I have a friend who repairs ATVs, bikes, snowmobiles, watercraft, boats, small engines in general. He used to beat flat rate in the same way you describe when he worked for a large dealership. Instead of going by the book, he found innovative ways to get the job done much faster (ie instead of removing an engine to access a part that needed repair as the book recommends to just remove one motor Mount, loosen the other, pry the engine up to access whatever he needed to get set ... as a quick off-the-cuff example). In a 40hr workweek he could net 70-100 hours flat rate weekly. Works for himself now.
Interestingly, he also has this uncanny built in GPS in his head. He can ride trails once that he has never seen and know them like the back of his hand for years into the future. Amazing memory of the interconnected trail network in this state, I've never seen anyone like him. I'm talking thousands of miles of hundreds of interconnecting trails through the dense woods, across lakes and ponds, mountains. Day or night. Amazing spatial memory.
I understand your friend and what your saying. The most hours I made at work for actual clock time was 117. Sleeping 2-4 hours a night, I took a second job from 6pm to 1 am at a shop that I later bought into. It seems men are able to keep "maps" in their heads and that is why most taxi drivers are male. Most good "poker" players are men (Jennifer Tilly being very good)
A truly amazing set of talents. What's better than having a factory trained mechanic with built-in GPS technology (before GPS) riding with you on the long rides?! We've ridden together well over 100,000 miles on snowmobile trips over many years. He's the go to guy for anyone who had sled issues, saved the trip countless times. In all those years there has only been 1 time that he made a wrong turn (at night, in a blizzard, on a big lake with lots of coves) and I knew it when he did it. A very memorable moment for me, lol!
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