Am I charging too much for a saw?

[barneyrb]

$10 an hour???? There is no way you can make money at that, you are losing money on every piece of equipment that walks out of your door. Don't believe me? "IF" you are able to work 40 hours you have taken in $400. My electric bill alone for my shop will be $75 dollars a month. 1600/month is now down to $1525. How many trips uptown do you make for parts, sealants, cleaners, shop rags, and everything else. Gas is $3.35 gallon here and I get 14 on my truck so if I start it going into town I use AT LEAST a gallon so if you make one trip a day that is another $75/month, now down to $1450 and we haven't even gotten into oil changes, brakes, tires and all the other maintenance items on your truck. Do you charge for sealants, cleaners, testing fuel mix, bar oil, and shop rags? There goes another $200 month easily. How about maintenance on all your tools and equipment? My parts washer uses varsol and I have to change it a couple times a very and at $6/gallon it takes $30 to change not counting the rubber gloves I have to use and they cost $9 pair and usually last about a month in varsol.

The list goes on and on, IMHO if your quality of work is on par with other shops/dealerships in your area then your labor is worth $40-50/hour as a minimum........Now if you are just doing your buddies work then let your conscious be your guide.....

 

[Acornhill]

you are giving your work away

shops around here charge $70 - 80 an hr. i charge $40 and no mark up on parts. I also charge nothing if i can't fix the equipment.
i am up front with folks before i start fixing the equipment to get the go ahead. i always do more than i charge for. also if you have to drive and pick up parts that is a real killer. (time & gas, wear and tear on your vehicle etc.

 

[nstueve]

You gotta be able to buy the parts at less than retail in order to mark them up and not look like a thief. The fact that your a one man band may make it difficult to find an outfit to sell you wholesale. Volume often times dictates pricing on parts. You probably will have no choice but to charge enough for labor to make it worthwhile if this is your only source of income. If its a hobby to keep you busy then its not as much an issue.

I Have to agree with everyone else but you on the parts mark up. I usually find parts online or at a dealer but it still takes me time to track them down, order them, pay, and pick them up. About 90% of the time, 15% on parts is cheaper than if I paid myself $20/hr to get the parts rounded up. On the remaining 10% if it seems like an unfair deal to the customer then I work with them on it. Hell last year I didn't have much time to split wood... I ended up trading shop labor on some saws to a father son team who came to split and stack my wood on site! They even cleaned up my lower level where the logs were cut and split! Granted I am in the same boat as some others. I do it for a little "walkin around money" on the weekend. I don't have shop costs and do this more as a hobby, but my name gets passed around by my few customers to keep me busy enough (so I don't advertise at all).

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

People I dont know $20 hr. Real good friends beer and BS session or sometimes just a good BS session.

Considering the dealer shops are $55 to $70 I have no problems keeping the benches filled for work if I want it.

 

[mitch95100]

On guys, mabey I didn't make my self 100% clear. I do this mostly to make a little toy money to feed the addiction. I don't need to keep the lights on, I do this out of my shop at home, I have other forms of income I just enjoy fixing saws. I can raise labor rates if need be but I haven't. I also buy alot of my parts off line and am in good terms with the local dealers and get parts at a good rate. I have thought about actually opening a shop but then everything changes in fact of labor parts markup and margin on how much I make. Ill charge him the estimate and see how it goes.
All I guess some of you are saying is don't sell yourself short beacouse people will sell your skill set short?
This is just a hobby more than me relying on it for a source of dependable income.
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[Jacob J.]

Regardless of what you're charging an hour- are you taking into account "the total cost" of your repairs, i.e. standing behind the machine if your repairs fail? Consumables as Jimmy mentioned? What about leg work to do research on models you're not familiar with? Acquisition of special tools needed to do certain repairs? There's a reason dealerships charge high prices, because they're covering all these things and still trying to make a profit. They also have to send their technicians to training and technical updates on the brands they service. That right there is a huge difference between certified technicians working at a shop and some guy repairing equipment in his garage.

 

[mitch95100]

So I should raise labor rates then.
Yes I back it with 30 days free labor and parts at half cost if it is related to work done

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[Patrick62]

$10 an hour for putting lipstick on a pig

.... if you tried to do it first $15 an hour
.... if you watch me, $20 an hour.
.... if you help me, $30 an hour.

Just kidding.

I know where you are coming from, and fully understand the situation. However, it isn't your decision what to fix, they want the saw fixed, you give a quote to repair the saw. They accept. You do the work. You base your quote upon parts and expected labor, and that is good. If you are putting in a extra hour or two, then that doesn't change the bill. You made a quote, and will stick to it.
What will get you business is doing excellent work. Your reputation is the best advertising ever. It travels fast, a bad reputation is the only thing known to man to travel faster than the speed of light.

... and for what it is worth, I am trying to stay alive doing firewood out here. $10 an hour would be a lot more than I am getting.

 

[HuskStihl]

Sounds crazy, but I wouldn't use a business charging 25% of going rate. Unless I knew the guy, I'd assume that he was 25% as good. It's also harder than people think to raise your prices once they're known.

 

[stihl023/5]

You are doing just fine as a hobby and play cash. At that rate you will have more return customers and word of mouth ones. Plus if someone likes there saw they want it fixed.:msp_biggrin:

 

[angelo c]

4You are killing yourself slowly at that rate. I charge 30/hr and parts plus 15%. Also make sure you charge for consumable shop items such as rags, cleaner, fuel, oil, files, etc. I am honest and up front with people that come to me, I don't advertise. I tell them what I charge for parts is retail plus and explain I have to buy them, pay tax, etc. I also point out that I can probably have it turned around quicker than a shop with a 20 day lead time. Everyone that comes to me is very pleased and appreciative. More than a few times I've been tipped a bit. Last saw I did was a PoulanPro 260, a plastic clam shell saw. The owner paid $95.00 to have it fixed and then tipped me as he said he'd never had one run that good. This was after I told him he would do better to buy a new saw at the big box.

Now there are a things I'll do for next to nothing, that's some of the old guys at work. 75+ and semi-retied.. I normally just charge them $10-15 to keep them from thinking it was charity work and tell them it was just a plug and some dirty gas even if it was total rebuild. I know those types of machines will probably never go again for them, it's just about holding on to the thought that they could if they wanted too.

Remember, you aren't trying to repair most of the saws for free... loose money once and you'll remember it.

Repped for the old mans saw repair. Some day we might be that old man...

 

[bonden]

When i read this i cant se how you can survive with the prices you mention here .I live in Norway and i work for a BMW dealer here , how much does a car repair shop charge you for the hour ? .you will not belive how much we charge you for the hour in Norway .
Sven-Erik

 

[Jimmy in NC]

Repped for the old mans saw repair. Some day we might be that old man...

Exactly... someday I hope to be there.. we all do. If I wanted to make a living doing this I'd quit my job and go work at a saw shop or try opening one. As long as I keep a small toy fund to pay for my hobby, I'm happy. I find keeping to this, my good karma keeps coming.

To the OP... don't sell yourself short and you will enjoy yourself. Good Luck!

 

[angelo c]

Exactly... someday I hope to be there.. we all do. If I wanted to make a living doing this I'd quit my job and go work at a saw shop or try opening one. As long as I keep a small toy fund to pay for my hobby, I'm happy. I find keeping to this, my good karma keeps coming.

To the OP... don't sell yourself short and you will enjoy yourself. Good Luck!

Yup, i figure i got about 30k into this "hobby" what with trucks and saws and splitters and who knows what else i "had" to have...my math says in 37.5 years of firewood burning i might break even....i'll be old fer sher by then.....

Here's to getting there with a smile...!!!!! And to having some young buck fix my toys...