Comparing Service rates, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC

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Mule

Mule

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
I have a question, rates in this area are much lower than some others, but my question is pointed more at comparing rates to plumbers and HVAC'rs.

Electrical here is $65, while plumbers and hvacrs are $75.....Do other towns have the same comparism? or are they the same in price?

I did a service call today as a result of a real estate inspection for a home sale today. I changed one QO240 and one GFI....and my labor would normally be $65, but for kicks I asked the plumber on the job as he was installing some combustion air tubes in the WH closet....he said $75 with $10 trip charge for the first hour...So I filled out my invoice and did the same thing as a test.....the customer called later after finding the bill on the counter and thanked me and said the check will be in the mail...

Comments??
 
Mule said:
...So I filled out my invoice and did the same thing as a test.....the customer called later ... and thanked me ...
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Clearly, you are not charging enough if you were thanked :grin:


Mule said:
....and said the check will be in the mail...

Comments??
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"The checks in the mail"

Now that's funny.
LOL
 
alright :smile: the question should have been "how does the electricians, plumbers, and hvac'rs compare in price in YOUR town...."?
 
I tried running a formula today do determine my breakeven rate. The formula was direct costs plus indirect costs/ billable hours. My answer came out to $76.14. That was before owners salary and profit. Unfortunately the way Quickbooks tallies it's reports (or more likely the way I set it up 10 years ago) dosen't really give concise numbers. So needless to say, I am probably missing numbers that have a significant effect on the rate that I have come up with. I am assuming that if I have all the numbers in place to really plug into the formula, I will come out close to $125.00 per hour. If anyone can help me out with this, I would appreciate it. The formula came from a book called "How Much Should I Charge" by Ellen Rohr. I also read her other book, "Where Does All The Money Go?" Anyone who says small, one man shops operated out of their house don't have overhead (or low overhead) should read this before spasmatically typing "I work out of the house, low overhead":)
 
By the way, I picked $40.00 per hour as a direct cost. I figured that is what I would expect to pay a journeyman an hourly rate and all the costs associated with them. I may be off on this too, I don't really know what electricians are paid "going rate" working for someone else.
 
bobby, you are learning the truth....what most guys don't take into account is that the important number is 'overhead/man hour'

so, the 1 man shop does have almost no overhead, in gross numbers, compared to the 50 man shop...but he also has almost no man hours to cover this overhead, compared to the 50 man shop...

if a 1 man shop has 40 man hours a week, the 50 man shop has 2000 man hours per week (we won't even get into billable)

the 1 man shop has overhead of $1,000/month (or $250/week)...the 50 man shop has overhead of $50,000/month (or $12,500/week)

the 1 man has overhead of $6.25/man hour....the 50 man shop has the exact same overhead per man hour....

when you look into billable hours, the 50 man shop will have less overhead/man hour...
 
Mule said:
plumbers? HVAC'rs?
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they worry more about their families and their employees, and charge the customers enough to provide a good life for them....

and yes, as a general rule of thumb, they charge more here in NJ too..
 
emahler said:
and yes, as a general rule of thumb, they charge more here in NJ too..
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Same here....I find the flat rate P/HVAC/R companies especially impressive. A few of them advertise on the radio with some very catchy ads.
 
emahler said:
they worry more about their families and their employees, and charge the customers enough to provide a good life for them....

and yes, as a general rule of thumb, they charge more here in NJ too..
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We here we dont care about families, every one is broke, and our life is awefull....

But thanks for the last sentence.....
 
Mule said:
We here we dont care about families, every one is broke, and our life is awefull....
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I don't think he said that, did he? What he is pointing out is that EC's generally lag behind plumbers in this regards.
 
Using that calculator, I came in at 90.16 per hour. I did not enter a rent amount seeing that I am working out of the house. (Hypocrite:D) I debated whether or not to though. If I ever moved out of the house and got a shop, I would need to consider a rent or mortgage in the equation, thereby givng me a much different rate.
 
peter d said:
I don't think he said that, did he? What he is pointing out is that EC's generally lag behind plumbers in this regards.
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Originally Posted by emahler
they worry more about their families and their employees, and charge the customers enough to provide a good life for them....
 
Mule said:
Originally Posted by emahler
they worry more about their families and their employees, and charge the customers enough to provide a good life for them....
Click to expand...

Yeah, he said they worry MORE about their families. But emahler can defend himself without me, so I defer...
 
ah...mule learned something in this situation...but my guess is his username is what it is for a reason...:D
 
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