Haircuts and car repairs on the cheap

By Karen Aho

Question: How do you chop a $4,000 car repair bill down to $600?

Answer: Take out the labor charges.

But there's no such thing as free labor, right? Well, actually, there is. And we don't mean your own labor, or that of the nice uncle who will replace the brake pads for a 12-pack of beer.

At any one time, 11 million students in this country are preparing for jobs in auto repair, home construction, Web design, computer technology, horticulture, cosmetology . . . the list goes on. And in each class, whether it's at a high school, a community college or one of 1,400 vocational-technical centers, the instructional mantra is the same: to learn by doing.

By doing jobs for the public, students are exposed to real job dilemmas, real customers, each finicky and fickle brand. Just as important, the school gets reimbursed for materials. Wood, metal, paper, shampoo -- nothing has to go to waste.

Friends and faculty have been taking advantage of this unadvertised gold mine for as long as young people have been hammering out doghouses. But anyone can partake, as long as the work fits into the curriculum and the customer fits into the students' schedule.

So how much can you save? That depends on the price of the labor being cut. Auto-repair shops, for instance, typically charge between $65 and $120 per hour.

Even using a conservative rate, Dennis Neal figures he's saved more than $10,000 by taking his vehicles to Madison County Area Technology Center in Richmond, Ky. His last project -- a weeks-long, bumper-to-bumper troubleshoot of a 1979 Ford F-350 pickup -- barely nicked his wallet at $600 for parts. A garage would have cost more than $4,000. Oh, and he also had to pay a $15 school shop fee.

"They've helped me out a lot," he said. "They've saved me tons."

Money isn't everything

Neal, a retired U.S. Air Force jet mechanic, says he's compulsive about workmanship and prefers the school over some garages. The students have good tools, good training, a good work ethic and an attentive, honest instructor who "wouldn't let the truck out on the street if it wasn't ready for the road."

"In some ways we're better, because there are reputable shops and there aren't," said Art Coon, an auto-body teacher at the Wilco Area Career Center, in Romeoville, Ill. "Our students are taught the proper methods, where at some of the body shops they skip steps."

At Wilco's body shop, students use only high-end coats and primers and can bang out a fender and repaint the adjacent panels for $100, a fifth the cost of a shop.

On the downside, it might take five days instead of two to get your vehicle back, and there's no free rental car. You could also get turned away altogether, if the shop is full or the students aren't studying your problem. And while instructors check each step, student shops don't guarantee their work and may ask you to sign a liability waiver (though no one, even a paramedic, expressed any qualms about safety).

Patience is required

In Oklahoma City, Tina Woodfork waited four months for her custom-built kitchen from Metro Technology Centers. Students often spend just a few hours a day in a skills class and work carefully, stopping for instruction.

The payoff for Woodfork's patience? Beautiful cabinets with raised panel doors and concealed hinges, an island and a counter for less than $1,000 -- the cost of the red oak the instructor bought at a contractor's discount. A professional would have had to charge $8,000 to $10,000 to cover labor, workers' compensation and insurance.

If you hire a student to build a Web site, keep in mind that he may call with frequent questions that an experienced designer would have anticipated early, or could tackle on his own.

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