rates

[anthony001]

someone please explain to me why i see hourly rates at pep boys and other car mechanics at around $115 per hour and i have to fight for $95 per hour when the end product we work on is almost always 10X's the amount of a car mechanic.

 

[jumper]

Because, like plumbers, they can get it.

 

[ceb58]

Because, like plumbers, they can get it.

Very true. Almost all auto shops use a national price data base for the region. It gives a price to do a task that includes the time it should take to do a certain task, the mechanics hourly rate he is paid and covers overhead for the shop. If task x, by the book, is rated at $90.00 per hr and the task is to take 1hr then the charge of $90.00. If the mechanic is paid $20.00 per hr then he is paid $20.00. But if he dose the task in 1/2hr you are still charged the 1hr and he is still paid for one hours work that took him 30min.
A hunting buddy of mine is a service manager at a local dealership.He said that it is not unusual for his guys, if they hustle, to be paid for 70 to 80 hrs of work in a 40 hr work week.
But working on a car is special. There is nothing to doing electrical work. Any handy man in the Lowes parking lot can do it.

 

[kwired]

Very true. Almost all auto shops use a national price data base for the region. It gives a price to do a task that includes the time it should take to do a certain task, the mechanics hourly rate he is paid and covers overhead for the shop. If task x, by the book, is rated at $90.00 per hr and the task is to take 1hr then the charge of $90.00. If the mechanic is paid $20.00 per hr then he is paid $20.00. But if he dose the task in 1/2hr you are still charged the 1hr and he is still paid for one hours work that took him 30min.
A hunting buddy of mine is a service manager at a local dealership.He said that it is not unusual for his guys, if they hustle, to be paid for 70 to 80 hrs of work in a 40 hr work week.
But working on a car is special. There is nothing to doing electrical work. Any handy man in the Lowes parking lot can do it.

There are also handy men that work on cars. Modern cars are not as easy to work on however without specialized equipment - some of it being for specific cars.

It is also easier to set rates for specific tasks on auto repair because there is some consistancy in doing the same task from one car to the next. Wiring in buildings is not as consistant as the design of one building to the next can be very different.

 

[ptonsparky]

The JD mechanic that worked on my old lawnmower charged well over twice what I get.

 

[M4gery]

When you go into a Pep Boys or other big auto mechanic, it is easy to see that you have a tech or two working on your car, a mechanic above them, a manager above him, a supervisor above him, office staff, cashier, janitor, maintenance, a big building and parking lot, hundreds of thousands in lifts, tools, and computers, lots and lots of overhead.

When you walk into someone's house and ask for $95 per hour to throw a switch on the wall and a light thingie on the ceiling, you are putting $3 of gas in your truck and the other $92 into your pocket, or so they think.

 

[nhfire77]

I agree will all your sentiments.

This is the email reply from a customer 10 minutes ago, regarding an estimate:

"This is too expensive. Let me think about it."

I am sick and tired of hearing that. The $50/hour guys make us look greedy. I am not getting rich doing this (yet, but I will somehow)

It's funny how the value of a dollar, in the eye of the beholder, can vary so much.

I do all my non contract maintenance work at flat rate, slightly below what the big boys/book prices are. Yet, that is the reaction.

I know I am competitively priced, but I also hate picky cheap homeowners so I guess I'm not selling it right.

 

[LarryFine]

When you walk into someone's house and ask for $95 per hour to throw a switch on the wall and a light thingie on the ceiling, you are putting $3 of gas in your truck and the other $92 into your pocket, or so they think.

You're absolutely right. We should have people bring their homes to us from now on.

 

[satcom]

When you go into a Pep Boys or other big auto mechanic, it is easy to see that you have a tech or two working on your car, a mechanic above them, a manager above him, a supervisor above him, office staff, cashier, janitor, maintenance, a big building and parking lot, hundreds of thousands in lifts, tools, and computers, lots and lots of overhead.

When you walk into someone's house and ask for $95 per hour to throw a switch on the wall and a light thingie on the ceiling, you are putting $3 of gas in your truck and the other $92 into your pocket, or so they think.

And Pep Boys does not have an expensive stocked and heavy overhead and operating truck that comes to your house, along with all the other overhead and operating expensives for our shop and office, so just tell the customer they can bring their house to you and then the service call will be $3

 

[mivey]

You're absolutely right. We should have people bring their homes to us from now on.

{customer walks up with receptacle in hand with ripped-out romex dragging behind}
Larry: Well there's your problem right there!

 

[growler]

someone please explain to me why i see hourly rates at pep boys and other car mechanics at around $115 per hour and i have to fight for $95 per hour when the end product we work on is almost always 10X's the amount of a car mechanic.

They get their price because they state the price up-front and the cusotmer is willing to pay this amount.

We have a little more trouble getting our price because the customer is not as willing to pay the stated amount.

I know a mechanic that operates an independent auto repair shop and he has just about the same problems as any service electrician. He does have trained mechanics and lots of expensive equipment but still faces competition from a lot of shade tree outfits. He's not very happy about it but there is not much he can do other than try to get better paying customers.

I don't think there is any business where the customers are just waiting in line to bring in big sacks of money. Auto repair shops go out of business because they can't make it, even hospitals and heath care providers often bit the dust.

Even the government may go out of business I hear they are behind on a few bills. To much overhead.

 

[StephenSDH]

I know a mechanic that operates an independent auto repair shop and he has just about the same problems as any service electrician. He does have trained mechanics and lots of expensive equipment but still faces competition from a lot of shade tree outfits. He's not very happy about it but there is not much he can do other than try to get better paying customers.

I have a friend in the same situation, but he takes good care of every customer that walks throught the door. Every customer gets face time with him when they drop the car off and pick it up. He's rates are reasonable. He has 6-8 mechanics. I believe they are so burnt out of the Dealer Shops that he has a loyal following, and makes out very well financially.

 

[satcom]

" Originally Posted by anthony001
someone please explain to me why i see hourly rates at pep boys and other car mechanics at around $115 per hour and i have to fight for $95 per hour when the end product we work on is almost always 10X's the amount of a car mechanic."

That $115 per hour is a service rate, not an hourly rate, when you an hourly rate, you scare the customer, they need to know what the cost is before they can give the ok to do the work, we have been using a contract price on all our residential service and construction for well over three generations, and it has worked well

A few years ago one of local EC' s sold his business, and the new owner was going to change the business life long practice of up front pricing to hourly rates, and after he did, the business went down hill, fast customers do not like the unknown.

 

[LarryFine]

{customer walks up with receptacle in hand with ripped-out romex dragging behind}
Larry: Well there's your problem right there!

That would be funnier if this wasn't a true story:

A guy working for me told his "helper" to sit on a floor and test a problem receptacle while he was in the crawlspace looking for the problem. He thought he found it, remade a joint, and yelled "Is it hot now?"

The response was "No." So, he looked and yelled "Now?" "Not yet." He looked, made the joints again, and still "No." "Put the tester's tips on the screws themselves." "Okay." "It it hot now?" "No!" WTF? :-?

Finally, the guy crawled out, cleaned himself off, and went inside. He found the helper sitting on the floor, with the receptacle between his legs on the floor, completely disconnected from the wires. :roll:

This guy was a "true blond" who gave dumb blonds a bad name.

 

[dbuckley]

Guys, you're confusing price with value.

When the customer takes the car to get serviced, what they are buying is peace of mind that the car will continue to work, and get them to work, to the shops, pick up the kids from soccer etc. That's the value, and is what they are buying, not a car service.

When an EC charges the same to put in a receptical, whats the value proposition? I don't need to use a $5 extension cable. I get to comply with the NEC.

The latter cases has nothing like the value proposition.

And then there's the plumber. I get to be able to use the crapper again. The value there is astronomic...

 

[LarryFine]

The presumption is that every mechanic, every plumber, and every electrician will perform the same work, so price is the only separator.

There's nothing like experience to help someone learn the truth. Price-shoppers, especially GC's, merely haven't learned that lesson yet.