The CAES now offers the services of a farm mechanic for its Athens area farms and research support facilities. The mechanic will be housed at JPC-Watkinsville and has the ability to diagnose and/or repair many of the regular maintenance and repair tasks that arise at our facilities in Athens and surrounding areas. The mechanic will have the ability to perform many of these tasks on-site.
The process of requesting and scheduling services from the mechanic begins by completing and submitting a request by clicking on the “Request Service” button. Once all required fields have been populated and the ticket is submitted, you will receive notification via email and be contacted by the mechanic, either by phone or email, to schedule a visit.
Please note that you will be asked to select a “priority level” for your request. However, selecting (urgent?, emergency?) will not automatically ensure service in the timeframe that is desired. Every effort will be made to respond to requests for service in a timely fashion, but there will be instances when requests in multiple locations will need to be prioritized for the good of the organization. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Units requesting services from the mechanic will be financially responsible for all replacement parts purchased by the mechanic on their behalf. The mechanic will provide the unit with an itemized list of parts, along with the cost of those parts in an estimate, prior to proceeding with the repairs.
In addition to the cost of parts, units requesting services from the mechanic will pay a one-time, $100.00 trip fee per service request and will pay the mechanic an hourly labor rate of $60.00 per hour (these numbers may change…). These funds will be used by the mechanic to cover their operating costs and, over time, to upgrade the services offered.
It is our hope that utilizing this service will allow our support units to maximize the amount of time spent supporting the research, extension and teaching missions of the CAES while minimizing downtime for repairs and regular maintenance.