How much to charge per hour.....already searched

[john_bud]

If you think that is bad... ask him what he thinks about Craftsman.

Now that's funny!


Fishpick, I like your style. There is never a good reason to argue with a customer, paying or non-paying. A gracious acceptance that they will be getting the work done faster, better, cheaper with a hearty smile and a solid handshake. Often they will remember that very favorably. And as you say, they probably are not going to be getting the "great deal" they were imagining and may be more than willing to pay you later when the snit hits the proverbial fan.

jb

 

[AndyMA]

Get clear before you start, how "hours" are counted.

Clock hours from the clock on the wall or machine hours on the Hobbs meter.

I would never take a job based on "machine hours". With me you're paying for all time I'm on the job as well as moving costs.

As far as rates, I would think 85-95 for bucket work and 130-150 for mulcher work.

Having done a lot of paid work and also having numerous $500 to $3000 repair bills I know that if you don't charge enough and also put away money for repairs you'll regret it. Many of the hobbists on this board do work for low prices and that is fine when your machine is new and doesn't break. You may actually get the impression that you are making money. When you truly consider all your costs including depreciation and maintaince you'll be suprised how much it costs just to run your machine for an hour. Remember you need to amertize the cost of the equipment over it's expected life time usage hours to get a true cost.

Andy

 

[fishpick]

To Andy's point - look at an equipment rental place... their machines get absolutely trashed, beat on, kicked around and filled with strange fluids... They charge by the wall clock... you rent it for half a day or a full day... regardless of the fact you may have only had it running 30 minutes... And they make money because billing that way ensures the machine pays for itself and clears a profit.
You go machine hours - you go broke.

 

[AlanB]

While I think you can operate it either way, and have seen it doen as both, and have rented equipment based on equipment hours as well, Yes, I agree, I would do it on time on site hours, and I would give them 15 minutes to 30 minutes on both sides of the 8 to insure them I was not trying to cheat them on a time job.

That said, my point was, and I am guessing from the questions that Rutwad is new at this, that I would make how the time is kept, very clear before the work started.

I would not like to see him in the situation where he worked his butt off all week, comes to the end of the week and feels he has done a fantastic job for this guy, tells the guy he has in his 40 hours, the guy walks over to the machine, looks at the meter and say's, Nope, you only have 25 hours since you started.

It is always better to identify potential problems before they are problems, then to get to the end.

As Fishpick I think it was said too, you will often run into folks that the job will not work out. Best thing to do is as stated, smile, move on, appreciate the chance to bid, hope you will consider us for your future work.

Other tidbits to the new business guy, when you get that feeling in your gut that this deal is not going well, don't get into it. Very seldom (I think never in our case) does it get better.

Set your price. Don't let the customer set it. Only you, and maybe your accountant, know what it is worth to you to do a particular job. If you start folding on your prices, and letting others dictate what they will pay, you will find yourself in financial trouble in the business pretty quick.

Gregg Whitstock the pond guy has a great way of dropping his prices (as people like to get a "deal")
Make sure you add in some extra's to the deal. Not sure what that would be in your instance, but say, in building a pond, an extra line would be night lighting. Then when folks go, oh, that is too expensive, you can offer to back the lighting out of the bid. Most times, they will go ahead and leave it in, but it shows the customer that you are willing to work with them on price, while not compromising your basic pricing structure.

 

[MikeD74T]

but sometimes the customer has me doing non-machine work. The planned job doesn't start out that way, but sometimes it happens. How much do you guys figure for "man hours"?

When one operator shows up with multiple machines I expect to pay only for the machines actually operated, each at it's appropriate rate. I won't pay all day for a dozer while the operator spends 1/2 the day trucking fill. By the same token, I don't expect a mans equipment to sit idle for free while the operator is doing non-operator work at my request.

If you're going to be an equipment operator - operate your equipment or make it clear that you still have payments to make & the customer will be billed for non-productive time. Most people accept that at face value. Equipment rentals that rent with hour meter limits do not offer discounts for unused hour meter time nor should you.

If you want to show your appreciation for a customer, make sure it's the ones that pay in full, on time, & use you right. MikeD74T

 

[RobertN]

As Fishpick I think it was said too, you will often run into folks that the job will not work out. Best thing to do is as stated, smile, move on, appreciate the chance to bid, hope you will consider us for your future work.

This is so true! We're in to Scouting; our fundraiser is selling popcorn. We do primarily preorder sales, but do some direct sales in front of a a video store and a supermarket.

On a number of occasions, one of thr guys will approach someone, who says no. When the scout says "OK, Thank You, have a nice day", even without a sale, people have been impressed, turned around, and bought popcorn.

 

[rutwad]

Sounds like much good advice. Thanks for all the replies and advice. The job is so close by (5min) travel time is no big deal. But if he wants to cut my hours, then I may ask for more money or at least let him supply the fuel. That alone could save me approx $75/day.