I am an independent field service repair guy. I charge a 2 hr minimum for anything with in 49 miles. No mileage charge. Beyond 40 miles I charge $3.00 a mile one way. No hourly charge for driving. My hourly time starts and stops at job site. A few customers say $3.00 to much. Your thoughts please? That's 2 hr minimum for anything within 40 miles
Locally the Cat truck charges... $2 or $3 per mile both ways as well as $95/hr.
I think this is what your trying to say? (I'm asking because the way you have it laid out is confusing) All service calls = charged 2hrs labor minimum. Over 40 miles = $3.00/mile. Are most of your jobs in a 40 mile radius?
Yes most of my calls are within 40 miles. On these I don't charge Milage because I schedule 2 or three calls in same area on same day . And with most of these customers bytime I get them to stop the machine and get through all the signing in and chech the machine and or repair 2 hrs is gone.
Thats what a tow truck charged me last night. Maintenance and fuel should cost you around $.50 per mile depending on what youre driving. I think youre making money, but not too much after insurance and your time
My Cat dealer is $103/ hr driving plus $3.80 a mile That means a 45 mile each way service call is $206 PLUS $342 for a whopping $548 for those 2 hours, or $274/ hr just for driving. Cleveland brothers can go **** themselves. Most repairs cost less than the trip.
Very true! Sorry to hijack this somewhat. A couple years back while I was on winter lay off, don't want to fix things while they are not need,(but that's another b1tch) the one loader that was still being used had a tilt hose fail. As me, the only mechanic was home twiddling my thumbs, they called the Cat dealer. There man came out, removed the hose and took it back to shop to have it rebuilt. Then he drove back out and installed it. Price of this hose, I checked just five minutes ago, is $156.00. As I recall the bill for the repair was around $1,000.00. My supervisor has tried explaining this to his bosses saying they could have paid me to come in for the whole week and drink coffee and eat donuts and not touch a wench except to remove and replace this one hose and still pocket almost half the cost of the Cat bill. But as we are often told "We don't see the big picture."
We charge 75.00 per hr and 2.00 per mile from shop and back. I'm getting paid to work at shop or drive, the mileage charge is for the ( mortgage ) and expense of the mobile shop. On small repairs sometimes travel is more than repair, we try to spend as much time as we can on site weather we service, check things out on other equipment while were there, whatever. You can have a REALLY nice shop for the cost of a new service truck. I try to be as fair as possible. For example, Monday i have a job 90 miles away, 1/12 - 2 hrs driving each way depending on traffic. I'll work at least 8 to 10 hours before leaving job to come home. Customer deserves a days work.
I charge $90.00 per hour and $2.50 per mile port to port, there is always some one that says that is too much, but for the most part my customers understand the travel charge and say that it is a reasonable fee compared to the dealers in my area.
The SHOP charges 105.00/hr + 2.75 mile from the time we leave the shop till we get back..weather its sitting in traffic or waiting on a bridge opening, the customer gets charged.. and there is plenty of both.. Once I got a call to one of the islands.. its a 2 lane road on and off.. guess what? BIG accident.. stuck on this little road for 2 hrs..I could SEE the jobsite but couldn't get to it.. and come to find out..the customer could see the service truck.. he called back to the shop and started raising hell with the boss.. the boss calls me... NOT a good idea.. Like I'm sitting in a truck for 2hrs in 110* heat twiddleing my thumbs?? I finally make it to the site and the customer and I had a "nice" conversation..about him calling the shop. The customer was spitting nails when he got charged for me sitting in traffic.. Personally, I charge 50.00 hr and 50.00 for a service call and if its "on my way" I don't charge anything for the service call.. and 80% of the time I can fix a problem on site and in 30 minutes so I tell them, give me 50.00 and we'll call it a day.. needless to say, I get a lot of service calls.. and a pocket FULL OF 50's..
I quit caring about what customers think about what I charge. If they don't like it, don't call. If they want to complain, I refer them to their last dealer bill. Around here the dealers try to confuse the customer up front with mileage and times and none such. I boil it down one way, a dealer will cost you a thousand dollars a call out, minimum. They don't guarantee their work, they may or may not be trained on what they are working on and they will shut off your parts supply to force payment on disputed service bills. There are lots of customers and not very many good field mechanics.
The dealer up here has just one hourly charge (one for shop and one for field) - No shop supplies, no mileage, no fuel surcharges, no OT billed till 12hrs, etc. Just one hourly rate from the time the mechanic leaves the shop to when they get back. Mind you the hourly rate is almost 2x what others have posted........
Moonlight, I like your way of charging too bad all the other guys don't do the same thing.....
135$ an hour and 2.85 a km in ontario is normal
Thanks for the input. I didn't think I was being unreasonable on charges.
Moonlite - Your rates sound pretty reasonable. In our area, its usually a 20 mile limit (Beyond 20 miles gets charged, under 20 is free) Thought - If customers complain about mileage fees, ask them "I am sorry, next time you can bring your broken machine to my shop" I would imagine the cost of hauling XXX equipment to anyones shop is going to exceed $3/mile
I was in west Texas for a few calls five hours from home. Customer was getting charged $350 an hour for basic jobs. Why? Because no one else was out there. I went out to do a forced regen on a truck and charged the whole bill to the customer as his operator did not understand the system. $3.50 per mile and $125 for labor! Customer didn't bat an eye as I was still the cheapest game in town!!!!!
its all a game of smoke and mirrors . i am in the middle of the woods nearest town is 25 miles pick a dealer they all are 90-125 miles away. i charge 90/hr that is it. some say Ishould charge milage but that would put me in the dealer game.you start buying programs like cat cummins volvo john deere they dont give them away
adkhomeboy, you lost me on last post, mileage charge is to cover cost of service truck, without it fuel,reg, ins, tires, ect adds up fast, how do you cover them?
your right i need to be looking at this
This is exactly one perfect comparison! I am cheaper and faster usually than moving equipment to and from a jobsite with a lowboy. in regards to this it is directly related to the size of the machine, this is why I discourage my customers from having me work on there highway legal trucks but sometimes they still want me to do the job......TIO I meant to hit reply with quote to post #16
I have a 98 Chevy. One of the customers I am referring to told me I needed a newer truck. I told him stop trying to get me to lower my price and I can get one then I will have go up on price so I can make the payment
im going to add my 2cents worth to this... I have several older customers that just rant & rave about having to pay a fuel surcharge/mileage charge, my fix for them just raise the hourly rate to cover it they are happy it don't show up on the bills & im making the same money!!! these are regular customers that don't shop around for better prices/offers.
You should ignore anyone telling you that you need a newer truck while also telling you to charge less. I've had old trucks and new trucks ans someone will always have a comment about one or the other. I have what some call a "flashy" truck now and I'm $80 an hour from the time I leave the house til I pull in my driveway. I'm constantly turning down work just because I literally don't have time. Fact of the matter is, its your business and good mechanics will always have work. Drive what you want and charge what you want (within reason) and your customer list will sort itself out. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
If you're a dealer, $55 an hour to cover the road mechanic (wage, pension, unemployment, etc), leaving the other $48/ hr to cover the truck, resulting in the Cleveland Brothers $103 an hour. Even at $70/hr to cover the mechanic and associated costs, that still leaves $33/ hr to cover the truck. Assuming 1500 billable hours a year, that's $105k a year toward the mechanic, and $49,500 a year toward the truck.
It's a for profit business., at 180,000 for a new truck that rotts out in 4years, there is no easy answer, if they send out a guy in a pickup truck, won't be equipped, customer bitches, send out big truck for a loose wire, customer bitches, ??? What's fair?
i myself am a one man show small time operation i charge 50$ per hour within 40 miles from the time i leave home for breakdown or unscheduled repair i work everyday i have 8 customers who keep me very busy i will not work for out of towners unless payment is made at the end of the job too many deadbeat companies who run there operation on the backs of us little guys i tell em if you want credit call cat thanks to the dealers or the stealers as i call them i do well
Good policy, your better to get paid up front from out of towners,.
I only give credit to a select few. Cause they normaly cut a check as soon as they get the bill in the mail. So it's only a wk before I get paid and they keep me busy. All of the ones that I don't know or only get called to once in awhile. I make it clear. When jobs complete I get paid. I used to send bills out to everyone at end of month. Well getting burned on $20K in 2 months stopped that.
When i was doing it full time years ago i had 3 jobs almost in a row that i didnt get payed for and 2 were guys that i had done work for several years and never had a problem with. It seams that every one around here is liveing day to day bridge burners.
one time i did make the mistake of assuming i was gonna get paid when done with a job in 6 days that the stealers quoted 30 - 60 and i was told oh no we cant write checks here .....texas dose that in 90 days ....118 days later i got my check "wait i hammed this (emergency job out) in 6 days and your gonna stiff me"???
if i know a company is slow pay i quote a higher rate
When I first started on my own here in the uk I charged one way, works well locally, but after a year, it became clear that bigger work, further afield meant I needed to restructure what I bill. When I did restructure, none of my customers complained. Ended up charging door to door labour and door to door with mileage, like you I had a minimum, which was just over two hours, I added that to the travel time. I could travel an hour each way, for five minutes on site and end up charging the customer 4 hours plus mileage. It's not unreasonable to ask that. Customers want support at their convenience, it costs. If you can deliver the goods, customers will pay. Simon
I have been working on my taxes and one place that i work for they have a shop and most of the tools i spent $600.00 on gas to get their to make $ 7000.00.
Im just a lil guy tryin to get going on my own and I charge 45$/hr from when I leave the house until I stop for the day. According to my figuring the truck costs are absorbed by the full rate drive time. I've never had anyone b!&ch about it yet, most are more than happy with that. But they should be being I'm wwway cheaper than the rest
What are you driving? It's hard to drive much of anything for $45 per hour. My family minivan costs like $35 per hour! That doesn't include any kind of wage. Don't sell yourself short the people you are working for are in business to make money be sure to charge enough so you make money......TIO
I have been around all kinds of service businesses , I was always told you never want to be the cheapest guy around. You can be fair without being the cheapest. Do good work and being honest is the most important thing. I have a road service company I do after my day job and I stay busy . There is plenty of work to be done .
I have just a one ton four door ford with a crane, welder, compressor and most of my tools piled into. I figure on about 45mph average, 10mpg (usually I get 12-13). That's 4.5 gal x 4$ fuel is 18$ hr for fuel. All my insurance lumped together I have figured down to 4$/hr. Even figuring at 2$/hr I'm more than doubling my maintenance costs. So that's 22$/hr x 2 (both ways) is 44$/hr. That's how I had it figured. But I'm just starting out and most shops around here are 65$/hr. So being I'm not paying for a building and all that, I thought that seemed fair. I was thinking I'll go up to 50 this spring and maybe a lil more each year until I have a good grasp on what I think is fair. That's must be pretty fancy minivan...lol Jpool- I've heard that before from guys that do it on the side but I'm doing this everyday making about 55k last year. I'm happy with that. If I wanted to make a fortune I'd go back to traveling. And the one thing that gets me is side job guys talk a big game but never seem to want to quit and try it themselves. It's quite eye opening when ur the one writing the paycheck and depending on yourself. Not being an *** just sayin
Jslusher, you have a very good start to those numbers, keep adding, tires, brakes (a heavy ford eats rotors and pads every 40k at least), and you don't have a wage in there yet! You don't have truck devaluation in there? Follows are a few facts about equipment devaluation, i don't make this stuff up it is not opinion! Never the less it WILL create some discussion 1) on average the first 3 years of a class 8 trucks life is its cheapest per unit cost! (Heavy equipment is even a bit longer) 2) therefore on average you can not operate a used truck or piece of equipment cheaper than a new one per unit cost! You can make it feel like by things like doing repairs yourself and not charging full rate for it. 3) you must use a new piece "full time" to have it be the cheapest per unit cost 4) now to figure cost of a service body ford take new price $60k then residual value after 5 years $30k ( 1/2 of new in 5 years generic but close on average for everything with tires or tracks on the planet) this truck has 125,000 miles on it because it was used "full time" 60 miles to job each day 220 days a year So 60000-30000= 30000/125000=.24 per mile the add in your tires, fuel, insurance, repairs and maintenance and wage this is the minimum you should charge! Now by no means if your not using your truck full time you can not buy a new truck and cover its cost from your revenue, but you used less expensive truck will actually cost a bit more than new Also if your uncomfortable with the risk of paying for a new truck you shouldn't, for many years I chose to make a little less money hourly but slept easy at night not having that huge payment, especially the first year or two while your upside down in its value. Now I sleep better at night knowing I am not going to have to work on my own stuff when I get back from a service call or on my days off and only have to write a check every month. There are exceptions to everything listed above but they are averages...stepping off the podium now class is dismissed....TIO
Yair . . . Joeyslushr .There are lots of ways of looking at any given situation and accountants will send you cross-eyed with numbers on "depreciation" and "sunken costs". I am really in no position to comment but the way I see it if you were a wage slave working for the Cat or Deere dealership with (say) a one hour commute you would probably be driving a similar truck . . . with your system at least you get paid to drive to work. The thing is, you have made a start and are establishing a customer base, now is the time to look at increasing your rate. I agree that without the overhead of a shop you can afford for your rate to be a little lower. I have found though that the main thing is the paperwork . . . there is no excuse these days for almost illegible hand scrawled greasy invoicing. No need for fancy formatted invoice books though, just a detailed printout of dates and work performed with a materials list and labour. All the best with it. Cheers.
I'll put my two cent in, I have a very good reputation in my area, ten years plus in my own buisness, we do our best all the time, try not to be friends with the customers or parts dealers, we try to do whats best for the machine. Since day one We worked to cheap and were always to busy, weeks behind on breakdowns and some machines would wait for years for non critical repairs, no customer likes bills period !!! They hate it more when you say you will be there in a day or week or month and don't show on time, if you get there and get it fixed you the man. But what I found out by working to cheep was I had all the ******* customers and the good ones waited thier turn, if your a professional and want to be treated like one than if the dealer is at 115.00 hr, you better be at 80 plus, you can run an older truck but you will spen off time working on it not with your family who are the ones that have your back.
Tio- r those numbers devaluation figures? I by no means have the accounting side figured out...but I'm learning But I will say that my company owes no money. Everything has been payed for long ago. And I'm not that interested in getting a bank involved. And I realize everybody has different philosophies but I'm trying to be debt free and stay that way. And I'm sure any accountant would be against that but it's what I want so tough ha On a side note do u guys really spend that much time working on your trucks? Mine has been a work truck it's whole life and with 215k on it now and all it's gotten is tires, brakes and oil changes As to the paperwork it is a bit of a pain but I started with quick books now and that's much easier I also think sometimes that dealers already do shotty work but they have a big fancy name to hide behind when they give u the bill. I don't. But I do good work so maybe someday I'll have too much work and be able to charge more Also do you guys advertise much? I haven't yet other than an ad on Craigslist. I get most of my work by word of mouth and givin out business cards when talking with people.
TIO, I just took your class. pretty interesting stuff. I don't dispute anything you said but im curious as to where you got your info. is it just experience or is there a book or website I could read?
MikeL, I have read every industry magazine or periodical I could get my hands on even before I started my career. There is equipment costing info in the "cat handbook" I have "text books" on underground estimating and others on dirt estimating all have equipment "cost formulas" in them. But from a practical application I spent most of my 20's learning to hate equipment cost reports! I was before I quit an equipment manager of a small construction fleet which paid real well but decided one day life was to short to sit in a shop office, telling other people what to do, when I was always happiest in the shop truck in the job, with ear plugs in under my welding hood.....TIO
Maybe I need to start a new thread or have this moved so as not to hijack this one, but as the subject has been breeched, how DO you decide when to leave a full time job (Highway Dep. mechanic) with benefits for the side job which has turned into a full time second job? I perform full service repair on smaller farm equipment (150hp and less), have a tree shearing operation, family cattle farm (doing well right now), and now have a D6C in shape for public work. My customer base, which I have built over 13 years with no advertising, starting in college, covers four counties composed of city weekend warriors to local farmers and ranchers, and two county precincts. Short of dealerships($$$), no one in my area does this kind or the volume of work, or is willing to do field repair, so I stay covered up, charging half of local dealers. Most of what I work on is too old to be taken to dealer and I have a reputation for being able to keep the old stuff running without breaking the family piggy bank. At my rate and work load, I feel going fulltime can replace my current combined incomes. As my wife is about to graduate and hopefully find gainful employment, I am contemplating taking the big step through the one way door. Not to get political, but health insurance is probably my greatest concern, which I have yet to figure out. In today's economic climate, am I considering making a big mistake?
For me, go for it. Would you like to think that it was the best decision of your life or live the rest of your life wondering what if. I regretted not doing it sooner, and now I've shut up pending moving (permanently) to canada, I wish I'd done this sooner too.
Faint heart never won fair maid.
Many years ago the fellow that I bought my property from sold it to buy a farm. A few years ago he told me that if he hadn't he would have simply worked for wages with no chance of getting ahead. Figured he had nothing so nothing to lose. As he put it, "I can always go work for wages again." At 93 he and his wife are living on a second home on the farm and the third generation is running it. His big complaint is his meager retirement funds. They live comfortable but are not able to do what they wanted to do in retirement. Besides insurance be sure you bill enough to pay into a retirement for yourself. It sounds like you have a lot going for you. Good Luck.
OK, let me add another side bar here. Do you guys charge the same labor rate for different services, such as: welding & fabricating, line boring or mechanical repairs?
I always charged the same rate but if It was a welding job then I would charge for welding supplies, etc.
Same. Good luck which ever way you go.
I charge the same. And add for consumables as needed
BUMP for Nov 2024 Price update request. What are you guys charging and how are you charging? I called local Cat dealer for updates. This is in central NC (Greensboro) -Trip Fee $481 -Labor $163/hour -8 hour minimum for job discussed (main line hose remove/replace on skidsteer) As an independent I am trying to determine rates. I want to be fair but I also want / expect to make money. My thoughts. Normal Hours/In Service Area (40 miles from shop) -Trip Fee - $175 -Labor $160/hr (billed incrementally). No minimum. After Hours/Holiday -Trip Fee - $300/$350 Labor $220/$300 (2hr min) Out of Service Area - greater than 40 miles from shop - $100/hr + Mileage??
i dropped my milage charge a while back. i just charge $125 hr from the time i leave home to the time i leave the jobsite 2 hr minimum. so far no complaints.
So, what kind of rigs are you guys using? Do you happen to know what your cost- per -mile, is to operate?
Another one of those deals were a lot of questions that are hard to answer . I was in the shop where I work one day an older customer that was there hanging out. He was watching a worker fix a pickup tire. He said you guys are making a killing fixing tires . I think at the time it was $15.00. I said the machine cost $0000.00 the building cost $00000.00 utilities cost $000.00 Wages cost $000.00 and on and on . He didn't say anything but you could see he was thinking are they making anything . Mechanic work is no fun. On top of that everything that goes along with it tool buying and several other expenses make it a deal. Anyone that debates the cost of repairs needs to work as a mechanic for sometime to see what its all about .
Don’t over complicate it. I dropped the mileage charge when I got back to Maine. After taking with my customers they all said the same thing- I’d rather pay a little extra per hour and not look at the mileage charge. coaldust, I currently run a 2017 kenworth t370 with a 14’ IMT body. I’ve never been able to accurately figure out my cost per mile. Some days I drive my truck to a job site and shut it off for the day. Other days it idles all day because I’m running the crane and compressor.
That brings up a question. I’m close to a customer running a large fleet of late model T370’s single and tandem axle. Very data driven. I’m going to ask out of curiosity.
We run a Pete 330 and charge 1.50 a mile plus time. No minimums. Mileage basically covers actual costs.
I personally only charge a flat hourly rate, parts are straight across and no mileage. I just want to keep it all simple. Honestly the last thing I want to do is spend a bunch of time figuring out all the extra stuff to charge. I was talking to another independent guy that charges hourly and mileage ads 10% on parts and he says he's going to start adding a 5% charge on the total bill to cover all the miscellaneous stuff. His work and the market will dictate how all that works out in the long run. I know I undercharge compared to the local market, but my overhead is super low so I'm not trying to come up with a huge tax burden. I do think I'll start charging more for out work that's outside of "normal" business hours just to try and slow that down the day work weeks and 14-17hr days.
Where is the theironoracle, this thread is from 2014. There is a lot to consider when working for yourself. You only get a limited amount of time to work while you are young and healthy. If you live a long life you need to be able to save some for your less productive years. Picking your jobs and customers. The first thing is do you even want to work for them, their problems become your problems. We deal with the public in many ways and I have a sliding pay scale. It is not fair to all but it works for me. If I can quickly help someone that does not have the financial means for less or even half price I will If I can make it work out with out taking away from bigger jobs. If bigger work is in play all small jobs and favors stop. Smaller customers might not be charged any trip fees if they are close. Normal customers: I currently charge 2.00s per mile to move machinery distances over 25 miles one way. I get a mobilation charge of $500.00. I don't move machinery every day so it can sit on site some times for a few weeks. I am loosing money by follow up trips with out a show up fee. It is slapping me in the face now because I am about to need a new truck. The extra charges barely covered the cost of the old truck. So now 100k is needed for another and that means I am on the hook to work that much more to pay for it and fuel. I would say if you can get 3.00 per mile get it. Cats rates are high but if you charge less than them you might be backing up. Some of there mechanics don't have the speed or knowledge that you do. Older guys that have experience are worth more.
I don’t think the iron Oracle has been on here in years. It’s too bad, he was a very knowledgeable guy and he helped me out a bunch when I jumped on the independent train. He can be found on FB though…
It shows he was by this morning, but hasn't posted anything since 2020.
We charge for mileage on top of hours even in a small truck. Because it costs $$$$ to drive the thing. Fuel, tires, replacement, repairs, and exposure to accidents and liability. Those mostly do not rack up when you are sitting still doing actual work but they do rack up when you are moving.
I calculated my actual cost to operate a F-350 at $1.50 per mile. That includes a guesstimate of depreciation and the upfitting expenses. I charge $1.75 per mile. I drive just enough to offset the direct expenses. That will probably change when calculating in residential value when it gets replaced. I should probably bump it to $2.00 in 25. I’m not sure if there is a better way to do it, but it’s the common practice around here, so a mileage charge on the invoice doesn’t surprise anyone.
Mine has been 2.00 a mile for some years now.