> The primes should make $$$ off their own inhouse crews but they have become greedy and would rather use subs and make a few cents on the dollar on that too....alot of inhouse guys hate them using subs because it cuts into their territory....the percentage idea is a good one - if only it could be made to happen!
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> > I would have to agree with you, a strike is not going to solve or gain you anything. It will only make things worse. It would be nice to see some uniformity in price structure, so that we can all; still make a decent living at what we do. After all, is that not why we chose this profession? I don't know how you all feel, but what I would like to see is something along these lines. It may be wishful thinking, but I've seen it work in other trades. If we could all come together and establish a standard rate schedule approved by all the MSO's. The rate schedule would be defined by Prime Rate and Sub-Contractor Rate. If you were the Prime on the project and needed to bring in two or three Sub-contractors in addition to your in-house crews, the rate would be 85% of the prime rate. That would give the prime 10% for overheads and 5% profit. Where they make their money should come from their in-house crews, not from their Sub-Contractors. After all, are you a Prime Contractor or just a broker trying to get rich quick. I could go-on and on but I better quit for now. No harm intended, just a little venting!
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> > > Not strike, please! All that will do is hurt you experienced cable dawgs...hackers or inept jerks will take your place, do a crap job and results in prices becoming even lower!!! One of the other dawgs suggested we all get on cabledawgs.com chat bar on Sun. night at 10 p.m. to discuss low prices and potential solutions. What do you say? Maybe a brainstorm session with pros and cons could get things started in a new and positive direction.....there has to be a solution we haven't thought of yet!
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> > > > I would love to go on strike. Some of these prices now are terrible. One can hardly live with some of them. Now, there are great prices in some places. I was just in Dallas and Broadband Specialists were paying great, but those companies are few and far between. I can't give you those prices because rates are different depending on where the work is (up north during the winter time sux) and what kind of work you're doing (big city easements can be harsh, but drive off interconnects can get you rich). The prices NEED to be different on each kind of job and they NEED to be raised when doing these harsh easements where u can only put up 1500-2000 ft of coax a day or during the wintertime. I VOTE STRIKE!
