Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO (Post 9485970)

i charge 30 bucks to put those intermediate shafts on a PU

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO (Post 9485976)

no. but you would have to understand that the price agreed to is the price paid no matter how long it took me.

Originally Posted by chiefforlife (Post 9485847)

This is getting out of hand.

Actual book time on that mirror is 1 hour. If you called my shop and asked, we would quote you 1 hour. Period.

We do install bulbs on most vehicles at no charge other than the bulb itself. If you are a good customer, we probably wouldnt charge you at all for that. I have made many a customer by doing this for someone in the parking lot and saying, there you go its on me.

I think exort is getting hammered here, a lot of shops do what he is saying.

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO (Post 9485957)

but he is adding 10 to 20 % hours ON TOP OF THE BOOK TIME.

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats. (Post 9485978)

what pisses me off are TSBs that expire. My Mercury had a TSB issued for a buzzing issue related to the speedo. I didn't know that until after the period for claims against the TSB expired. :banghead:

Originally Posted by Exoter175 (Post 9485907)

You don't have the opportunity to "rip" them off, you lose one customer, you lose the whole town.LMAO

Also, which of these "busiest shops in kc" are you referring to?

Originally Posted by Brock (Post 9485955)

Think the guy has been in business long enough to know what he's doing.

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats. (Post 9485956)

so? You obviously have never performed a labor-intensive estimate for a business. I do similar in construction. I may know that installing a door takes my carpenters 24 minutes on average. But I can damn sure tell you I'm bidding it at 30 minutes because there are unknowns and unforeseen circumstances on every installation. They may find that the door is damaged or mis-prepped. This takes additional time to get addressed. They may find that the hardware set is missing screws, that takes time.

If you bid EXACTLY what a task "should" take, you will lose money, because there is no line item for "mistakes, errors, miscalculations, making phone calls, guys taking a shit, the power going out, etc.". There is no line item for "installing the cabinets took 7.5hrs but there was no way the carpenters were going home half an hour early, so they stood around and told jokes".

That is in no way unethical, screwing the customer, illegal, or anything of the sort. That is accommodating the nature of the business in an effective, manageable manner.

Originally Posted by Saul Good (Post 9485960)

I get my math from your post.

$80 per hour times 2.2 hours is $176.

176 / three quarters of an hour is $235.


Your math teacher must have also taught business ethics.

Originally Posted by Frosty (Post 9485971)

This is what I am talking about. Raising the hourly rate it an above the board way to do is as the customer can see up front what you charge and can make comparisons. However, artificially raising the book hours and keeping the shop rates lower is unethical, imo. Customers don't have access to those books and may be getting charged more than they think compared to other shops.

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO (Post 9485875)

this is true, exorter is saying he MARKS UP THE BOOK LABOR TIMES.

so by the book it says the job pays 2.0 hours.


he bills the customer for 2.2 hours.


that is actually unethical

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats. (Post 9485987)

if you know for a fact that the "book" gives you 1 hour top replace a part, and in reality every time you've done it it took you 1.5hrs are you going to quote future ones at 1 or 1.5?

Originally Posted by Exoter175 (Post 9485994)

This isn't some behind the scenes quote job where I mask hours or apply scalers to the jobs being done, I simply point and click with the customer watching the screen so they know themselves.

Originally Posted by Exoter175 (Post 9485940)

Then that's how you do business, god bless you, but I do a better job, more thorough, with better mechanics than you do. I know how to run a successful business, I've ran two back to back in the same field while pursuing various degrees and certifications as I've explained to you before.

Trust me when I say this, your good natured, "deals with a handshake" attitude of never marking anything up, will run you out of business.

You might be busy, but you won't be able to pay the bills due to rent and expenses. You'll either have to raise costs, or cut corners. If you raise costs, you're talking about marking up labor hours or raising hourly rate, if you don't, you have to cut costs, which means running a 1 or 2 man show, or not covering insurance.

All of which put you in jeopardy.

You can guarantee me anything you want Sauto, but I've owned and operated two extremely successful business in the KC Metro personally, you have not.

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO (Post 9485965)

he didnt.


but he charged them for more hours than the book called for. that is unethical in my book and in everyone's book i ever worked for. (even the big shops in kc)

Originally Posted by Brock (Post 9485955)

Think the guy has been in business long enough to know what he's doing.

Originally Posted by Frosty (Post 9485971)

This is what I am talking about. Raising the hourly rate it an above the board way to do is as the customer can see up front what you charge and can make comparisons. However, artificially raising the book hours and keeping the shop rates lower is unethical, imo. Customers don't have access to those books and may be getting charged more than they think compared to other shops.