Finally found my place in the world!

Originally Posted by alloy2

Your most welcome, with your aptitude in mechanics and class "A" personality I see a great future lays ahead for you.

Doing in home repairs, I found if a dryer, washing machine or refrigerator had to be pulled away from a wall underneath you would always find the floor covered in lint and dirt electric ranges dirt and grease.

The women of the house will show shock knowing she is living is such filth, anyhow I politely ask for the house vac then clean up the mess. The majority of women wont fight you for the vac

Another thing to be careful bout when moving an appliance that has sat in the same spot for years is that the weight of the machine has made indents in the linoleum from which the machine should be lifted free from and not dragged which would possibly cause the flooring to tear.



Meeting your customer for the first time contact is usually the customer calling you over the phone, now that you have secured the job when you greet the customer at the door say hello I'm Joe from GMA appliance the conversation is filler.

You can be a scrap man and an appliance repairman at the same time, I'm cursed in that my eyes always wander taking in everything on one job fixing a dryer I could see an old John Deere farm tractor sitting just beyond where the home owner kept the grass cut and yard tidy. If the tractor had been a car you could see it was ripe for picking, the only thing that did not compute in my mind was why such a large tractor was sitting on such a small property.as it was obvious it had not been moved in years.

Just like a magpie I wanted the tractor so I directed my conversation towards asking questions first commenting on wow what a cool tractor then is there something wrong with it ( remember first observation hasn’t moved in years ) The home owner opens up you can feel the love and sentiment pouring out in the conversation, they trucked the tractor to BC from a farm in Alberta to a larger property they owned in Langley which sold five years ago they kept the tractor moving it to the lot they now lived on but sentiment has since ebbed and they would like to see the tractor go to a good home. Jesus it's like their about to adopt out a dog to a good home and your credentials are being checked out before you can have custody.

The tractor was a John Deere model 70 with a hand clutch, front end loader I picked it up two days later kept it for years and even used it on a scrap job. I had purchased 18 electric trolley bus's, I had Rypac drop a bin at my house loaded it with tractor welder and tools then had the bin delivered to the bus site some 75 miles east of my home.

The trolley bus's were aluminum took me awhile to figure the best way to dismantle but the rewards were in the copper from the wiring, electric heaters ,electric motors, brass from the air brake system and air coolers.

Excellent tips and advice. Yes, you are the man! Great story about the tractor. Yesterday I picked up a bunch of working TV's from an older couple who were moving out to live in an RV. It was raining and my brother and I were just putting the TV's in the back of the truck. The man was getting really upset that these 20 year old TV's were getting wet. I ended up covering the truck bed in a tarp, but I removed the tarp when I found some more scrap around the corner. Having worked construction and as an apartment complex handyman, I always clean-up that grime under the old fridge or range, etc. Treating people well and leaving them with a positive experience always pays off.

Alloy2, will you be my SMF hero? Anyways thanks again friend. You've opened my eyes to the opportunity of branching out to in-home repairs or wherever this business may take me. I need to always keep my eyes open and my brain working.