Hello guys.Im just starting a little hotrod garage and need to no how much to charge an hour.Its just me with very little overhead.Any advice would be great.Thanks
I opened a shop with the knowledge you have, ZERO, it didn't go too well. ain:supersmurf666 said:Hello guys.Im just starting a little hotrod garage and need to no how much to charge an hour.Its just me with very little overhead.Any advice would be great.Thanks
Have you called the local shops and see what they charge?supersmurf666 said:Thanks for the info but I still dont no what to charge.....heavy thinking right now.lol.
That is the first thing you need to forget, this business is NO different! Business is business, I don't care if it's a parts store, a cat house or farm, business is business.supersmurf666 said:I use to own and run an 18 wheeler so i no a little about buisness but thats a whole nother kind of work.I can use some of that buisness sense at my shop but its way different.I new what it cost to run my truck so ill use that logic with the shop.
You know, I never thought for a second in this thread that we were not simply talking about how much to charge an hour. Your "hourly rate" is merely that, what you charge per hour. It doesn't mean that every job is an open check and how ever many hours you work on it you will be paid. I too feel sorry for the poor dolt who would turn over a project to someone without so much as an estimate as to how much it will cost.TubeTek said:All that said, you'll find you can get a lot more work by quoting fixed prices rather than hourly rates in any case where the work to be done is well defined. I've been in various phases of the metalworking business for 30 years, and if I have some work I'm looking to sub out to someone, and a drawing or other good description of the work involved, then they're wasting my time and theirs if they think they'll get me to bite on an hourly rate and give them the job. If a man isn't familiar enough with the work to know what it's worth, the he surely isn't familiar enough with it for me to open the wallet and trust he'll do me right.
Very true Brian. My point being we don't have enough information from the OP to even begin to guess where his shop rate needs to be.MARTINSR said:You know, I never thought for a second in this thread that we were not simply talking about how much to charge an hour. Your "hourly rate" is merely that, what you charge per hour. It doesn't mean that every job is an open check and how ever many hours you work on it you will be paid. I too feel sorry for the poor dolt who would turn over a project to someone without so much as an estimate as to how much it will cost.
However, this doesn't change the fact that you need SOME KIND of idea what your "hourly rate" is before you give that "fixed price".
Brian
Ask this question to Seth that owns Twisted Minis. When he started out on here he was in school, graduated, then decided to open his own shop with not too much of an idea as to how he was going to do it or how much he was going to charge. He is now pretty successful, been in numerous magazines with his builds and just recently moved into a larger shop. Here is from when he first started in 2008 http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/finally-opening-up-shop-140573.htmlsupersmurf666 said:Hello guys.Im just starting a little hotrod garage and need to no how much to charge an hour.Its just me with very little overhead.Any advice would be great.Thanks
Kevin45 said:Ask this question to Seth that owns Twisted Minis. When he started out on here he was in school, graduated, then decided to open his own shop with not too much of an idea as to how he was going to do it or how much he was going to charge. He is now pretty successful, been in numerous magazines with his builds and just recently moved into a larger shop. Here is from when he first started in 2008 http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/finally-opening-up-shop-140573.html
Sounds like your thinking right..I think you will do OK,, You don't know till you try..Just remember there is a lot of good shop's that fail because of to many friends around.. You don't want to many hands in the cookie jar.. :nono: When it come to a business, Sometimes you lose friends, Are the ones you thought was your friends,,Be careful.. and good luck,, There is a lot of money in a hot rod shop..Keep your head up, and keep pushing forward..you will get there :thumbup:supersmurf666 said:Thats some great advice and stuff to consider from ya'll.Thanks alot.Im going to be doing electrical,engine compartment design,engine detail and building engines.I have 28years of experience building hot rods and drag cars for me and my friends.I don't do chassis fab.I only do paint and body for me because I hate bodywork.I can do suspensions but I tend to be to slow at that.I want to build engines but I don't want the cars at my shop.Im working with a machine shop Ive used since I was 15 years old.My overhead is VERY low and its just me.MY shop is only 180.00 a month for a 12'x60'.All of my tools are paid for.So I no I can be cheaper than the big shops but I don't want to be to cheap.What work I want to do at my shop I am VERY good at.I don't want to do work Im not 100 percent comfortable with.