shop rates

A while ago someone was posting about shop rates to get things fixed and I mentioned some car dealers here were over $100/hr. Some posters seemed shocked at that. I just got my water pump fixed and the shop rate was $89/hr which I think is about the norm for small engines. If the repair on my engine would have been much more, I could have just bought a new engine for not much more. 6 HP OHV industrial Tecumseh.

(quoted from post at 13:22:57 04/26/11) A while ago someone was posting about shop rates to get things fixed and I mentioned some car dealers here were over $100/hr. Some posters seemed shocked at that. I just got my water pump fixed and the shop rate was $89/hr which I think is about the norm for small engines. If the repair on my engine would have been much more, I could have just bought a new engine for not much more. 6 HP OHV industrial Tecumseh.

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$89 per hour seems high until you think about what all comes out of that $89.

The tech that actually did the work has to get paid.

The shop foreman has to get paid.

The guy that owns the business has to get paid.

The water, gas, electricity, etc. has to come out of it, and then there is the property taxes.

When it comes right down to the wire, no one is doing much more than earning a meager living.

I fix office equipment (copiers, printers, fax machines), most of our machines are covered by a service contract, for those that aren't, our hourly rate out of shop (larger machines) is $80, our in shop rate is $60 if the customer brings it in.

I am at 60 an hour and still hear complaints. So I tell them take it to the other shop that they say is cheaper. Trouble is the other shop is forty miles away. So eighty miles to drop it off and eighty miles to pick it up. So is my price really that high.

around here all the cheap places go outta business. they get so involved in being cheap; they forget to turn a profit and go belly up.

I would much rather pay someone more per hour if the job is done right the first time.

Some of the "cheap" per hour shops bill actual time used instead of flat rate. So you may end up spending more.

A good shop should be able to beat flat rate on "normal" repairs. That builds a time cushion for the jobs that don't go as normal. DOUG

I am sure it is like all other things kinda depends on what part of the county you are in. Average open (walk in) labor rate fro 12 franchise tractor dealers within 60 miles of our shop (Middle West Tenn,) is $69.00 per hr. Like being open on Satuardays all the dealers try to stay in line or close. Usuall the John Deer guys wil be higest but not all times.

I wasn't really complaining but 1 1/2 hours to put a new flywheel key and coil on a 6 HP engine seems like a long time. They are in a brand new building though. I was just pointing out that everything costs more and why it's become so much a throw away society. If you had a $200 lawn mower that needed fixing, you'd be better off buying a new one.

I don't have a problem paying for quality work. There are a lot of fly by night outfits that claim to be cheaper, but cost more in the long run because they don't know what they're doing.

Big reason why the streets are lined with as new mowers and anything with an engine on garbage day. Less expensive to buy a new one rather that wait for a long time to get repair work that cost the price of a new mower. Know a guy who make good money picking them up. Some are just out of gas. Missing the starter rope is another one. Stopped counting the pick up toppers on the curve. Iron pickers are making a very good living on the shop labor rates.

Like rusty farmall said, you have to figure in the cost to pay the mechanic, buy shop tools, pay the electricity pay the shop manager(s) and pay the business owner. A good mechanic usually is about 85% labor recovery rate per month. Its near impossible to get 100% or even in the high 90s. When you figure in time to clean his tools at the end of the day or do odd jobs around the shop that cant be charged out (cleaning the shop). Usually the shop in any dealership is the least profitable per hour of labor

I just repaired a hydraulic pump off of a 300 Farmall. New pump is $700.00. I charged $150.00 I machined both ends of worn shaft, Make new sleeves and machined back to origional size. Assembled pump. I need to raise my rates.

A year and a half ago Dad and I were charging $89 an hour regular labor and over $100 for portable line boring. Now that Dad as more or less retired and with the economy like it is, I'm get anywhere between $35 and $60 depending on the job. By that I mean if someone brings me their personal equipment, and I know they aren't making a living with it, then I'll charge them a lower rate than someone that's actually using their machine to make money for themselves. Thankfully when Dad and I were working together, and the economy was booming, the truck was paid for. So other than tag, insurance, and upkeep there is really no overhead since 99% of what I do is in the field. If it weren't for that allowing me to give my customers, who are hurting too, a break also I doubt seriously I'd still be in business myself. Even though I have dropped my rates I still get told I'm too high. Funny thing is the ones that say that are usually the ones that are hurting for money because they just paid someone else less per hour, for twice as much time as the job should have taken, to do nothing but royally screw up and make what really wasn't that big of a problem into a major malfunction....and now I have to go behind them to fix it.....

I replaced a lot of partly sheard keys in B&S engines.15 minutes is plenty of time for the job.Bad coils are rare.My friend spent a lot of money fixing a Ford Ranger in different shops and got beat on parts and labor bad.He had the back strap rust out on the gas tank.Ford dealer said 200 bucks for the straps and 200 bucks for labor.I made some calls and found the straps for 35 bucks.It took me 1 hour to change the straps.We had some hard rain so I didnt work on it Sat.I work on gas tank trouble out doors.I had the truck for 2 days.I was very sick one day.He got my wife on the phone and said Ive got to have my truck.Hes retired and uses his truck to go to the store every morning for 2 eggs, toast and coffee and a paper.He complains about the cost of breakfast.I tell him to stay home and make his own breakfast.I saw that his muffler and tailpipe were full of holes.The rest of the system is fine.I charged him 25 bucks for labor so the job cost him 60 bucks in stead of 400.I had sawed wood to bring in so avoided the exhaust work.He took the truck to a shop that does a lot of advertising.They replaced the whole exhaust system, put on 2 new tires and a new battery and handed him a bill for 800 bucks.I told him to avoid that shop, I had heard bad things about them.He went back 5 months later for an inspection sticker.They tell him his exhaust system is bad and must be replaced.At this point he shows them the bill where They put a new exhaust on 5 months before.He spent 2 grand fixing the truck and traded it in.The truck looked nice but for 66000 miles the underside was in bad shape.I think the speedometer was on the second time around.In going over his bills on repairs I see that shops with low labor rates will pad the bill on labor or puff up parts prices.My truck needs new spring hangers, parts will cost 50 bucks per side.Friend paid 170 bucks for having one hanger replaced.He was charged 24 bucks for 4 grade 8 bolts.These bolts come with the hangers.