff and I wouldn't even consider doing repairs for them. I've seen others that do well working on cranes and scrapers. I've not known anyone who specialized in crushing and screen plants. All those people I've been around do their own work it seems.

The thing is we all at some point in our careers worked for the dealers and accumulated our experience through on the job training. As far as the electronics go, the stuff is getting very easy to use from the operator's seat. It won't be long before it will speak to you and tell you what to do.
 
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