# Do You Charge for Blades



## DrewD (Jun 10, 2007)

Not a sub, straight employee. I used all my own power tools except Tele-handler, generator and ladders/staging. Most of the tools he had were about 15 yrs old from when he first started his business and in horrible condition. It doens't matter now, I'm in college full time now so I'm not working. It just always bothered me I was using my blades cutting his material.


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 17, 2008)

generally depends on the blade

if im going to be into demolition i charge for at least 5 recip blades and 1 or 2 circ saw blades

drill bits, depends on the job. if im doing a deck or bolt laminating beams i charge for a few spade bits as ive gone through several doing this sort of thing. same goes for tile bits if i have to install floor door stoppers or hammer drill bits for driving expansion bolts

i always allow for wear and tear on my tools, if a job goes smooth the money from that goes towards fresh chop saw blades or sharpening, or sometimes a accessory for them, even a new router bit profile


a while back i worked for one general who nearly refused to buy recip blades or circ saw blades, we would be starting a big reno where the first 3 days was full out demo and he would bring 1 recip blades and say " thats all your getting make it last" or " back when i was your age we didnt have recips so you get to learn to do things the old way". as for circ saw blades, he would use the same blade wed use for cutting a deck off that we would use for cutting shelving.... i would buy blades myself and he couldnt understand why i was unhappy working their. most of the jobs were budget jobs and i would have to kick and scream for fasteners even at the start of a job


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

I don't do it unless its something outside of the norm like cutting brick or a cast iron stack. Even then if I have a blade from the previous job, I wont charge for it again. Contractors hate getting nickled and dimed and I make it my policy to include these items in my bid price so there is never a surprise. If your doing T&M maybe you need to raise your hourly rate by 50 cents if yours isn't high enough to cover these odds and ends.
I think we all have a pretty good idea before a job even starts as to how many bits and blades we will go through. I generally by blades in large quantities on ebay or buy em when they are marked down. I like to have plenty in my shop so that I don't have to make frequent trips to the Depot. These trips cost more money than the blades generally. Whats next, are we gonna charge for each individual nail and screw?


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Warren said:


> I think we all have a pretty good idea before a job even starts as to how many bits and blades we will go through.



But then there are the times that you can't imagine that what you have with you won't do the job. 

I had a railing to build and put on a preformed concrete stairs, only three steps and a landing. I was going to tapcon two stretchers on each side and attach the posts to that. I figured 6 tapcons on each side should do it. I had the carbide drill and a hammer drill. I was getting about 3/8" into the concrete before I smoked the first bit. I got out my spare and was a bit more careful. I was getting the same 3/8" depth and then I would have to stop and hone it sharp again with my diamond stone. Took forever. And if I didn't have the stone with me I would have gone through 20 or so bits. 

I found out later that the rock inside the steps was quarts instead of trap rock. So now I knew why I couldn't drill into it. But I figured I'd have those holes drilled in about 20 minutes or less, should have been about 12. It took me a a little more than an hour to drill the 6 holes.

Railings are still there 14 years later though. Got a real good grip into that quartz.


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