Thursday, April 3, 2008

Handyman: Another way to escape wage slavery

M.D. Creekmore at the Survivalist Blog has lost his "regular" job at the hardware store and, happy to have escaped the wage slave existence, is planning to return to something he alludes to having done in the past: being a handyman. Here is an excerpt from his article on the subject:

"There are a lot of people who just can't take care of all those "little things" around the house and yard that need to be done. Painting the cabinets, fixing a leaky faucet, installing a new plus on the lamp cord or replacing a screen can be real problems to some people.

And, unless you have in a cave for the past few years, you know how much it can cost to call in a plumber, and electrician or carpenter these days. Calling a professional plumber, electrician or carpenter for even a small, uncomplicated job is expensive: most of them charge for a house call, a hefty markup on any parts plus $25 or so per hour for their time (and of course, most also have a minimum charge).

Much of the time, they are called for "minor" jobs that most any handyman could handle: replacing a wall socket, fixing a leaky faucet or repairing a cabinet door. These are classic examples of what most any handyman could do with ease! A semi skilled handyman can perform literally hundreds of tasks that elderly and handicapped people might not be able to do, or a busy executive might not have time for.

The home handyman can solve most minor maintenance problems for a rental agent, and leave only the truly difficult jobs for the $25-per-hour-plus professionals. Yet, the handyman can charge $10 hour and be a godsend to many thankful customers."

Read more

This is a VERY good idea, and something I would probably be doing if I didn't have a contract to build circuit boards. In fact, I have done a little bit of handyman work in the past, for a little extra dinero on the side; and I had a friend who did it full time for years.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How old is this?? No professional charges so little today. $25 an hour for a plumber or electrian sounds like several decades ago. Now they charge $50 to show up and the hourly rate goes up from there.

Unknown said...

This is a horrible way to escape wage slavery! Renting yourself out for $10 an hour as a freelancer going to leave you worse off than a McDonalds worker!

Even at $25/hr, you are still a wage slave until you separate your time from your income.

Tracy said...

Actually, most handymen charge by the job, not by the hour.

I agree that separating your time from your income is the only way to truly escape wage slavery, but finding a way to eliminate debt and minimize living expenses makes it possible to live without a job, even if your dividends and such don't add up to much yet.

If you don't need much money to maintain your living, you can work as work is available and not worry about it when it's not. To me, that isn't wage slavery.