How much would you charge???

I was working of my dodge today when a guy pulled up and asked me if I could work on his 67 Firebird. I got to talking to the guy some more about his car and he stated the usual, he bought it, thought he could fix it and then realized it was out of his skill level. A couple hours later he drove the car over.
The first thing he wants done is the wiring. This car has just the basics (wired in all white wires) to get it running. No lights. I had to stand beck for a minute and collect my thoughts.

What would you charge someone to rewire the whole car????

I have not a clue. I told him I would reserch it and get back to him.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

How much is your time and knowledge worth?? Plus material.

 

the kit for that car goes around 300 painless or ezwire

 

I did find the Painless kit for it. I was just wondering what anyone here thought a good price would be to charge the guy for labor.

 

What would you pay given the same scenario? That being, you're just a guy working on his car at home, not a registered shop, taking a chance on the skills, looking for a deal. I would have it my shop at $65/hr and be accoutable for the work, and I'd probably recommend a new factory type harness throughout (about $6-700). To re-wire the whole car that way might run about 10hrs from start to finish on the high side plus parts and supplies. That would be a deal. The average bracket racer wiring job starts at $1500 around here.

 

Depends how much work it ends up being. Is he just doing the basic stuff, or does he have a lot of accessories, etc.

 

make it simple, $20 an hour and quote him 15 hours plus parts. You should be able to make a few $$ off it

 

That helps alot. I called a shop here and they could not give me a price for the work. Now that I know what a shop chargers, I can go off of that. You are right, I am not a shop, but I do stand by the work that I do.

 

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies

 

Check American Auto Wire for a direct replacement harness..less labor

 

The world is what we make it.

 

I rewire lots of cars at home, all done in cash only.
I use Rebel wire kits, marked up $50 over cost.
I buy rolls of 3M heatshrink and add that in.
Crimp connectors, solder, etc... free. (Shop supplies)
Add in headlight plugs, GM column connectors, etc....
Labor starts at $800 for basic and goes up depending on removal of old wiring, upholstery, headliner, etc....
Most cars I do labor comes in around $1200

Alarms, stereos, etc are extra, depending on what they want.

It takes me maybe 3 weekends to do a nice well-equipped car in a neat, clean fashion. I get lots of referrals on my work.

 

He does have a good point...

 

I get 50% of local dealership cost which is $80.00 as of last week, so I charge $40.00 with at least 10% markup on parts or list price on parts I get at discount thru my dealer accounts or Rockauto.com (great place!!).

 

I charge $300 plus parts on a hot rod, but I am cheaper than anyone else. It takes 8-40 hours according to the complexity and how quick they need it.

 

I used to be a U-Haul dealer. Cars like you describe are a nightmare and liability waiting to happen. Send him somewhere else and stick with your hobby and be happy.

 

When I used to work on the side, I would charge anywhere from 50% to 60% of what the most expensive shops were charging.

 

Parts & by the hour .I JUST CHARGE 600 12-PKS .....SAVES ALOT OF TRIPS TO THE STORE.
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

About $500 labor. $1000 if he watches, and $2000 if he helps.

 

I just tell people that I only work on my own cars. There is a good reason that I donot hang a sign above my shop door. I do not like the headaches of dealing with every schmo that walks in off the street.

 

Stuff like this never works out in a good way. You dont know the guy and you're gonna do work for him? How do you know he is gonna pay you? He is probably thinking you'll do it for $200 and when you tell him $500, or whatever, he is going to freak out and not pay you. Do you have lots of time to do the job? Dont forget liability too. What if there is a problem with the wiring and somethign goes wrong, he could sue you. You just dont know these things with strangers. If you do the work, figure a price for the whole job including parts and put it down on paper. Just saying...
Paul

 

Sounds like a sure fire way to turn a fun hobby into a pain in the ass job to me

 

Man some guys really love to piss on a parade here. I do work on the side, I am a incorporated insured business but I work out of my garage since I like to keep my stuff small. I do mostly bikes but its the same thing. I usually charge about half the hourly charge a local shop does since I dont have over head like they do and since I have a dealer account with the same shop I get a 10% discount on parts so I makr up 5% which keeps everyone happy.

Does it become a pain in the ass sometimes? Sure, some people just suck. Get a deposit on the job so it wont become a total loss, I try to get parts paid for up front also, espically on specialty items, some shit I know I can hold onto and use on another job.

If you enjoy doing this type of work you will be fine. I love working on bikes so I dont mind it. I do make it clear to customers that this is a second job and I only have a few hours to get work done and I am also going to take advantage of the weather to enjoy myself (I once had a guy call my like a warden and tell me he saw me out on my bike, why am I not working on his). Just be clear with the guy and it should be fine.

Like i said, I have a 9 to 5 and this only gets done in the free time at night and mostly weekend, my customers so far get it. I do try to stay away from regular service work, I will hook up past customers and friends but I dont want to waste my days doing oil changes and brake jobs.

 

I think you could easily spend ten to fifteen hours removing the old wiring and getting the car ready to rewire. I'm thinking in a home shop $25 - $35 an hour. In this economic climate it seems fair to me. You make a little dough and client gets a fair deal. Good communication will be very important. If it doesn't feel good, pass on the whole thing.

 

I second that

 

Since I'm retired and don't really need the money, I charge $25 an hour, plus parts marked up 10%. If the owner buys the parts that's better, as I don't care to have the hassle and my money out there.
For a complete rewire of a 1st Gen Firebird or Camaro I'd figure at least 3 days, but if you've not done one then might add a day for figuring it out. A factory harness is a little more, but it saves a lot of labor!
I've turned down a lot of people, just because I'm either too busy, or I just got a bad feeling from the get go. It's just not worth dealing with some guy who isn't sure what he wants you to do, but wants an estimate for doing it. Had one young guy come over and want me to help install a BBC in his Camaro, and maybe tune it, and maybe figure the trans linkage and maybe, etc... but give me an estimate. I just told him I was too busy. Seemed like more trouble than fun to me.

 

Not to discourage your from doing work at all, but this is by far the winning response.

I know it sounds strange coming from me, a shop.

But, if you can, keep the hobby a hobby. How about you tell the guy to guy the hot dogs and beer, and help you. And you guys do it together.

I just like the idea of either doing it as a full time business, or keep it a hobby. Nice and pure.
Just the idealist in me.
Once money starts changing hands, it can take the fun out of it. Especially if you are not set up as a professional shop, and willing to take all the flak and problems and liability etc etc that comes with that.

Either way, a sincere best of luck with it.

Have Fun

 

I have always had the customer pay for materials up front, it`s one thing to be out your labor but I would hate to be into someones car with my cash and have the deal go bad

 

That's what I charged a buddy of mine back in '82 to wire up an original 1968 Z/28 RS Camaro with red paint and white stripes.. He had a complete OEM harness assembly for it from front to back.. Plus I had to install the new OEM gauge cluster on the console.. I had roughly 20 hours into the job.. Plus he sprung for the beer an' pizza.. Can't beat that!! Last I heard, the guy still had it with only about 37,000 original miles on the clock.. That was like 2 years ago...

 

i get asked these questions alot and it always strikes me as odd, if you don't know how much you need to be paid per hour for it to be worthwhile to you or how long it would take you to accomplish the project with your tools and skills, how could I possibly know?

rewiring a car your first time is almost always a nightmare that takes 3 times as long as it should even if you are handy with electrical and have the right tools, but if you really want to give it a go, buy a good harness and go for it, you really end up with 3 choices

1) you give him an hourly rate, do the job, take longer than expect and he is bummed
2) you give him a flat rate for the job, take longer than expected and you are bummed
3) the moon and stars come into alignment and you finish faster or as expected and you both are happy (this is the fantasy land outcome much like thinking what you will do with your lottery winnings)