More T&M ?

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Jerseydaze

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So Im pretty new to charging T&M my old boss bid everything. If you charge t&m do you mark up material or is you profit suposed to come strictly from your labor.
 
Jerseydaze said:
So Im pretty new to charging T&M my old boss bid everything. If you charge t&m do you mark up material or is you profit suposed to come strictly from your labor.
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Does Jerseydaze mean your in New Jersey?

In New Jersey you must supply a written signeg contract before the work begins, the only expection is for jobs under $500 in total cost.

If you don't mark-up material then you will need to have a much larger labor rate, to cover your cost and profits.
 
I am a new business satcom so a lot of the work I do is service and under $500 but thanks for explaining contract law to me.
 
Of course you mark it up.

Does your supplier mark it up?

Does the customer pay you to go get and stock the material ?

Are you responsible for the warranty on the material?

Mark up at LEAST 100%. More on smaller items, less on big tickets.

This is not a hobby is it?
 
Jerseydaze said:
I am a new business satcom so a lot of the work I do is service and under $500 but thanks for explaining contract law to me.
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If most of your jobs are under $500, then you have a hobby, not a contracting business. Hobbies are nice, if you have the money to support them.
 
If most of your jobs are under $500, then you have a hobby, not a contracting business.
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That's a little short sighted.

A LOT of people start their business with jobs like this. Hell, a lot of service companys earn millions of dollars like this. $500 dollars jobs are sweet. You are in and out and get paid in a matter of a couple hours and ljob costing is a breeze.

Sometimes it's CASH even:)
 
What is the money figure to go from hobby to business. I just want to know so someday if I make this into a living as opposed to a hobby I will know it.
 
Jerseydaze said:
What is the money figure to go from hobby to business. I just want to know so someday if I make this into a living as opposed to a hobby I will know it.
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Is your "hobby" paying the bills with some left over? If so, then I think you are there.
 
220/221 said:
That's a little short sighted.

A LOT of people start their business with jobs like this. Hell, a lot of service companys earn millions of dollars like this. $500 dollars jobs are sweet. You are in and out and get paid in a matter of a couple hours and ljob costing is a breeze.

Sometimes it's CASH even:)
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And how many hours a day will you spend on a $500 job.

Just from the way your thinking, i can tell you have no idea what a service business takes, you can spend $500 just scheduling some work, and just what do you think a service truck costs per hour, to operate?

"Sometimes it's CASH even" Try the cash route here in Jersey. and, with the new sting and enforcement, good luck!
 
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I post on this board because I do not know everything I like to think I know a few things but I do not pretend to know everything. Ive been posting on this board because I want to learn.
 
And how many hours a day will you spend on a $500 job.
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It's in the post sizzle chest.:)



Just from the way your thinking, i can tell you have no idea what a service business takes,
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Crap! Who is going to break the news to my guys?




I post on this board because I do not know everything I like to think I know a few things but I do not pretend to know everything. Ive been posting on this board because I want to learn.
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Don't worry Jersey. Some day you can be a big shot like satcom
 
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Jerseydaze said:
So Im pretty new to charging T&M my old boss bid everything. If you charge t&m do you mark up material or is you profit suposed to come strictly from your labor.
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there is no set way...that's the problem. follow your old bosses lead and give up front prices...

I'd bet that you need to earn about $600/day, after material costs, in order to cover your overhead and pay yourself.

If you can bill 10 hrs a day, every day, you can bill $60/hr and make your money.

Problem is, you probably can't bill 10 a day, every day. Especially doing smaller jobs like you are...my guess is that you average 5 hours per day that you can actually bill...the other 5 hrs are spent traveling, doing paperwork, looking at jobs, lunch, dinner, etc...

So, now you need to bill $120/hr for those 5 hrs...if you can get someone to pay you that rate as a hourly charge, then you don't need to mark up material.

However, you will be competing against the guy who charges $60/hr (but has a min of 2 hrs and marks up his material anywhere from 20%-400%)
he'll actually make more money than you...however, he's not being completely honest with anyone...even himself.

it's a game. if you know the game, you can make money. If you are willing to play the game, you can make money...if you don't want to play the game, you will lose money working T&M.

go up front, and make money without playing games.
 
I charged 25$ for a service call today , nice 80 year old lady that knows me from church tripped a breaker with a faulty lamp ,I am putting a new socket in it for her tonite ,tommorrow I am taking a case of 400W MH lamps to the church and giving them at cost ,great part about being the boss I can do this.
 
in my state, a business is a hobby if you go for 3 yrs without income (at least that was the law the last time I checked)
 
Rewire said:
I charged 25$ for a service call today , nice 80 year old lady that knows me from church tripped a breaker with a faulty lamp ,I am putting a new socket in it for her tonite ,tommorrow I am taking a case of 400W MH lamps to the church and giving them at cost ,great part about being the boss I can do this.
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Cool, that will come back to you.
 
oops, guess I meant profit. (I think this law is just to keep people from taking paper losses every year)
 
Don't worry Jerseydaze I know where your coming from. Don't worry about those pompous jerks. They've got all kinds in here. Those whom you just meet are what i call the "Big Shots" real Tycoons of business. Regular Rockefeller's that would charge their kids full price. But if you look through the "jerks" youll manage to find a few good answers. You just kind of get numb to the "know it alls" and learn to really speed read their comments.

http://www.masterplumbers.com/utilities/costcalc/
Try this site to figure out your hourly rate. And you will have to estimate some of the numbers if you haveent been through a full year. And be realistic when you plug in the numbers.
 
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emahler said:
there is no set way...that's the problem. follow your old bosses lead and give up front prices...

I'd bet that you need to earn about $600/day, after material costs, in order to cover your overhead and pay yourself.

If you can bill 10 hrs a day, every day, you can bill $60/hr and make your money.

Problem is, you probably can't bill 10 a day, every day. Especially doing smaller jobs like you are...my guess is that you average 5 hours per day that you can actually bill...the other 5 hrs are spent traveling, doing paperwork, looking at jobs, lunch, dinner,
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That is the point I was trying to make.

Understand what it cost, to run a service business.
 
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