Mechanics - whats your hourly rate?

Page 2 / 3
thejazzpianoma, Dec 10, 12:43am
Thanks a heap guys. this stuff is GOLD! Its helped me a load, and made some interesting reading.

thejazzpianoma, Dec 10, 12:50am
Thats actually quite good given the charge rate/overhead ratio.
People have no idea just how much it costs to have your doors open, I know of quite a few self employed who actually pay their workers the same or more than themselves.

rob_man, Dec 10, 12:54am
The rough formula used to be 50/50, wage rate/margin. Now it costs an awful lot more to simply be in business, chiefly due to increased rates and govt stealth taxes like ACC, added to which the extra week of holiday pay must bite. Also the increased administration costs to monitor GST etc.
Commercial properties are also more of a drain than ever and rents are a higher percentage of overheads than before.
I think we'll see more small operators working from home and being mobile as the advantages become more obvious, particularly in the main centres.

thejazzpianoma, Dec 10, 1:06am
Yes your on to it. You also have more specialised short lifetime expensive tools. like diagnostic scanners and even lots of little bits like flex head ratchets.

There are some advantages now though, tools like Autodata, Accounting software etc do save a lot of time. You simply couldn't be without a full time office lady with today's level of required compliance if it were not for online banking and good accounting software.

rob_man, Dec 10, 1:18am
Yep, gone are the days of dropping all the cheque stubs off at the accountant once a year.
My original business model was the same as Henry Ford's. You took all the money you received from sales and put it in a bag, you then took out what you needed to pay all the bills and payroll.
What was still in the bag was yours.
Not any more.
Edit.I spelt cheque wrong. how embarrassing.

superdave0_13, Dec 10, 2:24am
Business owners sure are good at pleading poverty.

sgrants, Dec 10, 3:04am
I'm self employed Auto Sparky, charging out $60 an hour not Grab Snatch & Take resisted any more since they put the turn over rate up to 60K so that automaticly makes me 15% cheaper LSMMTUAFIMC! (Kaukapakapa/Rodney)

sgrants, Dec 10, 3:05am
Looks like I need to put my rate up!

mugenb20b, Dec 10, 3:07am
At the moment I get $24.00 an hour, which is OK.

for_an_angel, Dec 10, 3:13am
It's a safety check and based on an hourly rate. We don't fail and try to get the customer back for repairs we just do the check unbias. Yes we also do repairs but we can back all decisions with proof of safety. Our Techs are trained and at $600-$1000 X4 per year per Tech for training it's cost recovery also. but theres no money in WoF checks for us it's all loss as far as I can see on time clock summary. If our customers don't like the price then go down the road no skin off our backs as 4 from 6workshops in our area are $59 for a WoF

You maybe the cheapest in town but we have three major customers from your area 14 vehicles in total. all happy to have our driver pick up and drive at there cost back to our yard for servicing and WoFs. this includes all Auckland Mad Butcher vehicles and two major Vets in your area. Reputation speaks volumes not rates

kazbanz, Dec 10, 3:58pm
I guess thats why you ain't a company owner.
Funny I just had an interesting talk to my 7 year old on that subject.
But look daddy you have $XXXXX in your bank. You're rich daddy.
Explaining that the money has to pay bills that might not be due for a month or two he did actually understand.
Ohh and $55.00 plus gst incidently. But we are only doing basic servicing.

superdave0_13, Dec 10, 6:24pm
Actually I do own a business and I am the poorest business owner you will ever meet. At least, thats what I tell my landlord.

Many business owners will put their hand on their heart and tell people that they pay their staff more than themselves. We all know thats a crock don't we!

rob_man, Dec 10, 10:22pm
Not true, I had a small business with two staff plus an office lady three days a week and I was pretty bloody astute and good at my job. Originally it went pretty well but the business environment changed to the point where it wasn't really a viable proposition any more. My panel shop, which I ran for fourteen years, probably could have been reinvented as a viable proposition but I simply ran out of steam and sold it for the plant value. I do better now on wages.
And I was the landlord.

steve312, Dec 10, 10:27pm
$60 + GST hourly rate and $35 inc GST for WOFs:Nelson

kazbanz, Dec 10, 11:26pm
Nope I can honestly say that on paper my personal income is below that I would get on the dole.
I'd rather sink any "spare" money into the company

thejazzpianoma, Dec 10, 11:33pm
That dosn't count, at best its just silly. Anyone can increase capital and call themselves poor.

Throws in a "facepalm" for good measure.

superdave0_13, Dec 10, 11:37pm
Yep. The good old paper loss.

kazbanz, Dec 11, 12:05am
Ya wanna bet! --Seriously! It seems theres very few actually reinvesting any profit back into the company.

thejazzpianoma, Dec 11, 12:26am
Whether that's true or not has absolutely nothing to do with the topic being discussed. * Scratches head and wonders*

pollymay, Dec 11, 12:31am
Couple boxes of beer and a yarn for a small fixer upper and an old body shell or something I can use for a motor install. What's that is $$!

emw1988, Dec 11, 1:17pm
I find it quite ironoc that jazz is tell Kaz that his post has nothing to do with the topic yet somehow he personally manages to turn every thread into "which euro car you should buy" thread

flitt, Dec 11, 1:23pm
A large Newmarket dealer wanted to charge me $125 incl p/h.
I went with the place in Otahuhu at $75 incl p/h.

kazbanz, Dec 11, 1:48pm
Two words ---Kettle and pot . I know full well you are able to fill the blanks.

thejazzpianoma, Dec 11, 2:19pm
Look its very simple. We were talking about business owners who were struggling to turn a profit and are paid less than their employees.

You came along and said "oh I am one of those I prefer to sink my spare money back into the business" - or words to that effect, well that does not necessarily make for being a poor business owner at all. You are just choosing to take less out of the business and use the rest to increase your business capital.

I didn't mean to be especially snarky about it, I was just pointing out that was silly as it has nothing to do with whether that makes you a poor business owner or not.

thejazzpianoma, Dec 11, 2:23pm
You too seem to have failed to read and understand what was being said. Discussing issues not directly associated with the OP's question and passing one thing incorrectly off as another are different things entirely.