My contractor told me 'you're paying for my experience, not my time' and it stuck with me

I was getting a quote for a kitchen remodel last spring in Austin and this older contractor said that right after I balked at his estimate. He explained how he spent 15 years learning what goes wrong and how to avoid it, so his price covers that knowledge too. It totally shifted how I think about paying for skilled work now. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple line from someone just rewired your brain like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

skyler_jackson2711h ago

Maybe I should start charging people for my two decades of Netflix expertise too.

william_harris11h agoMost Upvoted

@skyler_jackson27 you joke but I've literally curated watchlists for friends on road trips, it's a real skill.

parkerbrown10h ago

Wait, isn't it more like fifteen years of expertise? Netflix streaming started around 2007, so we're probably closer to a decade and a half, not two full decades.

mark_carr710h ago

It's funny how that one line clicks into place and you start seeing it everywhere. My neighbor spent an hour fixing a leaky pipe under my sink last month and charged me for two hours of labor. At first I thought it was steep until I remembered that hour included him driving to the supply house twice because the first fitting was wrong. He knew exactly which parts to grab and how to avoid flooding my kitchen. The plumber before him spent three afternoons and still left a drip. Same with the mechanic who charges $90 just to look at your car - you're paying for the ten thousand cars he's already looked at that tell him it's probably the alternator, not the battery.