hardworkingstiff said:
You don't set the price, the market does. It's up to us to try to know where the upper limit of the market is. I try to hit that ceiling as often as I can. It's my job to price it where I can pay my bills, and make it through the hard times. So far, I've done my job OK. If I can work from a home office, charge 75% of what you do, pay all my taxes and insurances (just like you), and put 25% more than you on the bottom line, who's the "better" business man?
The market will bear what the market will bear. It's up to you to know what that number is and how you can make money from it. Don't belittle the small guy that has found a way to make money just because you can't.
lou, i think i've posted it before...but I would argue that a well run 5-10 man shop, with an actual office/shop and all the associated overhead, actually has a lower overhead per man hour rate than a comparable 1 man shop...
now the 1 man shop that doesn't have insurance (because it's too expensive) or take vacations (can't afford them) or any of the many other items most guys wouldn't dream about working for someone else without, yet think nothing of working for themselves without, might have a lower overhead per man hour rate...but they have given up a lot to get that rate...
guys always mistake Gross OH $ for OH/man hour $....and they are 2 different things...
in many cases, a 10 man shop can make more money on a lower rate than a comparable 1 man shop...