What are you paying in hourly rates out there. I have been asked to be a mechanic for a Model A club. The person that asked said these guys don't mind paying because they just cant do the work any more. This particuler person called my craigs list auto service add I charged $35 hour. Am I cutting my self short? Im ASE certified and Have over 17 years in the Mechanic and auto body field.
That is cheap for a "shop" but if you are working out of your garage by yourself, then thats probably pretty fair.
I don't think you are cutting yourself short. I have been a tech for 22 years, and liscenced for the last 14. I generally charge $40cdn for my labour out of my own shop(so that would be on-par with your $35 ). I do cut myself short when it comes to working on rods, though....usually about half that, but just because I enjoy it.
I charged $35/hr when I ran my shop, and that's still my going rate for side work. Lots of shops (particularly with higher overhead) are in the $60-$100 range. I work straight time plus parts and materials when doing rod work.
$35 is pretty good for low overhead and just working for wages. My friend who owns a busy shop is getting $86 per hour. Can't price yourself out of business! Bob
Currently $85/hr for heavy truck/ industrial work and $80 for rod and bike fab work. I kept my rates lower when I had the small shop and no overhead but with rent and other related expenses I just couldn't stay there. I've been told I'm cheap for my area with some shops at $120 for fab work.
I charge between $50 and $80 per hour depending on type of work (general, body, electrical, chassis, fab) and size of job. If I get a job that will keep me busy for several months, such as a full build I will charge less per hour compared to a job that only takes a day or less. Planning, consultation and set up all have to be considered, if I spend four hours on the phone with a customer to plan a job that will only take six hours to do I will not give any break on the labor rate, if I get a job that will keep me busy for two months and the consultation consists of a twenty minute discussion then there will be a bigger discount on the labor rate.
really, shop rate means nothing. It is what is done for the money. Funny thing is that guys that are real good might charge $80 an hour and do it 4 times as fast as an okay guy ( 80 by 4 = 20 an hour fair ) but then it looks 4 times as good by the great guy verse the okay guy. So 20 by 4 is $5 an hour is what the okay guy should charge verse the great guys 80. Crazy thing is there is this much difference in people's work, even in people's work where both guys have been doing it for 20 years each, and are both certified in all. What is my point? What you can do and the quality of it should determine the per hour.
For my fibreglass work I charge; Standard rate $35 With you watching $55 With you telling me what to do $75 Me fixing shit you started and fucked up $95. NZ $$ Scotty.
I charge 60 at home by the clock. I make between 35 and 40 per clock hour at the dealership I work at and if I can't make more on the side, why do it?
I don't think your out of line.If you are working out of your house and it is an attached garage and something unfortunate happens your house insurance probably won't cover you or the vehicle your working on for a profit. Just be careful.
You will get more business at $35/hour than if you doubled that. I try to do all of my own work but I would pay $35 an hour to have things done when I dont have the time.
i agree to a point, but if this is truly the thought process the job should be quoted flat rate no? A good fab shop will have a good idea how long they will take to complete a job so the can get a decent idea what to charge. Ultimately, I think the customer should feel he/she got treated fairly. This doens't mean the shop has to give anything away, just keep both sides reasonably happy.
In custom metal fab work, the tools and overhead probably figure into a standard buisness model. Unfortunately the labor end of it dose not. How do you charge for custom brackets and engineering hourly. Whether your fabbing motor mounts or a complete rear suspension or chassis the hours involved are incredible. Just the thought process is involved. I'm seriously considering lowering my rate to $50.00 an hour and punching a time clock to justify the hours. Of course that means not answering the phone when on the clock. No interruptions. The other choice is to use pre-manufactured parts and charge a standard shop rate and just weld the stuff up real nice. The only problem is everything looks cookie cutter, all the same old stuff everytime "BORING". That's no way to establish a reputation as a fabricator. Living in Northern California we have a very high cost of living unfortunately. Maybe I should just be happy I have work, But I've sure been doing alot of extras for free lately just to keep the customers happy.
At $35 per hour I would have shut my shop down, $35 per hour is roughly $5600 per month, take out 15% for taxes and fee's that leaves you $4760. That is if you can bill 40 hours a week, most of the time you have to work at least 50 hours a week to be able to bill 40. The overhead cost for my shop is about $2600, my house cost me $1700 per month that leaves $460 a month to pay for gasoline, buy tools with, and cover the cost of living. I have to make at least $60 per hour on average to be able to live and not have to worry about not making ends meet in a slow month or if I get sick for a week. Living in California is very expensive. Most shops in the area that I live in charge between $75 and $120 per hour. If you take your car/motorcycle to a dealer ship here you pay $90 to $140 per hour for standard service and repair work, but some people seem to have a hard time paying the same for Custom/Fab work.
Exactly. It all has to get billed. If I did not bill for all of this time too, I would no longer be able to eat. It does have an upside though. I find that after a customer sits down with me for two hours to talk about radical design changes, in the middle of the project, and then gets a bill for it, it tends to stop that nonsense cold. Oh, when I last raised my rates, nobody said a word, which is good, 'cause I am going to have to do it again soon.
Most of the decent shops in my area charge $90-120 per hour. We were $95.00 when we closed two years ago as a full time business . Now that it's an after hours shop and I don't really need the work we charge $100.00, but you get billed only for real time worked. Local Harley and Chevy dealerships are both $125.00 hour!
We charge out $55.00 and this is after an estimate a try to stick with it. we eat hours every week. work on keeping the overhead down and the quality up. My side work is at $35.00 but i do not take work for m the shop just a few special projects that peak my intrest.
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