Can a person make any money as a saw tech.

[Cedarkerf]

Bean fixing airliners for more than a decade and am about burned out with all the rule regulations and scrutiny. Ive done all the "cool jobs" which usually means cramped in some tight spot fixing something you can't see or reach worth thousands upon thousands of dollars. One particular part I can lift myself was half a million!!!!!!!! Anyway airline business schedule very family unfriendly I work Friday thru Monday10 hr days. What training or certs do you need and what kind of wages and benefits can someone expect.

 

[Canyonbc]

ahh
i am not sure on the wages

but your wife has a might nice saw

That 260 pro...is so nice and light...i even have a 25 bar on it, for brush clearing...out of evereything i got prolly my favorite Saw

Stihl = The best on the market

 

[Cedarkerf]

She loves her 260 People say its out dated and vibrates but its lite and smooth to me mabe because I am so used to my 044.

 

[sugarbush]

this should be an interesting thread.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

this should be an interesting thread.

I agree!!!

I add that at one time when more saw only shops existed in my area this might be possibly...................don't know about now!!!

 

[Fish]

As far as trying to make a decent living working on saws, forget it, at least
in most of the U.S.. In real timber country, maybe they pay decent, but I
doubt it.

 

[sugarbush]

BKS044, if you repair airplanes i'm sure with a small engine class you wouldn't have any trouble fixing chainsaws. but the pay scale is probably much, much different. fixing saws is something most guys do because they like to. I think i made more last year growing mators and pumpkins. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Lakeside53]

The pay really sucks... with experience, $25k-$40K is what guys make around here... and this is an expensive part of the country to live! It's part of the reason why there is such a shortage of decent techs. Benefits, like health insurance? HA!

Only if you own your own small shop can you do a bit better... but...

 

[PES+]

A hint

On the very top of the list of things you do ONLY ONCE in your lifetime

1.) Take out a help wanted ad for a small engine mechanic

 

[infomet]

Maybe a sideline, or supplementary income?
Little shop in the backyard?
Do some trades, drink some beer?

 

[Fish]

trade for beer???

 

[sawinredneck]

Around here small engine tech make $8-$14hr. And you work on ANYTHING that comes in the door! Snowblowers, lawnmowers, leafblowers, chainsaws, weadeaters, and whatever else can be drug in!! I worked on mowers that were 30 years old and the owners got mad because I couldn't get parts for them!! If you want to open you're own shop you will go broke!! The overhead to be able to fix everything as fast as they need/want it, without having to leave to make a parts run is insane, if you try and have any diversity at all! You can make a nice living in the summer, but you need to pocket most of that so you can eat in the winter.
If you're wife has a good job, or you have a nice nest egg, you might have a chance. But I will not encourage it, it's not for the faint of heart, and if you are not 1000% dilligent, you will fail!! It's ugly!!

 

[Cam501]

Around here small engine tech make $8-$14hr. And you work on ANYTHING that comes in the door! Snowblowers, lawnmowers, leafblowers, chainsaws, weadeaters, and whatever else can be drug in!! I worked on mowers that were 30 years old and the owners got mad because I couldn't get parts for them!! If you want to open you're own shop you will go broke!! The overhead to be able to fix everything as fast as they need/want it, without having to leave to make a parts run is insane, if you try and have any diversity at all! You can make a nice living in the summer, but you need to pocket most of that so you can eat in the winter.
If you're wife has a good job, or you have a nice nest egg, you might have a chance. But I will not encourage it, it's not for the faint of heart, and if you are not 1000% dilligent, you will fail!! It's ugly!!

at $8 an hr you might as well find another job. I had a grocery deli job for a while in college that paid $8 an hr that was a joke with no stress.

 

[Sethro]

trade for beer???

Fish,we would get along. You can't begin to fathom what I have traded saw work for.I would be working out of a cardboard box down by the river if I did'nt have a 6 to 4 job.

 

[Timberhauler]

I was a tractor mechanic for a few years when I got out of the tree business...We sold and serviced Stihl and Johnsered saws.$14 an hour was top pay in our shop,and you had to be able to do EVERYTHING.Every now and then you were expected to work on someone's car...I'll never do it again

 

[Cedarkerf]

As an airline mechanic friends ask me to look at their cars. I tell them nice car. Cool coler. Trade it in. OH you wanted to know if I can fix it. You Must be mistaken me for an auto tech. Hven't seen a car yet with G.E. or P.W. engines on them.

 

[Cedarkerf]

I had a feeling these would be the responses i'd get. Maybe I can become a saw flipper. Buy em cheap fix em up. Airlines will make you money and bennies between lay offs. Like what I do but it is like the most Gov't regulated job there is.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

I know a guy in my area that took a different route. This guy went to college for accounting so the paperwork was a no-brainer for him. He then went to work for a hardware store that sells Echo and Shindaiwa saws. While working there he got certified on the above mentioned saws and also Kolher, Snapper and the like...............pretty much the common OPE stuff.


While working there he acquired a 26 ft. trailer, tools and parts to set himself up a "mobile" repair center. He hooked himself up with a contract to repair Home Depot sold OPE at 4 or 5 Home Depot stores.


Now I believe he did this while single and living with his folks. He is still up and running for some 5 yrs. or so. But being single and living with his folks enabled him to put the money out for startup..............dunno if he could do it this way now that he is married with a child!

 

[Cam501]

The pay really sucks... with experience, $25k-$40K is what guys make around here... and this is an expensive part of the country to live! It's part of the reason why there is such a shortage of decent techs. Benefits, like health insurance? HA!

Only if you own your own small shop can you do a bit better... but...

our techs would quit if we had no health insurance. heck, i think everyone of us at our dealership would leave over that. not offering insurance = nobody will even consider working for you around here.

 

[charlesfarm]

Used to be my dream

I work with computers for a large insurance company. I don't have a really good personality for sitting behind a desk all day and dealing with all the junk that goes along with working in corporate America. But the pay is good (allows my wife to stay at home with our 6 kids), I get vacation days, and it provides health and life insurance.

A few years back, all I wanted to do was start up a small engine repair business and quit my day job. $10,000 and a pile of debt later, I found out some very important things as far as making this a primary occupation:

1. If you don't sell new equipment, you can't make it work.
2. If you don't have a *LARGE* inventory of parts for virtually everything, you can't make it work either.
3. If you live in an area with a lot of regulations dictating what business you can and can't do out of your own home, it will cost thousands of dollars just to get the proper zoning variances, business permits, etc.
4. Customers can be a lot more difficult and stressful to deal with than corporate managers.
5. Rarely will you find somebody that wants to pay what the labor is worth. Customers expect miracles for $15.
6. We live in a throw-away society. If, after 4 years, that $99 walk-behind mower from Wal-Mart has a gunked up carburetor, it's not worth it to the customer to put $40 into it to rebuild the carb.
7. If you don't specialize in a particular product line, you can end up spending hours researching problems or looking for parts. Much of that time is unbillable, if you don't want "bad press".

This dream has now become a small hobby for me. I don't take anything I don't want to work on (unless it's somebody I owe a favor to). I tell people up front that it might be a while before I get it repaired and if they want it back sooner, they need to take it somewhere else -- I offer no guarantee about when it will be completed -- my family and my primary job come first.

All the negatives aside, if I ever came into a large sum of money (ie: inheritance), I would start this back up in a heartbeat. The satisfaction of a customer telling you it hasn't run like this since it was brand new is priceless. Working with my hands is very satisfying and beats typing and mousing all day.

Anyway, enough of my soapbox, just my 2 cents.

God bless,
Chris