what would you charge?

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tonyou812

tonyou812

Senior Member
Location
North New Jersey
I just got my liscense recently and now I am doing small jobs on my own Just to get a feel for how to run a buisness. And yes Its all legit.
My question is that im really not sure if i am charging the right amount. I have a job comming up that involves piping out of a buss duct about 40 feet to a 1900 box and a cord drop of 30 feet to a 30 amp cord end for a machine. The work to be done is all off an 8 foot ladder and the materials are supplied by me. I am moving an existing 30a fused buss switch to accomodate this machine.
When I did the numbers i came up with $450 bucks and i feel that i can do this in about an hour and a half by myself. I figured 95 to show up plus 50 an hour. But for some reason it seems like a lot to me. I feel i can do it i an hour if i "hustle" Any insight would be appreciated
 
what about travel time? clean up? set up? how can you possibly make a dime at $50/hr? $450 is not too expensive.
 
Before we can answer your question, there's a lot of info you need to supply, and it isn't easy.

Cost of living in your area. What do you need to live one?
Licensing costs.
Insurance.
Rent.
Bonds.
Legal fees (attorney).
Do you have a bookkeeping service?
How about an accountant?
What do you spend on advertising?
What are permit fees?
Vehicle costs.... repairs & maintainence, gas, insurance.
Tools.

And, of course, taxes.

It's all too easy to simply say "I charged $1,000 for the job, and my material was $600, so put $400 in my pocket!" Start deducting the actual costs of the above stuff, and you'd be surprised.
 
Commercial or industrial rate would be $90 min and that may not be eniough to cover the break even cost. at $50 it is more like paying them to work.


Quote: "It's all too easy to simply say "I charged $1,000 for the job, and my material was $600, so put $400 in my pocket!" Start deducting the actual costs of the above stuff, and you'd be surprised."
My thoughts exactly
 
I am always second guessing my prices.If you take all of the above into account + the knowledge to do the work I'd raise my price.
 
Years ago when I was first starting out a banker told me he ha a contractor, that wanted a loan explain I should make at least a million this year, the bankers response it not what you make, but what you keep.
 
brian john said:
Years ago when I was first starting out a banker told me he ha a contractor, that wanted a loan explain I should make at least a million this year, the bankers response it not what you make, but what you keep.
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I also learned years ago, I had a family to support, and needed benifits, and could not work for wages, I needed a good rate, no handyman rate was going to meet my needs. I never looked at what others charged, nor did i care, I was always higher then the guys working for wages, but that emabled me to build a strong account base over the years, that were willing to pay a decent rate good service.
As I look back over the years the cheap EC's never amounted to much in the way of a business, most of them died bitter old men. with little or nothing to show for their years of work.
 
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satcom said:
As I look back over the years the cheap EC's never amounted to much in the way of a business, most of them died bitter old men. with little or nothing to show for their years of work.
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I think that tony is just doing this as side work and only thinks that he's making money.

I had a friend a few years back that would go out on saturday and make a couple of hundred cash and think he was doing good. I tried to tell him that he was actually making more money if the worked that same saturday as overtime with the added value of being insured and not being held responsible for the work or any call backs.

People don't learn to swim until they actually get in the water. It's the same with business.
 
I don't know, I know some very sucessful bitter old electricians and a few one man shops that make wages and are happy..There is more to it than just the bucks for some.

Myself I LOVE what I do and am happy I am able to support a family doing this.

That being said you have to figure out what is a fair price for the market you are in (fair to you).
 
growler said:
I think that tony is just doing this as side work and only thinks that he's making money.

I had a friend a few years back that would go out on saturday and make a couple of hundred cash and think he was doing good. I tried to tell him that he was actually making more money if the worked that same saturday as overtime with the added value of being insured and not being held responsible for the work or any call backs.

People don't learn to swim until they actually get in the water. It's the same with business.
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Dale, good point.
 
brian john said:
I don't know, I know some very sucessful bitter old electricians and a few one man shops that make wages and are happy..There is more to it than just the bucks for some.

Myself I LOVE what I do and am happy I am able to support a family doing this.

That being said you have to figure out what is a fair price for the market you are in (fair to you).
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My issue was, you need to both build value in a business not just generate wages, and have benifits for the long term, otherwise you just have a job and a bad one at that, many don't see the problem until it is to lare in years.
 
tonyou812 said:
I feel i can do it i an hour if i "hustle" Any insight would be appreciated
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I do these 1-hour jobs quite often. They break down as follows.

1/2-hour travel to job.
1-hour spent waiting for the manager to get off the phone and then listening to the him talk about his horses.
1/2-hour spent getting all my stuff off the truck and to the job location.
1/2-hour spent getting someone to move all the pallets of stuff they decided to put right where I need to work the night before.
1/2-hour spent listening to a worker in the area talk about the divorce he's going through.
1-hour spent doing the actual work.
1/4-hour spent listening to a worker talk about some other electrical problem he's having in the building and want's to know if I have any ideas.
1-hour spent finding the manager, waiting for him to cut me a check and listen to him talk about his horses again.
1/2-hour travel from job.

These little 1-hour jobs can easily kill half your day.
You may also need to factor in a 1/2-hour for you or your electrician to take a dump.

One more thing. Did you go out and look at the job as well? If so how much time did you spend looking at the job in the first place? Did you get paid for looking at the job or do you need to factor this time into your bid as well?
 
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Guys who aren't used to dealing with the prices on the job always start out with the "sounds like a lot", but in reality they underprice themselves and the rest of us. I got over that when I noticed that every time I had my service truck taken to the dealer for a repair it was $300- $500.00. The labor was only an hour or two plus the parts. AND I had to drive the truck to them. Look at the relative cost of various services you use and you arrive at the conclusion that maybe your prices are under-priced.
 
ITsHot, you are not the only one. I am not the slowest person !!. I am sure you are not either.Sometimes, we have to face the unexpected obstacles that slows things down. It is the biggest joke between my wife and I . She says : It will only take you 15 minutes right ?.You will be home soon!!. I just do not answer her back.
 
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