My ex brother in law is a commercial refrigeration tech. He did a emergency call to a restaurant that was losing temp on thier walk in freezer. Loaded with food that needed to be kept under freezing. Time was of the essence or all the food would be tossed due to health codes.

He came out diagnoses it. Qoutes a few grand to fix it. Approved. Then he fixes it in like 15min. Just tightened a single screw.

The owner was pissed he paid a few grand for 15min and a single screw tweak.

Tech looked at him and said he paid for it to be fixed. The fact that the fix was a single screw and which screw needed tweaking was specialized knowledge. He paid for the knowledge not the time.

I took that lesson to heart working in IT or really any field. Even when hiring people to do stuff for me. Sometimes it's not just the labor it's also the knowledge.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Isn't this like an urban legend with a guy tightening a screw? Pretty sure I heard this exact thing but in a factory of some sort

Edit: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/06/tap/#1bbd5dce-72dc-448e-ac5e-9b48059cef66

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Might be so. He said it in the first person so it could've been BS.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

Not just the knowledge and time but the urgency too. It was an emergency.

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In software as long as its not rushed you can quote something, fix it in 10 minutes and deliver it the next day and people will be amazed you finished it in under a day.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Underpromise and overdeliver.

I was a Webmaster 15 years ago. I learned very quickly not to say how long anything takes.

Qoute 3~5 times the wrench time. Then report when you like.