Labor unit question

[CopperTone]

my labor rate includes all of the following:

time spent looking at the job and figuring out how to do it
ordering the correct material
processing the billing for my material
set up for the job
clean up for the job
driving to and from the job
picking up material for the job
supervising apprentice or helper
in general - running the job
Actually doing the job
billing for the job
going to the bank to deposit check
overhead, profit

the labor rate isn't how long it takes you to do a task only - it is how you figure out what you need to charge to run a business properly, pay yourself, earn a company profit, and stay in business.

Can I quote myself?
sorry, I thought about this afterward - take out overhead & profit out of the above. I put that into my hourly rate - say $60-$90/hr - whatever you may charge - that number is derived from direct labor costs, burden, overhead, and profit.

my labor units manual - durand 2006 says for a 2 lamp ballast change -
easy .47
average .55
difficult .63
remodel .70
old work .77

so I would say no lower than .70 hr

 

[Fulthrotl]

I like that idea. I see that you mentioned 38 ballasts. These lights are in 17x12 configuration. That is a total of 204 lights. Of those 204, 46 of them are working. Certainly I don't think that all of the remaining 158 ballasts need replacing but I would think that more 38. Or maybe I'm wrong. I come here to learn.

And FWIW I have started gathering the info for retro fitting these lights just so I can put real dollars in front of the owner. I don't think he will go for it but I guess I should lead the horse to water and see what happens.

i pulled the magic #38 out of thin air.... i doubted a quarter of them would be
bad, so 38 felt about right....

i'd quote him two line items.... the first line item is changing all the lamps.
put all your costs of being there in this number. this is not negotiable.
include your days labor, and lift, and whatall, so if there are no bad ballasts,
you still come out ok.

the second line item is replacing ballasts. if you used a number like $88
a ballast, that second pass could be profitable. you change all the lamps,
and then count the duds. pretty straightforward. the $88 price is only good
if you do it at the same time...... otherwise, he'll want to put it off for a while...


good luck....