Electrician's Hourly Rates

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infinity said:
What's wrong with public education? If you lived where there are great public schools then you wouldn't need to spend extra money on education.
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Uhhh... but most likely his property taxes wouldn't be 1200.00. Here's my tax bill...

Assessment


CURRENT YEAR (2007-2008)
Land Value 400.00
Total Value 2835.00
Tax Rate 220.00
True Taxes $6,804.00
Total Taxes $6,804.00


PRIOR YEAR (2006-2007)
Land Value 400.00
Total Value 2835.00
Total Taxes $7,193.00


sc000 School Dist - School District 2835 @ 145.374 = $4,121.35
 
LawnGuyLandSparky said:
Uhhh... but most likely his property taxes wouldn't be 1200.00. Here's my tax bill...

Assessment


CURRENT YEAR (2007-2008)
Land Value 400.00
Total Value 2835.00
Tax Rate 220.00
True Taxes $6,804.00
Total Taxes $6,804.00


PRIOR YEAR (2006-2007)
Land Value 400.00
Total Value 2835.00
Total Taxes $7,193.00


sc000 School Dist - School District 2835 @ 145.374 = $4,121.35
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I have had this argument with a friend who laughs at my $8K property taxes. Yes, they pay 4 grand in taxes but they can't send their kids to school where they live because they'll get little or no education. So they add an additional $10-12K per year to their nut for a private education.

My $8000 property taxes don't look so bad after all.:rolleyes:
 
One thing I see is people not knowing how many electricians they are getting for that shop rate. I've seen shops charge $95 an hour but you're getting a journeyman and a apprentice. I've also seen shops quote $55 an hour. So you think wow, saving some money. But you're only getting one person for that $55 and if they send two, which they will, you're now paying $110 an hour for that great shop rate. So I'm curious about all these rates posted. Are they for one man or two?
 
innergee said:
Yup! The amount of what you charge is direct proportional to: where you work, not live. Size of company, type of work you do, kind of trucks and equipment you have etc.. Overhead. In California, housing recession or not, I charge $100 per hour. Considering that my rent is 2k a month and my truck payment is $650, $100 an hour is realistic. Why is it then that in socal, many contractors live in the inland empire and work in the coastal areas.
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the onlky thing that really matters is what your competition is charging. If you charge more than him, your competitor will get the business.
 
petersonra said:
the onlky thing that really matters is what your competition is charging. If you charge more than him, your competitor will get the business.
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not necessarily true...depends on the market you are in (hard bid vs. design build) and whether the customer only cares about price...

the largest resi service shops in my area are the most expensive...
 
$100/ hr is not too bad of a rate if it is a small job( 1-3 hrs) but for a big job like 20+ hr, I think it is way too much.

IHO: charging $100/hr to steer people to do their own electrical work.
 
QES said:
$100/ hr is not too bad of a rate if it is a small job( 1-3 hrs) but for a big job like 20+ hr, I think it is way too much.

IHO: charging $100/hr to steer people to do their own electrical work.
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depends...if I need to make $800/day....what happens if I charge less than $100/hr?
 
infinity said:
I have had this argument with a friend who laughs at my $8K property taxes. Yes, they pay 4 grand in taxes but they can't send their kids to school where they live because they'll get little or no education. So they add an additional $10-12K per year to their nut for a private education.

My $8000 property taxes don't look so bad after all.:rolleyes:
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Unless you really don't want the government educating your kids. I don't really want the government educating any kids. For that matter I don't really want the government doing 90% of what it does.
 
2 or 3 ?

2 or 3 ?

QES said:
$100/ hr is not too bad of a rate if it is a small job( 1-3 hrs) but for a big job like 20+ hr, I think it is way too much.

IHO: charging $100/hr to steer people to do their own electrical work.
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"Two wires.. hook 'em up", "three wires...blow 'em up"!!
 
My tax rates are going up 25% this year, from near 10,000.00 to 12,500.00.

The fact of charging a fair price (for both parties) is called business, the slackers set out to perform this work is SOMETIMES another thing. The going rate at any location for a quality electrician is a good deal IMO. But some of the laborers I see performing work is another thing.
 
bikeindy said:
I don't really want the government educating any kids. For that matter I don't really want the government doing 90% of what it does.
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What's the alternative - Iraq - Iran - Berut - Russia ? You may not like what our govt. is doing here but if you were in one of these other countries you wouldn't have much of a choice at all. Be careful what you wish for.
 
Funny thing how this went to a discussion on tax's and schooling.
Here in California we are under "Prop.13" for our property taxes they are based on 2% of the last sale price of the house, it creates a very strange distribution of the taxes though, everyone on the street can have the same square ft. house and yard , yet everyone is paying different amounts.

As far as pricing per hour goes I don't want to slow down to make what I think a job is worth, if you are faster and better you should not get penalized for it. I try to work by flat rate as much as I can because I feel it is fair for everyone, if I am having a bad day the customer doesn't get penalized and if I have had a good night sleep and lots of coffee I can get to more jobs and make more money.
 
emahler said:
not necessarily true...depends on the market you are in (hard bid vs. design build) and whether the customer only cares about price...

the largest resi service shops in my area are the most expensive...
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of course it is true. you are competing with someone. if you are higher in price, chances are you will lose business.

if you are a residential shop, and you don't compete in the industrial and commercial arena, they are not your competitors. you only have to worry about the guys you are directly competing against.
 
petersonra said:
of course it is true. you are competing with someone. if you are higher in price, chances are you will lose business.

if you are a residential shop, and you don't compete in the industrial and commercial arena, they are not your competitors. you only have to worry about the guys you are directly competing against.
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then caveat your statement so their is no question....
 
emahler said:
then caveat your statement so their is no question....
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I thought I had.

the onlky thing that really matters is what your competition is charging. If you charge more than him, your competitor will get the business.
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You are not competing against every EC in the country, and not even every EC in town. my guess is you are competing against a very few contractors who work the same niche you have. that is the normal way that small contractors operate.
 
if i'm a resi service guy and my competition is resi service guys, then your statement is incorrect...if i'm resi / commercial new construction you are half right...
 
Whatever the job/project may be the customer isn't likely to have all 200 of the qualified contractors in to estimate/bid the job/project.

Whatever THEIR criteria is for selecting who they ask to estimate/bid they are likely to limit the number of EC's to a smallish number. Assuming they have any sense they'll have at least two but few will ask more than five.

Therefore, on any given job/project your competition is going to be those other two to four EC's and NOT all 200 or so who **may** have been invited to bid but weren't.

Demonstrating a difference in YOUR company that makes your higher price "worth" more to the customer (perceived value) when the job specs/materials/methods are substantially the same is a whole other can of worms.
 
I started out charging only $60.00 for the first few years. Now that I have established my company as a one man operation in North-East Florida with a good reputation, I raised the rate to $75.00 and I have also just recently started charging .25/mile for fuel. (Round -trip) I will negotiate labor depending on the difficulty of the job, and other factors, but that is rare.
It has proved to be a good decision as I have been working slightly less and earning slightly more!:grin:
 
infinity said:
I have had this argument with a friend who laughs at my $8K property taxes. Yes, they pay 4 grand in taxes but they can't send their kids to school where they live because they'll get little or no education. So they add an additional $10-12K per year to their nut for a private education.

My $8000 property taxes don't look so bad after all.:rolleyes:
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And to add insult to injury, colleges like to recruit from a diverse group, so whether they spent 12,000 per kid or not, the colleges are still looking for 2% from each state!
 
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