You're right, it shouldn't be. If you use your own vehicle you pay commercial insurance rates. Liability insurance. File sales tax return, payroll, assorted bs accounting procedures you may or may not pay an accountant. The list is endless, you could end up with a pretty high fixed cost before you plug in the vacuum or pick up a mop.
Oh, yeah... house cleaner who's WORTH 2x of another who runs a mop, vacuum cleaner and dust rag. Businesses overpay all the time for all kinds of things. Maybe because they're just too lazy to shop for price... just take the first thing that pops into their mind? (If this is the "dumbest fucking thing you've ever heard", suggest you get out of your bathrobe, put on some clothes, and venture from your mom's basement... there's a whole world you're not seeing.) I didn't say "business pays more BECAUSE THEY CAN WRITE IF OFF"... I said many are not discriminating on price "because they can write it off". (Same is often true when business buys computer hardware, too.... and makers/vendors take advantage.) Hey, if I were running a cleaning service, I'd try to fill my calendar with "$35/hr" jobs if I could... but the only way I could do that would be to find those who don't shop price. If I had to compete for jobs based upon price, unlikely to achieve such a high hourly billing rate.
These people weren't paying a premium because I could run a mean vacuum cleaner, they were paying me for the intangible value of trust, that I could have a key to the house, do my job and they weren't ripped off personal belongings.
Anybody COULD make it a point to hire a "bonded and insured" cleaner... without paying 2x the going labor rate.
The current thinking is apparently that Einstein was dead wrong when he said that insanity was to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. It seems the current approach to the recession is to keep doing the same thing, but twice as much of it. Thus I expect any day now coming forth from the Republican geniuses in congress a proposal to eliminate all taxes on those making over $250K a year so we can create even more jobs. As every one knows it's the wealthy that create all the the jobs. The answer therefore to the problem of two few jobs is to put still more money in the hands of the wealthy.
Do you think that there is anyone in the third world who doesn't think that we are overpaid? Globalization is going its best to prove that our wealth is due entirely to circumstance. There are enormous inefficiencies in the Real Economy. One must get their feet wet (and lock-up risk capital) to exploit them. With the bank liquidity available is their any other explanation for lack of job growth than an appetite for non-committal, anonymous, liquid, hedgeable, impersonal business? The top of the pyramid, making money off of money, completely detached. I agree that almost everyone thinks that their job is hard. I find it interesting, however, that what people think is the worst part varies so much. Some people don't mind coming in early. Some people hate dealing with computers. Some people can't handle customers/bosses/coworkers. ... I suspect it is a little like having grains of sand in your shoes. How you feel about the biggest grain makes a big difference in how you interpret the other grains. I, for one, need to stop typing on EliteTrader, and get back to looking for work/business.
jesus, if you guys think a housecleaner makes $50 per hour, then i've got some SPY stock to sell you for $250 per share. $50-65/hr is the rate for a TWO-PERSON TEAM. $80-90 for 3-person. that's what a bonded company would charge around here. a free-lancing, uninsured housecleaner charges $13-16 around here (high cost of living area). i considered starting a maid service before. the biggest problem is hiring reliable help. not only do you need people who do a good job, but they have to be honest too. the last thing you need is an employee stealing valuables from the customer.
You put your life at unreasonable risk each time you cross the border into Mexico. Drug violence is off the charts there and innocent by-standers are routinely killed in the cross-fire. See "MEXICO UNDER SIEGE The drug war at our doorstep" at http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war In addition, you're a hippie and therefore do not need haircuts.