Projects What should I expect to pay?

Bite my ass. Common sense? Maybe you need to find some, that is about the most clueless shit I've read in a long time. $70 is not greedy if you are running a legit business. Hell half the time it's not enough.

Thanks guys... it's real expensive to open and keep a shop open.

 

The Guy that did my wagon worked for a shop and hated it, so he built a big ass garage at his house and charges $35 an hour. Does killer work and is ALWAYS busy.

 

Good move selling the car!

A buddy of mine is buried 40 grand into his '54 , probably could sell it for 20 or 25 if he's lucky.

It pains him even to *look* at the car.

 

Don't sink money into a car unless you love it like a wife, because it's rare to get more out than you put into them. There are some exceptions, but not many.

 

Exactly! Your friend has no overhead to deal with....if he was in business, you should about double his hourly. In major metropolitan areas, add another 50% or more, due to high taxes, rent, etc.
a very rusty car like that , with no mechanical work, would probably be from about 8,000-20,000$ depending on how much "rot" there is..not mild surface rust. There aren't all the patch panels available to rebuild a badly rotted 54, so you have to do a lot of fabrication work.
Also depends on the level of quality, or detail, if you like.

 

Well, it looks like we touched a nerve with a few folks talking about greed. I stand by my comments though, but I will not get drawn into a debate about economics because it is obvious that some respondents don't understand what that means. I don't like assholes who talk tough though like the "bite my ass" dipshit. I am a very competent business management specialist and have over 35 years experience in business startups and day to day management. Right now I am managing 4 businesses and they are doing well. I am old school and don't believe in the bullshit about someone being worth $70 an hour let alone $200 dollars an hour or more. But, I do understand that I have to pay my lawyer $250 an hour if I want to get anything done right. As far as overhead goes, not much has changed in 30 years, utilities, insurance, lease/rental, advertising, most of these costs are reasonable if you know what you are doing and shop around. I agree consumables are crazy like paint and I would pass that cost along to the customer based on what quality they want and that shouldn't affect an hourly shop cost except for a small fee for ordering and pickup. My key point is greed and that is what has damaged our economy. There are still bargains around and there are still good honest business people around, you just have to look harder to find them.

 

I agree with Kerry, drop in your drive train of choice with an interior and drive the car. It looks good and you could always do the paint later if you choose. Anyway, the paint should always be done after any fab work.

 

From Leading Economists CDLS report - The Commerce slide rule, the squeeze does not seem to come from the most commonly blamed factor: rising wages. Proportionately, U.S. labor costs today are exactly what they were in 1948—64% of the value of total output. The trouble comes largely from two other factors, according to the Commerce Department's statistics. One is that indirect business taxes, particularly property taxes, have increased from 8.9% of the value of production in 1948 to 13.62% now. More important, the amount of gross income that U.S. business allocates to costs of plant and equipment has risen from 5.5% of the value of production to 11.34%.

So what exactly is a "Business Management Specialist"? That sounds pretty new school for an "old school" guy.

I have a degree in accounting, minor in economics, I am in my 40's so lets not bullshit each other. You are living in the past! Lease/Rental, Utilities and Insurance costs reasonable, really? I realize its SoDak but here in MT lease costs are $10-14+ per sq/ft industrial.

Lets cover some of the associated costs for an industrial classification for liability insurance.
What is the CGL liability for your bussinesses aka premises hazard, product liability and operations liability? How about the EIL for the chemicals? How about Bailee liability for customer vehicles on the premisis even if you have an iron clad hold harmless agreement or an indemnity agreement, we both know it is a cost of a responsible business.

How about OSHA? What about the required haz mat cabinets? How much of an initial investment in capital assets did your start-ups require? Rule of thumb for industrial is 4 times annual gross, I'm guessing similar for a fabrication, paint, detail shop. I'm not going to argue and compare Apples to Sour Grapes.

I've got a friend who owns a local Montana Glass Shop (residential/commercial/auto), three employees, 4 shop trucks, a leased facility, and he pays $11600 a year for insurance (he agrees he is underinsured), the Work Comp for the three cost him $5230 per year, I'd guess his shop is 4000sq/ft or 40k a year etc.. Thats just shy of 57k annually or $4735 per month to cover the basics. I think insurance costs are ridiculous because of the "Sue First/Lawyer Up" society we live in.

I think the real blame lies with Greedy Attorney's, the "Get Mine" attitude and fewer people taking responsibility for their own actions.

I am not a "suit", I work for living and we still try to treat customers right here in MT. A good friend who owns a local shop just did some welding and a once over for a traveling HAMBer in exchange for a twelve pack.

(I'm done ignorance derailed this to OT)

s.

 

talk to arin if he's still there richard does'nt do anything there but answer the phone and walk around arin is good very good

 

I have been running my shop over 20 years now I moved to a new building about 6 years ago. The new building cost me alot each month compared to working out of the house, but I enjoy the space I have. I charge 45 an hour for anything we do whether it is a/c work, wiring, metal fabrication , or just paint and body. We donot work on late model cars so we don't have insurance co's sending us work we get most from past customers. The thing that really bothers me is a guy up the street gets 88 and hour for regular car work, oil changes, tune ups and other general repair work. They use a flat rate book to tell them how long to pull a transmission and if it says 10 hours and they do it in 2 they still get paid for 10. My shop charges for actual time spent on your car. I still can't do metal work and paint on a car for 2 or 3 grand and live. I don't fill cars full of filler and fab alot of my own panels. It is time consuming and still some people gripe at 45. Most dealers around here are at 100 an hour.