For all you free market advocates out there explain this to me...

[farang000999]

In the USA and I want to have so simple work done around the business so I call everyone in the phone book and the cost of the job estimates for labor only, not materials which I have purchased already are between $245-430... and which ever company I picked will undoubtedly send me some "employees" who make $10-15/hr and it will be about 4 man hours... why does it always work this way? ... I have to pay the owner of the business... his salesman... and then the poor xxxxx who get to do the work... because the guys at the bottom couldn't possible do the work with out first being directed by the owner/salesman... I am interested in this from the free market perspective... I don't know why but this really annoys me...

Edited February 6, 2014 by metisdead
Profanity

[cooked]

1. What does this have to do with Thailand?

2. Why do you think that things like this happen to everyone? Maybe it's just you.

3. Were you drunk when you sent this rambling and disjointed post?

[farang000999]

do more than 10% of the posts in the economics section have anything to do with Thailand?

what?

no.

[manarak]

it has nothing to do with free market, the guys who earn 10$ an hour just do not have the capability of doing the job by themselves.

[SheungWan]

We used to get these wise guys who 'knew' how much a job should cost (ie peanuts), would always want to supply the materials, knew the job was 'simple' and just wanted to pay an hourly rate and would invariably argue also about the time. Nobody wanted or wants to touch these building trade cheap charlies.

[vaultdweller0013]

This really isn't a question about free markets; its more about specialization.

There is nothing stopping you from hiring people directly to do the work. You could put out adds in the classifieds of a local paper or an online sites. You could then negotiate pay rates directly with the people performing the work. Yes, this would take more of your time to do, and it may take longer to find the people to do the work. This is the reason you pay the owner/salesmen when you contract labor through a company. They are doing this work for you as well as things like coordinating the schedule of multiple workers and performing a basic vetting of the reliability and skills of the workers. There will also be costs on top of the actual hourly rate they pay like worker's compensation insurance, medicare/social security tax, tools and other equipment, office space, etc. If you hired people directly to do the work, their hourly cost would need to be higher to include these costs.

Next time you have one of these small jobs come up, trying doing it without involving a contractor. Then see how much time you spend organizing all the details to get the job done and keep track of it. Afterwards, look back and decide if it is worthwhile to pay the overhead to a company to save yourself the amount of time you spent. What you will probably find is that a company that has specialized in organizing labor is able to do it more efficiently than you can, and that the additional direct cost in dollars to go through such a company is less than indirect cost of your time to do it in their place. On the other hand, if you find it relatively easy to organize the labor yourself, you would be proven right and could save yourself some money.

[RKASA]

The contractors side involves more then the hourly wage they pay - and with the ACA coming in play soon it will be 20% higher then ever and your going to be seeing less hourly wage people working for anyone anyway. The contractor himself will soon be willing to work under the table for scraps like they do in Thailand and you will be happy again but he will run the risk of the IRS overlord of conformity to the new order.

Any of those workers that feel they can run a business and handle the government side of it without going to jail are welcome to go down to the one stop service center and apply for a tax permit and 250 other lic. and permits - don't forget to fill out of the forms and mail them every quarter on time to avoid the fines - you might want to hire some staff or contract out the back end, but then small jobs start costing like $245-$450 and it pisses people off and they always think they are ripped off - and they are - By the government anyway.

[lannarebirth]

Try craigslist.org

[JSixpack]

Go direct to the laborers then. Drive by the street corner serving as the local Mexican manpower agency, bring to the workplace, and put 'em to work.

Now I can tell you that the chances of getting quality work here in Thailand are vastly improved (but hardly guaranteed) if you go through a known-good, reputable contractor who oversees the work.

Sorted. Next.

Edited February 8, 2014 by JSixpack

[AlexRRR]

farang00009999 the economics of providing a service dictates the price you were quoted, if you want a warranty and use of skilled labor then you go through a company who happen to have an office and a few cars to run power bills insurances phone line staff wages and entitlements to cover just so that you have have some one ready to rush out for 4 hours and do your job.

Better still do it yourself cant do it? get a handyman?

im self employed in building and i do a lot of quotes that dont get taken up, you dont factor in the time guys like me loose on guys like you.