I know the carpenters are under $30 an hr. I knew this guy and liked him and more or less thought he took advantage of me . I know another respectable concrete person that could of did the whole job for $4700,where as I paid $5100 and did half the work myself.
carpenter under $30 an hour? Ok, the Davis Bacon statements place the hourly wage at just about $18/hour (in Idaho). This does not include any benefits. Benefits vary (obviously) from employer to employer but as a simple (and low figure) add in about $15/hour. So, we are around your $30/hour wage but this is ONLY for the employee. Now you have to figure out what a contractor charges above and beyond the employee rate to maintain his business and (hopefully) improve his business through new capital expenditures.
So, we just blew your $30/hour out the window and more than likely passed the $50/hour. I see that Idaho's wages do seem to be low compared to the rest of the country but my area of the country has a fairly low cost of living (which generally means fairly low wage rates) and a carpentry contractor is more like $60 to $70 an hour.
So, the point still is; you failed to determine the actual rate before you allowed any work. The onus is upon you to establish these things prior to start of work. Since you accepted "All he ever said was he wouldnt take advantage of me" as a determination of costs, you are the only one to blame.
or; what it sounds like is you wanted to hire Joe concrete and not hire Joe Concrete INC. that has overhead including liability insurance, workmans comp, carries the costs of warranties and on and on.
