Just finished working on a guys 64 Ford 289. Swapped out the intake,fabbed up some custom exhaust hangers,ran new brake lines on rear housing,checked the brakes and adjusted them,painted the exhaust hi temp flat black and trimmed the pipe at the exit point. Does $250.00 labor seem out of line? Just seems like I had more time in this thing than I had planned on and I want to treat the guy right.
You treat him right by charging for the hours you worked and he'll treat you right by paying for work/value received. Both should be equal.
Whats yer labor rate? Either damn cheap or you work real fast. Win for the customer! Sounds way inexpensive
Well, your gonna laugh but.....I only charge this guy $15.00 an hour [He's a friend with a lot of 60's Fords] but it seemed like 16 hrs was too much time to spend on this one. Got about $90.00 in parts for $340.00 total. He furnished the intake. Thanks for the input.
If your trying to build clientele that's a good way to do it, but I was unclear if whether or not you performed unapproved work. If it was approved work the best advice i can give you is to not cut yourself short, if the work was unapproved then best to not go balls out on billing.
I'm guessing since the owner supplied some of the parts, he approved the work. You can give him a good deal, but like (pretty much) all of us have said. You aren't charging enough. The amount of time may be a little high, but don't under cut yourself. If you are doing the work at your garage you could charge 1/2 of the going labor rate at your local shops & still give him a good deal. If you feel you should have done the job in 10hrs instead of 16, then charge him $40 x 10hrs= $400. If you do work that cheap your going to attract clients that are looking for "cheap work" not "quality work." According to what I read, you do quality work. Charge accordingly.
For this guy I use an old 70's flat rate manual and that calls for about 8.5 besides the fab work. Looks like he is getting a fair deal. Sometimes when I sit down and figure tickets it just seems like I have way too many hours involved. I work a 50 to 55 hr a week job and do this when I have extra time. No pressure from this guy.
man I thought I was cheap at $35/hour. smokin deal. if you'll cut me the same rate I'll send you some work
Thanks for the input. Sometimes it helps to bounce some thoughts around and get the opinion of others.
Do you own a shop? Is this your main source of income? If so I would say it`s under charged for that many hour . I do paint and body for a living and charge 25 minimum for side work and my mechanics are getting up to 110 a job hour just replacing parts.
Stick to the whatever amount you agreed to would be my recommendation. Quality work is worth way more than $15 hr.
That's just for this guy. He has a lot of high end Pony cars that are just fun to tinker with. I appreciate the history they have and treat his cars accordingly.
The price for a good friend was right. Now, here's the kicker, if he comes through when you need help your good. If, the friend doesn't come around and when you need help, that's the last good deal he'll ever get. CRUISER
I'll bet he keeps you busy. If you were wondering if you were charging too much, you have your answer. You really need to raise your labor rate, even to friends. Gene
I run into this same thing with my side work "vinyl lettering". A lot of other places charge a lot more then what i do....."but" they are doing it for a living..... paying insurance, wages, employees, overhead with the work they are getting. I do my side work as a hobby and the satisfaction of seeing my work places. yes most shops charge 85/hr but i wouldnt feel right charging someone i knew that much. never know when you might need them. If it puts a little extra money in your pocket and your satisfied with the rate thats all that matters...but i have been drinkin so take it for what its worth
If you are taking work away from a shop that charges the going full-rate for work, and not charging the going full-rate for work, you are risking making it so that two people don't earn enough money to eat, instead of just one. Puts downward pressure or labor rates too. Not good for us who own/run shops. At $15, or even $50, I'd be out of business, by the end of the next business day.
Well, lets see the quality of work- there's guys that would do it for a half rack of natty ice but that doesn't mean it'll be good! Just sayin..
Fifteen bucks an hour?!?!? If I were him I'd pay that, grab my keys and tear *** out of there before you came to your senses and realized how much you shortchanged yourself.
I like the idea of matching the flat rate to the age of the car !! Curious as to why you chose that? $15/hr is too low-won't even cover your overhead. OTOH, $110 an hour for mechanics to replace parts?_they'd better be working on my Ferrari or custom fabing-that's just as much a gouge as your price is a gift.
You're working 50-55 hours a week, plus working on his cars for $15 an hour. Even if you LOVE working on cars, you must be really bored. $15 an hour even to a friend is essentially doing it for free. Treat yourself to some of your time; how much work can you get done on your project in 8 hours? Your friends standpoint; For $120, I can have 8 hours worth of labor done on my car AND I "buy back" my entire day off to spend how I choose rather than doing work on my car. Someone made a good point. I hope your fried reciprocates when you need to call on a favor.
If he is a good friend that still seems low to me. A friend of mine is a mechanic by day and does work on alot of the local street rod crowds stuff by night. He charges half the labor rate of his day job and everyone seems happy with that... Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
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