Repair shop hourly rate?

[bort]

Just curious... what is a typical hourly "shop rate" for a repair shop? That is, for non-standard repair work, sometimes I've been quoted an hourly rate for the work (to which the repair person keeps a tight log of the number of minutes). Just wondering what's a common range for this rate.

Given the number of repair people on the site, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, feel free to PM or email me.

Thanks!

[eupher61]

I"ve never seen an hourly rate in an instrument repair shop. They charge by the job. This has been my experience as a customer and former retail employee.

[bort]

Interesting... I've run into it several times, here's one example:

http://baltimorebrass.net/index.php?nav=3" target="_blank

[Todd S. Malicoate]

If hourly rates were honestly applied, the least experienced and slowest repairmen would make the most money.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Yeah, I had that backwards. How about this:

If hourly rates were honestly applied, the least experienced and slowest repairmen would charge you the most for the same work.

[Matt Walters]

The formula is simple. I usually charge the lesser of Shop rate or flat rate.

[Dan Schultz]

Being a one-man shop puts me at a distinct advantage inasmuch as I have very low overhead and can control what I do and don't do. The one local music store that keeps a staff of several repair people hovers around $80 and hour. They maintain a number of 'support' people to take care of working directly with the customers, hustling school business, and handling billing. I seriously doubt if the repair folks themselves earn over $20/hr plus some benefits.

By the time I spend time 'shooting the bull' with the customer (sometimes this alone involves HOURS), thinking about how I'll approach a job... ordering parts... going to the mailbox... sweeping the floor... putting tools away... running to various places to buy supplies... and actually doing the work... I doubt if I even net $10 per hour.

What I charge is based a lot on how much fun I'm having! Some of the pain in the butt jobs, like chem-cleaning F horns go for full price! Sometimes when a job takes longer than I expected... it's just my fault and the customer doesn't pay for that. I always try to be fair.

[Rick Denney]

I charge by the job, and quote in advance.

Automobile repair shop "hourly rates" are b.s. Their reference books will claim that it takes four hours to do a particular job (the amount of time, for instance, it likely would take ME - who has never done that job before) when that particular job takes a skilled mechanic one or two hours to do. By over-quoting the amount of time it takes to do jobs, they are cloaking their actual hourly rates. OTOH, if customers are willing to pay those amounts, the entire issue is moot.

Your read on the flat-rate guides doesn't fit with my experience. The Mitchell Flat Rate Guide, which was the industry standard back in my day, was generous with some rates but notoriously tight with others. And it does not include time for cleaning parts or for cleaning one's work area and tools. When I was a mechanic at a fairly high-end shop, I could work hard and maintain a high standard of quality at about 30 flat-rate hours per full-time week. Dealership mechanics got paid less per labor hour and were expected to work more flat-rate hours in a week, but I don't remember anyone working fewer hours than they billed, unless they were fibbing or taking serious shortcuts. (And there were lots of those.)

At our shop, we posted a sign identifying our rates (and these will tell you how long ago this was): "Shop Rates: $25/hour; $35/hour if you watch; $45/hour if you worked on it first."

Everyone thought that was a joke. (We did absolutely charge the higher rate for working on premium German cars such as BMW and Mercedes, ostensibly because of the higher precision required, but actually because their owners were far more likely to be demanding jerks.)

Rick "doubting that the flat-rate guide is more generous now than 35 years ago" Denney