what is a fair price for a diver to charge

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Any of you commercial divers able to provide an update on where rates are now. This thread is a decade old. Do you think I can start a new one?

You should be asking this question in one of the many hat diver groups on Facebook. Much, MUCH more active than ScubaBoard for this kind of thing.
 
Any of you commercial divers able to provide an update on where rates are now. This thread is a decade old. Do you think I can start a new one?
I could show you a dozen jobs cheaper to get into that pay more and aren’t so market volatile. Or I could show you my current job that pays more per month than most people make in a year.

It’s not like recreational scuba. It’s the most work per dollar you’ll ever make. Be a nurse, MRI Tech, Plumber, Electrician, Pipe Fitter. Insurance Agent. Over the course of 20 years, you’ll make way more money in those fields than in diving.
 
i charge $1200/ day for ship husbandry, but it's an isolated market with no market forces at work,(no competition).
 
Or I could show you my current job that pays more per month than most people make in a year.
Yes please.

Good money in any of the trades...
If you have some skills, like if you are a really good painter you can make very good money
 
i charge $1200/ day for ship husbandry, but it's an isolated market with no market forces at work,(no competition).
How many hours in your work day?
What is ship husbandry?

I too would like to know what the current hourly Union rate is for divers.
 
It ends up being a 12 hour day from home to home again. Ship husbandry is underwater welding, zinc changes, blocking thru hulls for seacock changeout, cutting of entanglements, cleaning sea chests, etc. Anything to do with ship maintenance underwater. i don't include hull cleaning because I don't do that.
 
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Yes please.

Good money in any of the trades...
If you have some skills, like if you are a really good painter you can make very good money
My last profession (I hope) was insurance. I started with zero experience in 2012 selling life and cancer insurance. I did pretty good making about 100k/year working one day a week. But I was VERY good at it. The company changed hands and owed me (actually still owes me) quite a bit of money.

I moved into property and casualty (homes, auto, boats, etc) in 2016 and made about 100k/yr with a mostly awesome company working about 20 hours per week. When my son died, my new’ish boss yelled at me for missing my quota for the first time ever. I told him to go phuck himself and got fired.

I started a competing company a week later and all but put him out of business. For Christmas, I sent him a card saying, “Merry Christmas, oh and thank you for making me a millionaire in under 18 months”

Anyone with half a brain could do what I’ve done. This month, my paycheck was $62k

I still teach cave/ccr diving a little. I’m working on a salvage contract for a helicopter that crashed in a lake today. So I’m still in the industry some. But insurance is the way to go. Even a goober could make a $100k per year once they got into the right company. Which is way easier and faster than finding the right diving job.
 
I am in no way consider myself a pro...... but I do "work" sometimes for prop swaps, zinc's etc.... for some of the yachts in my marina. I don't have a license or advertise. They just see me and my boat and see that I'm a diver and ask. Most of these folks with their 40 -60 ft + yachts don't really even know the value of money so I just say that I'll do it for less than a haul-out and get it done...

I also have folks on some of my boat forums that need to have their offshore mooring ball connections inspected. You'd be amazed at what some old rich geezers have their mooring balls attached to..... Code says the it needs to be a permitted "auger" system to lessen any impact on the environment.... But many that I see are just a big block car or truck engine block with a chain run through....
 
i charge $1200/ day for ship husbandry, but it's an isolated market with no market forces at work,(no competition).
Well seems I'm in the wrong business. Wow!
 
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