I billed out over &100.00 p/hr

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electricmanscott

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
Occupation
Massachusetts Master Electrician, one man show.
For the first time I am billing myself out over a hundred bucks at $102.00 per hour. This is for t&m type jobs. I try to price out ahead of time whenever possible.

And I like it.

Still not quite where reality want me to be but I'll get there.

Oddly enough after a year of watching business go into the crapper I decided to not let that happen again. In fact I am well on my way to my best year ever. (15 yrs as one man show)

I have well over a month of work scheduled and loads more to waiting to get into the mix. The phone just keeps ringing.

For the rest of you Mass guys, and I know there are a bunch here, what are you guys seeing? Doing?
 
Glad to hear you are improving your situation Scott, that means you are pulling away from the crowd of sheep who only know how to follow the herd. Now, I hate to tell you this, but if you are billing t+m at $102 an hour, with the recent bail out of the finance industry by the fed, the devaluation of the dollar compared to other currency, and the rampant inflation experienced in the last decade, you are probably just breaking even or slightly under. Your rates really ought to be set on realistic careful accounting of all your expenses, your desired standard of living, the future, your self worth, and last but not least the actual hours you can bill for in a day while you are doing service work. With t+m that is pretty hard to achieve. With flat rate it is still hard but it is achievable.
 
macmikeman said:
Glad to hear you are improving your situation Scott, that means you are pulling away from the crowd of sheep who only know how to follow the herd. Now, I hate to tell you this, but if you are billing t+m at $102 an hour, with the recent bail out of the finance industry by the fed, the devaluation of the dollar compared to other currency, and the rampant inflation experienced in the last decade, you are probably just breaking even or slightly under. Your rates really ought to be set on realistic careful accounting of all your expenses, your desired standard of living, the future, your self worth, and last but not least the actual hours you can bill for in a day while you are doing service work. With t+m that is pretty hard to achieve. With flat rate it is still hard but it is achievable.
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Good advice, some of our recent area EC's that have closed business, were at 95 and above per hour. amd still were not able to meet their expenses, most were 2 and 3 man shops, that just could not make it at that low a rate.
 
just waiting for the phone

just waiting for the phone

If your chance of getting that call is 1 in 10,000, your expected lump sum payment is $1M/10,000 = $100.
At 6%/year interest, you could live off the interest income of $6 per year forever.

While your business plan is theoretically sound, I think you need to charge more per hour or somehow increase your chances of getting that call.


By the way, that $100 is what you should pay for a 1 in 10,000 chance of winning a fair $1M lottery.
 
I can understand the one man show needing to bill out at $100.00/hr after all the whole nut is on you but what about the two or three man shop? My rent is the same if I have one guy or two as is the phone bill ,electric,water,advertising etc.A truck cost the same if one guy is riding or two.If I am spreading my costs over several men then I could charge less per hour and still pay the bills
 
Rewire said:
I can understand the one man show needing to bill out at $100.00/hr after all the whole nut is on you but what about the two or three man shop?
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Why leave money on the table? :confused: Charge more, and put more in your pocket. I don't get it.....
 
macmikeman said:
Now, I hate to tell you this, but if you are billing t+m at $102 an hour, with the recent bail out of the finance industry by the fed, the devaluation of the dollar compared to other currency, and the rampant inflation experienced in the last decade, you are probably just breaking even or slightly under. Your rates really ought to be set on realistic careful accounting of all your expenses, your desired standard of living, the future, your self worth, and last but not least the actual hours you can bill for in a day while you are doing service work. .
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That is what I was getting at with this statement

Electricmanscott said:
Still not quite where reality wants me to be but I'll get there.
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I'll get where I should/need/want to be.

It's a delicate dance with new customers and old customers and what people have been willing to pay and what they are now going to pay. It's kind of like weeding the flower beds. Some get snipped, some are just ignored, and some just get yanked all together.
 
We've had similar discussions here before on this subject. From what I remember it had something to do with plumbers billing out at over $100/hr. I can't seem to understand why we all keep cutting each others throat but there are contractors in my area that are still billing out at $65.00/hr. What the #@!*&^???

We should all start evaluating what it takes to run our businesses and charge accordingly. One of the benefits of being involved with a contractors' association is that you can share ideas and typical billing practices with each other to maximize your income. This is not a cartel type operation or a restraint of trade but merely a method of getting what the market will bear.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I bill at $120/hr for a lic. electrician and apprentice in 1 van. I lose work all the time because people and GC's say I'm too expensive. What the heck am I supposed to do? I wish I could talk to all the small guys around me and "encourage" them to raise their rates.
 
for the rare occasions we do T&M, we are at $170/hr for a journeyman and an apprentice....but when we do quoted work, we run about $225/hr for the same...and I still don't have as much money as macmikeman:D
 
emahler said:
for the rare occasions we do T&M, we are at $170/hr for a journeyman and an apprentice....but when we do quoted work, we run about $225/hr for the same...and I still don't have as much money as macmikeman:D
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How can you justify gouging customers like that? I can buy all the parts at HD and then my neighbor can do the work on the weekend for cheap. :D
 
peter d said:
How can you justify gouging customers like that? I can buy all the parts at HD and then my neighbor can do the work on the weekend for cheap. :D
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oh yeah, we add a 30% margin to grainger prices for material as well...but i still can't afford that $90,000 mercedes like macmikeman:D
 
emahler said:
oh yeah, we add a 30% margin to grainger prices for material as well...but i still can't afford that $90,000 mercedes like macmikeman:D
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The trick is to bill those grainger prices but don't buy stuff there.
 
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