Slide topper self install.

[justdede]

Well those workers don't make anywhere near that $150 an hour. All the adders for the dealership (utilities, rent, insurance blah blah) all contribute to building up that labor hour. I do think $150 an hour is high, but that's the labor rate of my dealer as well. I doubt those workers make more than $15-$20 an hour where Im at.

It's definitely doable with an assistant. I did it. Bought my toppers from eTrailer and me and my grandson installed. I didn't have to pay him anywhere near $150 an hour

Mike

You are so right, the hourly rate pays for all those costs that are not directly billable, and for a profit. FYI, my RV repair shop, (not a selling dealer which is why I use them) normally charges $150 an hour (that appears to be the going rate for brick and mortar places). We recently needed to have the roof replaced because of damage from a windstorm. The negotiated labor rate with Progressive Insurance was $140. BTW, Progressive was absolutely wonderful to deal with on the issue. Sadly, our trailer is not stored at our home and I am not as agile as I once was, so much of the "high up" and heavy lifting stuff we need to hire out. We love California RV Specialists in Lodi, but we are still looking for a local mobile tech in whom we trust to do the simpler stuff that can be done at our storage facility.

[AKKamper49]

I wish we could say the same, but our slide topper was not installed with a low profile bracket and the awning hits the slide topper bracket. It takes two of us to put out the awning once we are set up and the slide it out. Frustrating. We are having it looked at in a few weeks at a different dealership, and maybe they will have a low profile bracket and we can finally have this resolved.

[Boom 'r Bust]

Thnx let you know now it goes

I have the same situation and hope to learn from your experiences... Thx for posting on this project!

Pics of your progress, unexpected challenges, and completed project are VERY MUCH appreciated!!

[Malco1]

Really? How is that price gouging? Seems downright reasonable to me.
But I come from an industry that's constantly accused of it too, so there's that.

2020 310GK - 2011 F350 SRW

I agree, we are talking about a 2 man job. That's 12 man hours $67.00/hour. I think that's more than fair.

[Malco1]

Figured that way seems reasonable, but it also equates to $150/hour for each worker. Them's pretty good wages. I guess I'm just too much of a tightwad.

Yes, I can definitely see the need for an assistant. Trying to do it yourself with no help would be an exercise in frustration.

How do you get $150/hr. Lets see $800/(6hrs * 2 men) = $800/12 man hours = $66.67 per hour. IMO a very reasonable price.

[Hoopy Frood]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Spike32]

I just called a local dealer, and they wanted 2 hours labor PER TOPPER!! We have the 351M with three toppers, one fair sized and the other two are
small. Over $800 in labor for the three toppers. That's just insane. I told them that was price gouging on a major scale.

I was waiting for my Imagine to be inspected and have a couple of minor adjustments done. While I waited I watched 2 technicians install a slide topper on another imagine, and it took them the better part of an hour to get it properly and professionally installed.

[Bamaman]

The space between the door and the slide on GD trailers is very minimal, and the electric awning arm on the side of the door takes up the room.

That means that the topper over the big slide must be ordered 6" smaller than normal for that size slide.

My dealer quoted me $500 per slide (4 needed) no matter the length of the slides. I passed since we don't camp that many days per year.

[MarJohn]

We installed 3 toppers on our 303RLS and took about 2.5 hours. My husband didn't want to pay for a job he knew he could complete. Because the awning was too close to put the topper bracket exactly where we wanted it, we had to install a little lower.

[MAiman]

We have a new Reflection 303 and I will be putting toppers on it myself soon. Getting up on top to sweep tree limbs off is not fun, especially in the rain.
Does anyone have a good place to order these from, and what brand is a good price?
Thanks for any leads.
.