In NYC I pay at least 100 per hour and average 150 per hour for a skillful chap even handyman jack of all trades guy. I buy every part and find I am always 60% cheaper and know I am rarely screwed.
Idea started on first job I needed eons ago to do 1000 square feet of new 3/4 inch oak flooring. Think I got the guy from a circular attached to my house. Can't prove but think this smart Irish guy was in Dublin with almost no money except to come to USA, he had already heard from buddies how they could make a nice coin in NYC. He pre printed the circular to install and coat the floors. He came to airport rented a car, stayed with friends and went to the flooring store where he asked the eager hands waiting for day work for their telephone numbers. Once he gave out circulars, by foot to hundreds of houses, putting them neatly under the doors. he waited by answering machine for calls. Once he got a bite he went to customer to give estimate 3 times his costs and if ok'ed, got a deposit for enough to buy the flooring, then called one of the numbers of workers he felt were not serial killers, rented the nailer and asked customer for more money once job was 3/4 done so he could buy the finishing coats. He also culled and kept the best floor workers for future work and used them for floor sanding renting all machines until he had enough to buy them from profits.
I needed many flooring projects and went same route to get worker after buying the flooring and renting the nailers. but more importantly used that system to do many larger projects. The flooring workers were hard to track down if they were good, but I paid them a lump sum price to complete and could of sold tickets to people watching the skillful nailer lay the material like magic,.........sometimes it seemed the floor just nailed itself once cut to form the methodical puzzle, as these guys just did nailing and sanding as it was so second nature to someone who does this every day, and is motivated to get the hell out of there.
