New job :) August 18, 2013, 04:16:50 PM Finally found a job! Been out of work since February when I quit my job at Pizza Hut when I realized I was $.75 an hour away from being maxed out on pay and was making $9.25 as a shift manager and doing the general manager's job (who makes roughly $700 a week after taxes) while he sat on his arse and did nothing but make the schedule, VERY ineffectively at that. Wife has been the only one working and we have just barely been sing by. Thursday I was doing my normal Craigslist browse and found an ad for a mechanic job. I replied without really thinking I would get it, but he called me Friday morning and wanted me to come talk to him. Went yesterday and we discussed everything and it looks promising. Starting tomorrow morning I will be making $12/hour, isn't great pay, but he will be paying me $12 /hr for ever how many hours AllData calls for. So if it calls for 4 hours and I do it in one, I make $48 instead of $12. Or motor swaps that call for 20 hours that get knocked out in 5, $240 instead of $60...I'm pretty excited, I used to have my own shop until business slowed down and I had to take the job at Pizza Hut to pay the bills, now I will be back doing what I know and love. Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #5 – August 18, 2013, 07:32:58 PM I wish I could say it will speed up the process of getting the Bird on the road, buuuttttt.....We have more important priorities like buying our first home, renting is killing us. Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #6 – August 18, 2013, 10:54:42 PM Congrats Dougy on the new gig...I'm glad someone is able to find employment out there! I've been looking since 2003 without much luck. A month ago, I had my first interview in like 3 years and that led nowhere. Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #8 – August 19, 2013, 12:05:23 AM Buying a house is nice but a big process I just bought my house 3 bed 2 bath 2 car garage with a big yard $660 a month you can't beat it ....... But it's like a car you seem to be working and dumping money into it on a regular basis lol Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #9 – August 20, 2013, 12:10:20 AM thing is, out here, I an buy a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, 2 car carport house with 3-5 acres for $75,000 tops. with $10,000 down, our mortgage payment would only be around $450 which is what we are paying in rent for a 2 bed, 1 bath, shiznitty 1 car carport house with a D-Bag landlord.The house we are looking at is $30000. Needs floor work (my dad and I can do the work) and a couple windows (again, dad and I). Has a fairly new 25x40ish garage, about 1.5 acres, 3 bed, 1 bath, 2 good size storage buildings, and a fenced in back yard for the dog/kids. Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #11 – August 20, 2013, 05:38:05 PM Congrats on the new job, but as a mechanic with over 20 years experience, I've gotta offer up some advice, whether it's appreciated or not. First off, I don't know what the average rate of pay for mechanics is in Kentucky, but around here I wouldn't even open my tool box for $12/hour. That's first year apprentice pay, which means first-year-apprentice type work (oil changes, tire swaps, etc). If you're being paid $12/hour to do full mechanic work you are being taken advantage of. Badly. The average mechanic in this area takes in double that, and I can't imagine Kentucky being that much lower.Second, and directly related to the first: The term for how your employer wants to pay you is "flat rate". Flat rate times are established based on what would be a reasonable time for an experienced mechanic with the proper factory-specified tools and training to do a job, and immediate access to parts (ie, a dealership stockroom) to complete a job. While it is true that you get paid 4 hours for a four hour "flat rate" job even if you complete it in one hour, the opposite holds true as well: If it takes you eight hours you still only get paid four. It doesn't take much for a job to go sideways - a broken bolt, a hold-up waiting for parts, or even something stupid like forgetting to do something and having to take it all apart and do it again - any and all of these can make a four hour job take 8 hours. These screw-ups are far more likely with an inexperienced mechanic, so keep that in mind. I'm sure your employer will. Also, flat rate does not allow for diagnostic time. If it takes you three hours to trace a broken wire flat rate allows 0.2 hours to repair that wire. Many manufacturers are starting to not pay diagnostic time (Chrysler for one), which leads to guessing. A fly-by-night shop offering $12/hour isn't likely to pay diagnostic time either.Third, most independent shops do not use the flat rate system - if they did, they'd never get mechanics to work for them. This is because flat rate simply does not work for independents. No parts on hand, no dealer training, and no special tools on hand (and most automakers have a whole slew of model specific special tools required to do any given job) all add up to mechanics losing time at flat rate, and that leads to mechanics leaving.I don't want to piss on your parade, but I also don't want to see someone taken advantage of. And from here it certainly looks like you're being taken advantage of... Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #12 – August 20, 2013, 07:17:29 PM while $12 an hour is fairly low (and I agree that it is, I won't argue there), it's a job. Doing what I love to do none the less. I have been looking for work and beggers can't be choosers. He seems to be a pretty fair guy. If he turns out to be, I will walk, plain and simple. I'm already looking for my own shop. I used to have my own shop and was making killer money, but the landlord decided to kick me out for no reason, so I lost it.As for going over labor times, in the 10 years that I have been turning wrenches for money, I have never taken longer then the dealer labor hours. Even with hand tools and jack/jack stands, I usually end up 4-5 hours under dealer time. Sure, it sucks only making $150 to do a motor swap when I know I could get double or even triple that somewhere else. He will not even let me start on anything unless every part is sitting in the shop ready to go in. Also, if I were to do a transmission swap for instance and the transmission we got was bad, I would get paid for doing the second swap as well. Some of the other shops around here don't do that.I just did a engine swap in a 5.3 2006 Silverado in 8 hours, sure it could be done faster with a lift and air tools, but 12 hours pay for 8 hours work is good in my opinion Quote Selected
New job :) Reply #14 – August 22, 2013, 07:20:06 PM Good luck with the new job...Travis Quote Selected
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