shop owners lets talk about eating hours

I find it much easier to do a build for myself and then just sell the build for a reasonable profit. The quality of the finished
product sells itself for a decent hourly rate. No customer B.S.
to deal with. Work at your own pace. All in all, I'd bet that you'll
make a better hourly wage. Just food for thought.

Good luck with whatever you do.

 

now that ^^^^ makes the most sense of all!. Not always gonna be practical though.
As for customers complaining about cost, one reply I use is:"OK, how about YOU do it for me for the price I'm asking"
Tends to put things in perspective for them real quick.
On the original question, running your own shop and looking after all the "other" stuff, I'd say if you can bill 25-30 hours a week you're doing good.

 

Thanks every body for your opinions and excelent advice. I'm like a sponge and absorb it all. Never thought it was that hot of a topic. Keep up the good work fellas and thanks again for helpin out the next generation

 

Where I have a problem is wrong parts, and this happens quite often, from suppliers, gas guage for one, was new and sender it didn't work, defective guage, I ate the time, king pins sent over size, I again ate the time, today another gas guage no work sent it back, this cheap repop **** doesn't work outa the box, your right of course, its not the customers problem, but it seems a lot of us are eating time for someones else's screwups.

 

One thing I can add on billable hours is that all billable hours don't have to be charged at the same rate.
Something easy, that a lower skilled worker can do, you can charge less for the billable hour. More skilled or expensive equipment usage costs more, most shops pay techs different rates based on skill level.

You still got to be fair with the customer, but this can help you with hours you don't feel right billing the full amount.

 

I'm new here but find this subject very interesting.
Car building is just a hobby for me but I'm a small business owner in the HVAC
business.
If you have 10-15 hours a week on average you can't bill this has to become part of
your overhead just like rent and utilities and your shop rate should reflect this.
Ordering parts and dealing with potential customers takes time and the money
Don't sell yourself short. If you're good at what you do you will have customers.
Everyone in just about any business will have to eat a few hours here and there
because we all make mistakes and mistakes cost money.
You have to get paid somehow for answering the phone or giving shop tours etc, it's
a cost of doing business and therefore it's overhead.

 

I think that Wolfman1 has hit the nail on the head! That description seems to sum it all up pretty good! At one time I had a good friend and good busness man tell me that if you are to busy you should rais your shop rate a bit! At first this sounded a little money hungry. But after a little thought it made sense. You will weed out a little of your riff raff type customers and hopefully atract the customers that are more willing to pay and more importantly understand what they are paying for! I run a small one man "hot rod" type fab. shop. I am very busy and feel i have a good reputation. The most rewarding thing that I ever hear is "my buddy told me to come here!"

Grant

 

That's a full meal!
If you can do this it is the best way to go.
It is how I am going at things but right now I am stuck trying to turn a poorly built barn into a workshop.

 

I have nothing good to say about shops padding their books. I will say that is why I build my own.

Just because a shop considers themselves to be "artists" doesn't mean it takes a week of labor to do a 2 hour job. Apparently the gold chain crowd just signs over the checks for a 3 to 5 year build that should take only 6 months.

If there are any completely honest shops or mechanics out there, I apologize in advance. I sure as hell haven't found many of these places.

 

wow, what are you responding to? this was talking about the shop NOT charging for hours they worked. You are obviously peeved about something, but really it has nothing to do with this conversation.

I regularly have eaten hours, it ****s, I have fixed things done by my some of my ex employees on my dime. I try not to let it get to that point, but sometimes you can't hold their hands all the time. I have recently moved my shop and downsized it a little bit, hoping to avoid some of the issues like that. But recently have been having a new rash of it, taking to long for something that I can't bill the time on. Well that and people that want custom work but don't want to pay for it.

 

I'm all for customer service and being fair to people. I don't mind giving discounts when the need arises. But you have to remember you have to make enough to provide for your family and the long term. No one you've helped will be around to help you when you have unexpected expenses or when it's time to retire

 

Every business owner has had to eat hours at some time.
I've had customers that complained about every bill I ever gave them, just because
they think they can get the bill down and save a few bucks.
Got tired of their game and told them nicely that obviosly they aren't happy and neither am I and that maybe they should look at having someone else do their work.
I've only had to do this a few times and still did work for these people because I gave
them what they paid for and they knew it.
Some people just figure they got a discount once by complaining it will work again.

 

About 20 years ago, I did a car for someone, and the bill ended up being over $5000. A week or so later, he called be about the price of an oil filter I used, I charged $5.40, and he could get it at the discount store for $2.60. He also complained about the $25 charge for misc. hardware. I didn't think that was a big thing, with the size of the bill.

So the next time he brought a car over, when I needed something, I called him" I need a G2 fuel filter", an hour later, "I need a 3/8" bolt", after about 2 days of that, he decided that my charges were not too far out of line, and he would depend on me for the parts.

 

haha! Great idea!!

 

awesome idea enjenjo! hahahahaha!

 

My favorite is when someone buys their own part, cheapest junk available, hands it to you to install, you discover its defective and they act like you either broke it or supplied it and they want you to "handle it, its part of the job". And people ask me why I limp, I lose a set of laces every other day.