Your trade or profession, free advice for friends or fam??

[VINMAN]

For those of us that have a trade or profession, if a friend or family member needs help or advice with something relating to your expertise/livelyhood, do you help them out?

Just curious. Reason being, that something came up recently with a group of buds. One bud is an architect, and another friend asked him for some advice on something. He refused to help him for nothing. It wasnt anything major, just a opinion on a renovation. He said he worked too hard to get his degree, to just freely give out his "work".

Basically the rest of us told him he was being a total dick. We were all pretty pissed at him. I'm in the electrical field as my main livelyhood. If someone asked me for help with something electrical or the like, I wouldnt hesitate to help them.

Whats your opinion on this??

[LakeCleElum]

Agree Vinny - He's a TOTAL DICK......Sounds like he has plenty of friends and doesn't need you guys.........

[crustychief]

Weinerhead

[emcon5]

Of course. Your buddy is a dick.

[ODDJOB UNO]

i'll help anyone with anything as long as i get help with my project when needed. thats how you make friends.................and lifelong enemies.


been totally screwed over after helping others, and the help isnt returned.


your typical "its all about me" crap.


now yet again we have another social experiment going on this subject. its quail season here. guy i know wants to take his son hunting for 1st time. i have an H&R single shot .410. small compact light and perfect for kids as it lasted thru both of my kids stoopid stunts w/out too much damage.


as i gave him the H&R all i asked was to return it in "as good or better condition as when he received it."



this is NOW A TEST!



cant tell you how many times and items i have loaned out items, and it was returned to me ALL WADDED UP!


i seem to have a habit of this. also yesterday my neighbor was pouring a very large pour of concrete for his garage. the cement truck arrived at 4:15 am. he had called me the day before to warn me about trucks arrival time.(we do things early here since its hot and mud gets damn hard damn quick). i told him not to worry as i am up at 4am usually.


well yesterday mud truck arrives early and he has a lil piss ant shop light. i yell over my wall and offer my MEGA BRIGHT DUAL HALOGEN contractor light. he gratefully accepts.



we will see what condition the light and the snotgun come back.


i think im a SUCKER!

[A930Rocket]

I help where I can, but I won't do a project for a fee. Mixing business and friends can lead to ex-friends.

+1 one on him being a DICKHEAD.

[Oh Haha]

What do you guys need to know about medical waste disposal?




Seriously, I try to help anyone that asks for my assistance. It's usually about vehicle maintenance/damage but it can cover anything mechanical. I won't take cash for work for relatives/friends but do appreciate lunch or a meal.

I will offer advice to a stranger/client that is having some problem that, if I have some knowledge about the issue, my advice could help them not get ripped off or even calm them down a bit.

[stomachmonkey]

Tough one.

Depends on a few things.

I regularly volunteer to help friends and family with simple stuff. If it's an involved project that takes time away from other revenue generating activities or will cost me out of pocket I will offer the "friends and family" rate.

When people ask me I usually respond, " the first hour is free, after that it's $xxx per hour". That's usually when they ask for technical help which almost always leads to recurring calls.

Now as to your buddies. You don't say if this renovation involved an Architect to begin with.

Could be that Architect buddy is butt hurt that he was not asked to be involved from the beginning?

Or that another Architect was hired instead of him?

I have a friend who does this, he hires people to do stuff, it goes bad, he calls me and asks me for free advice when he could have just gotten me involved from the beginning.

Nothing I hate more than offering my experience for free so that someone else can profit from it.

[VINMAN]

It was just something like "hey can you show me what a dormer would look like on my house" Just a rough sketch on a bar napkin. Not like he was giving the work to someone else afterwards.

[Oh Haha]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

It was just something like "hey can you show me what a dormer would look like on my house" Just a rough sketch on a bar napkin. Not like he was giving the work to someone else afterwards.

Wow. That's just being a worm.

What would it take? A few minutes of his time?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

It was just something like "hey can you show me what a dormer would look like on my house" Just a rough sketch on a bar napkin. Not like he was giving the work to someone else afterwards.

Architect friend is a douche.

He's never done concept drawings to win a bid?

[Zeke]

If I were an architect, I would offer some free time, but nothing on paper. As a contractor/carpenter I will offer as much time as you please until the tools come out. It's the same for the architect.

[GH85Carrera]

If that is all that was asked, yea he is a dick.

[David]

As a PE, I help for free when I can. I only ask for money if they're getting paid for it.

[looneybin]

it was always pounded into my head in design school that you NEVER work for free, because they don't put any value on your work if you do.
BUT THAT BEING SAID...
He IS being a dick & i wouldn't have hesitated to draw up a napkin sketch for a friend

[madmmac]

Big difference from asking for advice or a small favor and mooching.

In this case, dickus maximus.

If you value money over your friends, in the end you may have a lot of money, but not so much of the later.

I think he really showed his true colors.

[Eric 951]

Depends upon the extent of the "work".

If your other buddy just wanted the architects opinion regarding a renovation i.e. "will this work?" "what do you think about this?" Then the architect is being a major dick.

However, if your buddy was asking for a set of drawings, or something that would eat up alot of his time, then the involved then the architect was not out of line.

But, more than likely, the architect was being a dick.

[Dantilla]

Anything that can be discussed over a cup of coffee at Starbux is just friends being friends. A simple showing up at the house, when convenient, and giving a few pointers, is just friends being friends.

If it requires taking any time away from paying jobs, that's where it crosses the line. If any tools, either computer/drafting time, or picking up a hammer or saw is involved, then I would expect some sort of compensation, maybe just a labor trade of some sort.

[Jeff Higgins]

Yup, the guy is a tool.

That said, there is always going to be a line drawn somewhere. I'll hand out free advice (and worth every penny) till the cows come home until I get the feeling someone is avoiding paying someone else for that advice. We can all kind of feel when it's getting that detailed, or time consuming, that it's no longer a "hey, whattaya think?..." kind of a deal.

Kind of along the same lines, I do all of my own work on all of my cars and bikes, up to and including motor rebuilds and the like. I really enjoy helping friends with their projects and helping them learn how to do it themselves. I've learned a great deal from some guys that kind of took me under their wings, helping me on my projects and allowing me to help on theirs. I'm quite happy to pass on to others what these guys have passed on to me. That's a large part of the enjoyment of this hobby for me.

The problems arise when folks who really have no interest in learning, or no interest in helping out later on, start asking for a "quick favor" by way of some help on their car. Folks I either barely know from our larger local Porsche or motorcycle community, or folks who never have and never will turn a wrench on their cars. I have a hard time saying "no" to these guys, but I'm learning. I still feel like a real dick when I do. Some of them must think that I am; as a matter of fact, I've had to listen to as much from a few - "you helped so and so, why won't you help me?". All they are doing is trying to avoid paying someone who actually makes their living by doing these things. I guess I'm running out of patience (and time) for these guys.

[VINMAN]

Like I said it was a rough sketch. I did it myself for him ( even tough it came out looking like his house was made out of Lincoln Logs)

I t was just something he was thinkin about doing down the line.