arnettda said:
On time and material jobs Do you charge the same hourly rate for all journeyman. I have a customer who is complaing about his bill in two ways. He says I should not charge as much for my journeyman employee as I do for myself. He thinks that since I am the owner I should be the one to make more, he also does not think that I should make any money off of my employees labor? My mark up on material is to much as well. 15% Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks Dave
15% on the material isn't enough, in my experience.
25% is about right, as that will cover the oopsies, and
little bits and pieces that add up.
labor units are labor units. a jw is a jw, irregardless of if he owns the
shop or not.
apprentices, in every shop i've ever worked out of, are billed at
JW rate as well. the difference between jw and apprentice money
is the incentive to hire muppets.
honestly, the customer is a clown. squeeze his wheeze, and
put the bozo on the bus.
i flushed one this morning. this guy called me week before last,
a referral from a friend, and needed a sparky. ok. i get to the
house, it's about a $3.5M house, and it's largely gutted.
lots of electrical problems. #14 wire on 30 amp breakers,
and they are still tripping from overloading. backfeeds. open
circuits.
i'm the fourth electrician he's used.
that's not a red flag, it's a stall horn in the cockpit for this pilot.
he want's to know if i can drop my price, 'cause i'm too high.
sure, i say, i'll drop it $10 an hour, and no markup on the
material. why? i was flat at the moment, and something is
better than nothing.
so, after 3 days, the bill is $1,900, labor and materials.
everything he wanted is done, and it all works. it's all to
code as well.
i made $1,600 clear on a dead week. not fabulous, but better
than nothing. and the check didn't bounce. i took
the precaution of hammering it at the bank it's drawn on.
now, this week, he's redoing the kitchen, stripped to bare
studs, and he want's a hard price.
the cabinet maker looks like a tweeker on crank, and the
plans are done on a bar napkin. no way i'm hard bidding it.
i tell him it'll be not over 3 days labor, and 600-800 in
materials. i'll do it in steel boxes, and smurf tube, and pull
wire. then when they make changes, i'm not tearing soapstone
off the backsplash to accomodate it. after seeing this customer
in action, no way would i romex it. he has the attention span
of a flashbulb, and no concept of planning anything whatsoever.
so, the customer shows up, pulls up in a $140k maserati, wearing
$1k italian shoes, and tells me my prices are still too high, he's
found a handyman off of craig's list who'll do it for $25 an hour.
then he wants to know if he can have me come out after it's done
and spend an hour checking the guys work to make sure it's done ok.
he actually says this to me, honest to god. like i want to warranty
someone else's work for a hour's worth of labor.... some people....
oh, yeah... the appliances for this kitchen? 2 refrigerators, sub zero.
2 ranges, dacor. 2 dishwashers, miele. plate warmers, viking. 2 range
hoods, viking. 2 ovens, viking.
countertops, starfire granite. backsplashes, soapstone.
poor thing doesn't have any money left for the electrician. imagine
having to live like that..... can you feel his pain? i sure can.
i said, sure, give me a call, and left. then i changed my caller specific
voicemail for his number to a bogus message saying that the number
he is calling is temporarily unavailable due to the hurricane.
i live in california. i think he'll figure it out eventually.
randy