I agree, I fixed an intake line that froze in the ice and then broke when the ice shifted. A 15 minute job tops for the actual work even in zero viz. But I had to drive and hour and a half each way to get there, suit up, and setup the equipment. Then when done I had to clean the muck off everything, pack up and drive home.crimediver wrote:I understand the jumper cable philosophy. When doing a dive recovery for a small item, make it look good. Even if you find it right away, burn some air and come up now and then draped in moss and take some surface bearings. Repeat as necessary.
Once his livestock had water again, he saw no need to hold to the original price and felt that only 15 minutes of work was not worth the bid he accepted from me for the job. It ended up in small claims court 6 months later and I eventually got paid, but it was a pain.
I've had similar conversations with irrigators needing headgates freed when they will not close all the way. Once the job is done they see it as an "easy" 6 or 8 ft dive, not a dive where you have to carefully place a suitably constructed plug over most of the stuck open head gate (meaning you line it up as carefully as you can and then let it get violently sucked into place against the gate) and then chisel away the encrustations to allow the gate to close while the difference in water pressure trys to suck you, your hands and your tools through the remaining opening. It's not fun and it's worth every penny. Based on experience with payment problems, I ask for payment in advance and write them a check back for the hours I don't use and won't bill them for.
