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Haven't done any home improvement projects since before Covid and getting back to it now. I'm amazed and appalled at the prices that the tradesmen are charging. Three plumbers quoted a set of small jobs for me and the most economical one was $1600/day.The most economical tree guy quoted $1250/day for labor. I chatted with his on-the-ground guy - he got a raise recently and now makes $12/hr. A concrete guy $1200/day (but doesn't work on Mondays b/c he doesn't believe in 5-day work weeks). A carpenter $1400/day.

Is this just a temporary boom where tradesmen are enjoying an embarrassment of riches that I should wait out or is this the new normal and I should proceed with my projects now?

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  • We don’t do pricing here. Commented Sep 12, 2024 at 21:45
  • Hiring other people to do the work isn't really part of "DIY" these days.... Commented Sep 13, 2024 at 2:33
  • It is DIY. I do DIY everything except for the stuff I can't do. Commented Sep 13, 2024 at 2:47
  • I don't know if it is a "boom" as such. In fact, in my present work as a drafter for remote clients in USA, I've seen a "bust": very little new work for the last four to five months. But prices in general have risen, a la COVID, and if one has to pay more one has to charge more. Commented Sep 13, 2024 at 12:45

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I see three things going on with contractors and seeing some first handed...

  1. Most want bigger jobs. If you need a backsplash tiled or a basement dry-walled. It is tough to find a decent crew that will do it at a reasonable price. That is why you are seeing inflated rates. A lot of crews are booked and honestly hike their future rates by 50%. I know this because I have someone bid on something (like drywalling basement) and get 5k+materials... Two weeks later they come back at 3k (basically 2 day job for drywall master plus helper).

  2. Prices have gone up across the board and guys have been burnt so jack up their estimates. Any smart homeowner would separate the materials from the labor. The people that lump these together are ALWAYS paying 20-200% more.

  3. Young adults are becoming useless as a whole on working on their own home. Most don't even think about it... Sink is clogged... plumber. Outlet has issues... electrician. There is so much more work being done now that was normal dad-handyman stuff 20 years ago. This trickles down and makes all the trade busier. I know guys that I used for huge projects now acting as a handyman... they do 2-3 calls a day and make 500-600 average... why would they work for me for 300-400 and have to work all day?

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    Do not answer blatantly off-topic questions. Answers interfere with automatic detection of closed questions. Commented Sep 13, 2024 at 0:52
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    @nobody - i come to the site to help people out. I could care LESS about SE rules and could even care less than that about off-topic on this site which is so off it is embarrassing. Because 4-5 members have constituted that an array of things are off-topic doesn't faze me. They are the reason why there are only a handful of people posting answers and questions on the site (other than the new user with an emergency). Commented Sep 13, 2024 at 3:03

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