Garage + Tools = Freeloaders?

[stihlntime]

I've stopped letting anyone use my shop after three impact guns have disappeared and a transmission jack disappeared for over a year. The jack magically reaappeared one day when we weren't home. I've had the mig run out of wire, and shielding gas. The torch left with empty bottles and the compressors left on. Tried being good to a couple of folks that have been economically depressed by letting them use the shop to get their family/work vechiles going. It's my own fault for not being with them all the time. I just say no anymore and explain the missing impacts, that one person ruined the use of the shop for everyone.

 

[gunguy]

Before I started building my shop I was asked by family all the time to do stuff for them telling them in return i would need some help building my shop. After starting the shop build I havent been asked. Also received 0 help from all that I helped. Which is fine by me because they are cut off now

When the cornbread's in the oven, everyone's in the kitchen. But when there's plantin' to be done, ain't no one around!

Jim

 

[countryroad82]

I giggle when someone asks for me to do mechanic work on their car. I don't hardly get to work on my own vehicles let alone someone else's FOR FREE. My short answer (which is the truth) I don't do mechanical work only paint and body work and no I don't do freebie paint jobs or dent fixes. Well anymore. I will however let friends bring their junk over to work on themselves. The deal though is they're not going to put me out because the shop vehicles come first so most likely they will be working on their junk outside.

 

[unslow1]

I was getting used pretty bad for a few years. I was even fronting the parts money just to get broken vehicles out of my way. After a few in a row where I never even got repaid I had to put a stop to that. The last few years I have learned to say "I don't even have time to work on my own cars". I really don't mind showing someone how to do something. The problem is most just want you to fix it.

 

[MarineScott]

So far I have gotten lucky charging $35 an hour.

I haven't had anyone ask me to do anything for free. Sometimes I do them for free, though.

$35???? I will charge $50, that is roughly 1/2 of what a dealer charges, therefore they get 1/2 price labor.

 

[mmb617]

I don't have that problem too much as our son is an auto tech so people ask him to do it instead. There are a few friends and family members that I am willing to help out by fixing their cars. I have one real good friend who I know would do anything to help me so obviously he qualifies. I also have a nephew who volunteered to help when I had a bunch of post holes to dig with a hand operated shovel so he also gets assistance when needed. Other than my wife that's about the extent of who I'll help with car problems.

I think some of his "friends" take advantage of our son sometimes, but that's his business not mine.

 

[SgtHawkUSMC]

I help friends, neighbors and family in my garage all the time. Happy to do it.

Post a picture of a milled out 80% AR lower and see how many people you get that you haven't talked to in years message you out of nowhere

AR-15 lower receiver. It's a firearm, the part that is serialized. You can buy an 80% over the counter or through the mail and finish the machining yourself. Totally legal. Not legal to do it for other people.

Every time that I post one that I finished, I get a ton of people I never talk to messaging me to ask if I can 'hook them up'. Uh no. Not exactly looking to commit a felony for you.

Bet we can be friends......!!!

Yes. Yes, we can be friends lol

 

[nit2wn]

Unfortunately, I've learned to disappear before the repair blues hit. My last wrenching session ended up being at a gas station for my brother-in-law on their almost 300k Expedition. Alternator went out at 10:30 at night on Dec 26. Can we come help them. Sure, after I drop the wife and kid off at home. Took tools and trailer to load it up only to find it's too wide for my trailer [running boards would hit my side rails]. Gave him the perfect ultimatum. I can drive you the 70 miles one way home and you and you're dad deal with it or spend the night at my house [45 miles] back and we'll get parts 1st thing. Unfortunately, I lost on that one and that came home with me. The thing needed an alternator, at least one idler, and the battery bolted down. He knew the battery was loose when he bought it 2 years ago, the idler for a few weeks due to the squeaking. Those are the reasons why I quit working on other peoples ****. If you keep the small stuff fixed life goes a lot easier than waiting to midnight to sort it all out. These same folks will take said vehicle on a weekend vacation or constantly stay in the road. I guess I'm just OCD, I won't continually drive something that needs work and repairs.

 

[ronr80]

I weeded them out after the first year I got my hoist ,told them all when the hoist goes up it's free but there a $50 charge to bring it down , they all thought it was a joke , but stuck to my guns and now I only have regular customers , word got around real quick . Mostly fix old corvettes now . I did a brake job and told the guy to bring a case of beer and he came with a 6 pack , never worked on his cars again , but he keeps trying. Ron

 

[Fishy66]

I have a newly widowed MIL, a neighbor with a disabled adult child, and some elderly folks with "adult child cohabits" as neighbors who regularly ask for help and I gladly do. I have learned that just being upfront about your time is key. And making them get the supplies (I will usually write down a part number and send them to get stuff).

My perpetual part-time worker, full time stoner, sister in law and her adult son often need their junk cars fixed. They have to watch my kids while I do it though. Which means I get some garage and beer/music time doing something I usually enjoy. No drop-offs and they get the parts. No exceptions.

My 22yr old nephew called last week and asked if I could show him how to fill up his tires because one was "low". He drove 6 miles to here, on the highway, to show up with a completely flat and shredded tire. He then asks "can you fix that?". Good grief.

 

[drmarkr]

I help friends, neighbors and family in my garage all the time. Happy to do it.






Yes. Yes, we can be friends lol

Nice!! Looks like a great place to spend an afternoon having some fun!

 

[jekquist]

Yup just got a text yesterday. "You can weld right". Haven't heard from this guy in over 2 years. Once my lift goes in, I am sure I will be getting more texts and phone calls. I don't mind helping and I enjoy working on things. As long as people bring beer/pay for my consumables I am all good.

 

[ZRX61]

Mentioned this before: few weeks back my roomie was talking about needing some needlenose pliers. I told him to "go stand in the plier aisle at HF until you see what you want"
His reply:
"Why should I buy tools when you live in the same house & have everything?"

This is the same guy who loaned MY ladder to HIS sister AND moved HIS ladder out of the way to get to mine... We had words...

 

[Gotcha640]

My best recent one was the lady across the street saw me building a bench on the driveway, and came over asking to borrow wood glue. She said she just wanted to borrow a little bottle. Well I'm using the little bottle, here's the gallon jug.

10 minutes later she's back with the jug, and the broken drawer she's trying to fix.

I did it for her, because she at least tried to try.

 

[CatSplat]

I help friends, neighbors and family in my garage all the time. Happy to do it.

Same, I have good friends/family and any help I give them is usually met with lots of beer or assistance in kind - I've got a fence to refinish this year, so I'm banking favours. If they're in dire straits, pay it forward. Plus, the more I can get my friends comfortable working on their own stuff, the better.

I only usually loan tools to my father, though, as we've been sharing for ages. For other people, if it needs special tools, it gets done in my shop under my supervision.

 

[ovilla]

As far as charging goes, my rate is $60/hr, which is half of what most charge around here. Heck, Meineke charges $130/hr, which is just crazy.

I also add $5 if I have to go buy all the parts, just to cover my gas - but that's only if I have to make a trip just for their parts. I'm typically already going to Autozone or somewhere else for my stuff anyway. Speaking of parts, I always insist on buying the parts myself so I can go return or swap them out - as needed. Just saves everyone a lot of time. Plus I also get the rewards points, which I use for my parts. Lately I've also been charging $5-10 to cover consumables. Seems like I've been working on mostly rusty cars and have been going through a lot of MAPP gas and PB Blaster.

 

[housedad]

I say nope to the moochers. I've got only so many hours of useful energy and time. I reserve that for my family only. The last time that anyone that I know aside from family offered to help me with ANYTHING, was never.

As far as borrowing tools? Fat chance. I had one too many ******* "friends" that would come around to talk to me in my garage and I would find them with various tools in their pockets as the started to leave.

No one goes into my garage anymore except close family. My Garage security system keeps it that way. (three 80lb+ dogs)

 

[engineer2]

A handy-enough-to-be-dangerous relative needed a new fuel pump in his car. It's family, so I felt obligated to help out since they don't ask too often and they always buy beer and dinner.

Got to my place late, so we got the pump, new rubber fuel line, got it in the air, unhooked everything and got the tank dropped. One of the bolts broke off for a fuel tank strap.
It's late, let's finish it in the morning. BTW, wait for me before you start.

Next morning, he decides to get up early to "help out".
Found my new $12 cobalt drill bit and managed to break it in half drilling the bolt out.
Dragged the gas tank across my concrete driveway leaving a long black undercoating streak.
Decided to change the fuel pump himself and managed to somehow break the fuel sending unit, which he didn't know until he got home. Oh well, not my problem.

 

[CoogarXR]

... "I don't even have time to work on my own cars".

That's my line anymore too. I'll paint a car or do a motor swap or something, and people are like "I'm coming to you next time!". No, that's not the deal. I work for ME, I don't do cars for a living.

 

[Jhoff310]

a few years back a buddy of mine drove his truck around on a bad front bearing on his dodge 3500. He finally decided to fix it about 9 months later....in my driveway on Mother's day weekend. Needless to say my wife was PISSED. He rummaged thru my box and found the tools he thought he would need and scattered them all over the driveway. We started this project at 2PM on Saturday....he was still banging on the damn thing at 1AM sunday morning. I finally told him to go home, these are my neighbors you're ******* off. He came back sunday morning, beat on it some more and realized he couldn't fix it right. I had to pay to have the damn thing towed out of my driveway sunday night @ 10PM.
I put a stop to people coming over to my house and fixing their ****. If it cant be done in 2 hours or so...take it somehwere.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

I learned this lesson as far back as the late 80s.

Ive still got a 5k sqft shop, with 4 bays, 2 lifts, and includes everything you will find in a well equipped Indy shop and then some, even OEM service info for the big three, as well as all data. Ive also got a fab shop, and even own toys like a Huth exhaust tubing bender. Turns out, I like buying shop equipment and tools.

In the event anyone asks for anything, I typically just don't reply.

Now, I have a Dr., who has moved mountains to improve my health successfully, and I will do just about anything she asks ( she is single and has allot to take care of, I act as a jack of all trades for her ), and take no money, and my farm hand, I will fix his car for free, I even put tires on his car, and other random parts at my expense, because he is really good help.

Otherwise, the rest of the world can kiss my ***. I got out of the repair business for reason. I love fixing stuff, but I hate dealing with the *** hats that own the vehicle, which is why I flip stuff instead of repairing for hire. Everyone has money to buy a vehicle or toy, nobody has any $ when it comes time to repair it...

And family, I learned the hard way, is the most entitled, wants the most, and is the least likely to pay, even for their own parts. Even after they formally solicit your advice on what to buy, and then goes and buys the one POS you told them not to, and then they want you to keep it running, ugh.

There is a long list of people I only hear from when they " need " something, and its always a want, never a need. As I like to say " your lack of planning does not constituent a crisis on my behalf "

 

[66354dream]

I agree with everything you said OP, it is EXTREMELY annoying. I am the kind of person that asks for help and looks for ways to do things myself ( Google, you tube and common sense will get you where you want most of the time) rather than simply throwing my work load onto other people and taking their time. I simply do not understand some people that think they are special and you need to stop what you're doing to do favors for them as if your time/plans and priorities are worthless, I have a so called "friend" that's turning out to be that way he calls out of the blue and asks if he can bring his car over so " we " can work on it.

 

[btdobie]

I used to tell people I charge $100/hr but I was worried that wouldn't work so now I tell them my jack is broken or something. Of course, Karma being what it is, my floor jack did die so now I'm using a crappy little craftsman portable because I can't decide what to buy. I actually let the dealer do my last oil change since I needed a state inspection anyway. That actually worked out well since they found the source of passenger-side water leak was the windshield they'd replaced a few years ago and redid it for free

I like going to the dealer for oil changes. The work of changing it myself isn't worth $5 savings. Plus my car is still under warranty so anything they find wrong can be fixed for free.

 

[fsae0607]

I had a "friend" who would ask me almost weekly to fix his POS Tahoe. I cut him off for another reason, but yes once word gets out you can fix stuff, they come out of the woodwork.

I only do stuff for free (well, a case of good craft beer) immediate family and close friends. My true friends know I work on cars, but they never bug me. Our close friend of the family (we call her our cousin) is Greek, and her parents can cook up a feast something fierce, so I have no problems doing free work for them because we get treated to a homemade Greek feast and her dad gets me hammered with Ouzo and beer lol

 

[crewchief888]

the only "work" i do for anyone, is a freebie for a very select few friends.

most of them are mechanics, from automotive to const eq.

i'm the welder of the bunch, so bumpers, rock sliders, cages, and accessory mounts is mostly what i do for them.

i never ask for any kind of payment, but a return favor or a case of beer is typically exchanged.
if we need parts or material (beyond what i already have laying around) it's on them

 

[gbcanadian]

Not a mechanic. But I'm an HVAC guy and I feel this is similar. Friends will always ask for free even people you just met. I nicely explain to them that that everyone's gotta make a living. I can't go out with my gas on my time using my gas license and be liable for free. Sorry won't do it. May sound like a ****, but I'd never have free time if I said yes to everyone. With all that being said I also don't go ahead and charge them what I'd charge a customer, I give em a huge break.

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[jd_1138]

Not a mechanic. But I'm an HVAC guy and I feel this is similar. Friends will always ask for free even people you just met. I nicely explain to them that that everyone's gotta make a living. I can't go out with my gas on my time using my gas license and be liable for free. Sorry won't do it. May sound like a ****, but I'd never have free time if I said yes to everyone. With all that being said I also don't go ahead and charge them what I'd charge a customer, I give em a huge break.

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Wow, the balls of them to ask for free HVAC work. I am sure your friend prices are way lower than they'd have to pay if a co. came out to do it, so they'd simultaneously be getting a discount and putting food on your table. And since you know them, you aren't probably going to cut corners on the job. Seems like a win/win. But for them to expect free work is nuts.

 

[jd_1138]

I like going to the dealer for oil changes. The work of changing it myself isn't worth $5 savings. Plus my car is still under warranty so anything they find wrong can be fixed for free.

Plus hopefully the dealership is reporting it to CarFax, so when you go to sell it it will fetch a higher price since the new owner will see those regular oil changes on the report.

However, not all dealerships do this, so it's still a great idea to keep receipts. I always get top dollar when I go to sell cars when I show them all the oil change receipts stapled together. After leaving the dealership, the receipt is in your hands anyway, so I toss it in the glove compartment. Then when I go to sell it, they get stapled in order of date.

 

[gbcanadian]

Wow, the balls of them to ask for free HVAC work. I am sure your friend prices are way lower than they'd have to pay if a co. came out to do it, so they'd simultaneously be getting a discount and putting food on your table. Seems like a win/win. But for them to expect free work is nuts.

You should see the look on customers faces if I have to replace a motor or a board. A board around $600. Motor can vary from $400-1000! That's obviously my company pricing, 100% markup and labor. I'd like to think that people are just naive to the fact, but I know the type of person I am, I would never ask anyone for free work, especially a friend!

I went out on the coldest night of the year to my buddies house to fix his no heat, I told him I'd come try but it was the weekend and I didn't even have my company truck with parts, so if its a part failure, you're **** outta luck. I went out to his house and luckily it was only a dirty flame sensor, easy enough, heat back on in a minute. As I was cleaning it he was on the phone with his dad, who asked if I could do a "tune up" while I was here. I made up some story about not having my vacuum and tools to do it and then left shortly. The nerve! Not even did my "friend" say thank you! That's when I learned my lesson.

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[dslabuda]

You can choose your friends, not your family. This is my father-in-law's new-to-him car. He earned a "you-****" from me when he bought it for $1200 with 33k on the clock. It's been outside my house for about a week now.

The quick version is he blew it off when I said something was wrong. Now it's actually an issue it became "I'm going to drop this off to you". He underdiagnosed the extent of the issue and said he'd buy the parts. I checked later and he still didn't buy the parts needed. He was "waiting on me". Ugh..

He's about the only one I'll let drop things off and repair for free. Anyone else has to match my rate on the rr, and bring beer.

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[dslabuda]

Theres one thing I found that shuts down a lot of people who ask if I'll fix their cars: after they ask if they can drop it off I tell them to bring beer and I'll show them how to do it. Best case I'll do part but they're spinning at least half of the wrenches. They usually don't mention it again.

Whats surprising/not-surprising is that it's usually my co-workers. Surprising as these guys are rails and they don't want to risk getting dirty working on a car? Not surprising because they're rails and they don't want to risk getting dirty by working on a car.

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[Pucman1]

OK so thought I would chime in here....I do keys and locks.....locksmith stuff. I would get the calls....umm locked myself out, roommate moved out etc. At first I was glad to help out, then I realized that my time was valuable too. So I charged them and it weeded out the freeloaders. The true friends are still friends and those are the ones I will help if they need it. The rest can get bent.

 

[Throbbin Rods]

I have always fixed my cars and those of my parents and brother. Parents died, brother moved, so now it is just mine, Karen's and her son's, although the boy is learning a lot and I generally just watch and offer advice if needed. I have bought him enough tools that he can do almost anything reasonable. He remembers stuff, cleans the garage when he is done and wipes down any tools he borrows and returns them to the exact place he found them. I do work on outboards for my friends. Instead of labor $$ I equate it to apple pies. Two homemade apple pies mean more to me than 50-60 dollars any day!!

 

[Wanna Ride]

Whats surprising/not-surprising is that it's usually my co-workers. Surprising as these guys are rails and they don't want to risk getting dirty working on a car?

What's a "rail"?

 

[dslabuda]

What's a "rail"?

Railroaders. Somehow they manage to be the hardest working and laziest primadonnas at the same time. Also the cheapest well paid people you'll ever meet.

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[Chevy-SS]

I built garage with lift in 2014, and have helped out plenty of folks so far. Some jobs are paid. Many are free. And a lot of them are true bartering situations. The bartering has been a real bonus and I have found this aspect to be the most enjoyable.........

I have no problem saying 'no' to freeloaders, but I honestly don't have many of them bothering me. Everyone knows I spent a small fortune building the shop, so I think they are aware that they need to pitch in a little.

Anyway, it's all good. It's always great to be able to help people out, no matter what.

-

 

[Chevy-SS]

....This is my father-in-law's new-to-him car. ....

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GIANT pics are a PITA. They don't display properly. Size them down....

 

[Jon_E]

I don't have skills that equate well to freeloaders asking for help, so I'm safe there. I do have a few friends who are tradespeople though, and I do ask occasionally if they will help me out - usually with something beyond my abilities. I always ask for a bill at the end, and it's rare that I actually get one. I will go out of my way to find out what they like to drink/smoke and get some for them (although $50+ bottles of liquor and $12 cigars add up fast!)

 

[Iroc-Z]

I haven't had much of a problem since I put my Shop up. A guy at work kept asking when my lift would be installed because he needs to look at something on his truck. I just kept telling him I hadn't put it up yet. Then he heard from other people at work that I did have it up. He got the hint.
The problem I have at the moment is a buddy who helped me many days and nights build the shop won't take me up on my offer that he is more then welcome to used it to fix his cars as needed. He does everything at his Mom's house (My next door neighbor) due to not having a garage at his house. I went over and saw him laying on his back changing the oil on his wife's car. I told him I have a lift and an oil caddy ready to go and he just thinks that he would be taking advantage of me for using it.

 

[JerryC]

If you think having tools and shop is a mooch attractant try letting people know that you can fix computers.

I would get calls on any day or night at almost any time asking me to help them fix their computer problem. "Gee, I know you probably eating dinner but I can't get my email..."

The worst was a guy that insisted I work on his schedule, at his house. I had to bring it home with me to fix it, go get parts and pay for them up front. He again wanted me to deliver on his schedule which i couldn't make so he grudgingly came by my place to pick up the PC from my son. The parts were 17 bucks and change, stood in line for 30 minutes to get them after a 1 hour round trip. He actually left a check (which back then I take to the bank) for the exact amount. He was co-worker where i contracted or I would have told him no in the first place.

After that one my wife answered the calls and told them she won't let me work on computers anymore.