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Doing repairs for friends/family
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25 CPS:
I'm interested in hearing everyone's thoughts and opinions on doing electronics repairs for friends and family.

For context, I have an extremely custom motor drive circuit partially built that's awaiting a parts delivery to finish off to make a retro sign from the mid 1960s work and which is on the bench at home now plus two postwar German tube radios waiting to get on the bench to evaluation and repair.  One of them's been on and off the bench and I haven't even looked at the other one yet.  This is because of being the only one they know who has the skills and equipment to do this sort of work.  However, I also have a full time job with rotating shifts because my employer is a 24/7 operation with a minimum of two systems technologists on site at all times, plus I'm also single, which means everything at home has to be done by me because there's nobody else to do it.  And I have to sleep sometime.  So, like everyone else, I've got limited time for hobbies which is why this stuff takes forever for me to turn around but it's done on the supposed understanding that pricing is inexpensive given the turnaround time and for friends and family.

However, not everyone is completely understanding that it takes serious time when I have to shoehorn it all around work shifts and keeping day to day household life in order for myself.  What got me really upset was making progress on one of the projects and giving an update and the inevitable when is it ready question came up and I started getting upset because I could see my own projects on the shelf, none of which I've gotten to because all three of the projects belonging to other people are ahead in line so they don't wait for a truly outrageous amount of time, and it sank in that I'm no longer enjoying what I do outside of work because it's all been for other people lately at the expense of deferring work on stuff of my own interest, and it's not even bringing in much money.

How many of you do work for friends and family?  What are your policies about it?  Personally, I'm getting ready to put my back into all three to get them done and out the door, out of the way and off my mind.   I'm seriously considering putting a total stop to doing outside work.  Unless I make the time for it and charge full commercial rates comparable to what my company pays me in terms of wages, benefits, pension plus a bit above that to reflect overhead costs and my investment in equipment etc. and then treat it as a serious part time job with the time commitments that has, as opposed to working on it when I get to it.  And, I'm reluctant to do that, at least for now, since I'd like to spend some time on my own projects for the next little while.

Thoughts?
Rerouter:
I always make clear what the expected favor in return will be, ok, you want me to scan, rotate, colour correct and face tag you 5000 family photos?, I want you to teach me different recipes of yours each night I'm working on it and you have to provide ingredients, stuff like that,

Because they are family, if they do not feel to return the favor, then they don't deserve your favor. in my case I got about 20 nights of my meal costs covered, minus some beers, and I needed them over anyway for the face tagging, it also helps close the loop that yes, this work does not happen in 1 night.

In your case, try trading it for help with those daily life issues, e.g. come over and help me prepare meals for a week, help me clean up the house, as I won't have much spare time working on your thing, etc.

The hardest part is always asking for money in return from family, as most will try and screw you, its generally easier to trade for service or skill, in my own family its more of a trade of time.
Zeyneb:
I'd say you should give your self interest a higher priority. Something tells me your family/friends are not very understanding of the effort you put into their projects.

I do think it is valuable to think how you're going to present your viewpoint to your family, maybe declining further work with some solid argumentation. It depends a bit on the family culture you have  and I believe you will know best.
maginnovision:
I will agree to anything people(my family) want but they have to agree that I'm doing it on my own timeframe, no matter what they might give me for the work. If they want fixed timeframe they need to pay and not expect anything special(no free parts, no discounted rate, no free clean-up). I currently have 2 family projects. One is ~3 years on going the other is ~1.5. They understand it'll be done when it's done but if they'd like I'll happily give it back to them to finish.
SilverSolder:

It's hard to make clear and fast rules.  If you like someone, and feel good when you do something to help them...  well, then there isn't really any problem, right?   If, on the other hand, you feel a little bit of resentment about doing it, then...    then things are not OK and you have to set a limit on it that you are comfortable with.  For your own sake, and also for the sake of the longer term relationship with the person(s) involved.
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