Hi Gary,
I guess different areas handle this situation in different ways.

Gary, you're talking apples and oranges. Now you get into contractor run jobs when the scenario is a homeowner project. Most residential I do is homeowner contracted and they want nothing to do with finding/hiring cheap labor and getting the floor properly prepped. They want me to handle whatever needs to be done. Of course a contractor has the knowledge, skills and labor to handle a demo cheaper than specializied tradesmen, but thats not the issue here.

Now, having certain tricks up your sleeve can make you a lot of money. Having knowledge of new and relatively unknown products can have you smiling all the way to the bank, and keep you younger longer. assuming what I've seen here at the convention is not hocu-pocus, we have a solution to the glue problem on concrete slabs. A fellow could make money with this, while everybody else is paying labor to scrape for days, you could be wiping it up with a squeegie in hours, and charging the same.

These are the things that can make a Hawaiin holiday profitable...

Very well said Marco. I agree totally. As a retailer, we always had Mechanics on the job site... all the way through the project. We never sent out "helpers" or "laborers" without supervision.

Marco, Ray and all,
Those are valid points. There are different scenarios that need different solutions. When dealing with the homeowner directly, Marco is right that often times, they want a full service job, from demo to cleanup. And I do offer that to homeowners. Occasionally,when they get sticker shock, they want to know how the job could be done for less. That is when I will suggest they do their own demo. Some do it, some don't. None are offended. I am trying to work with their budget. Seems that the more affluent want the full service and the regular folks need to pitch in a little to lessen the cost. Something about Ray's statement that "one was not qualified to install a floor if they were not willing to do the demo" bothered me. I believe one can be qualified to do the work but can choose not to for any number of reasons; not enough money in it, not enough time, too demanding, abrasive customer, poor chance of success, etc. This is the great thing about being one's own boss. And Marco, thanks for the tip about the soy bean mastic remover. The product sounds "magical".

Yep, the term Over Qualified comes to mind.
If they want me to do that part of the job, they pay my over qualified price.