Shop pricing....

damn guys i need to move down south and west
110 an hour!!!

yes hourly is the only way to charge and if you have to quote something make sure it is at least double what you think it will be
you can go off of previous jobs to get an idea

I do hourly, no estimates, no quotes. VERY thourough description of days worked, tasks completed and time taken. If you want an estimate or a quote you can go somewhere else. Usually people that search the cheapest price end up coming here to pay hourly to have it fixed.

I also just learned by reading this my hourly rate is way to cheap!

Originally posted by BUILTON24S



at my work our billable rate is 125 per hour and are restos start at 300k and go up to 1 mill and these vehicles usually end up being worth quite a bit more than the resto price and are bosses sometimes even have a hard time billing every hour we work..with that bein said i think you might have a hard time finishing a steady amount of work if you actually bill hour for hour..it sounds like a great plan but doesnt always work out..goodluck thoughi have yet to see a restored vehicle unless its a one of a kind or low vin go for close to a mil on the auction block

^^^ I think that you're looking in the wrong place then. A local shop had a car go for $2.3 mil and the car before that was $1.7 mil. The owner of the Lincoln Zeypher in my profile just sold his Auburn for $350k and another friend of mine that owns the Led Zeypher was offered $400k for his car. There are cars bought and sold for BIG numbers all the time, but typically only if they're rare or ultra custom.

When I initially sit down with a customer, I let them know that they will probably have more money in their vehicle than it is worth, but if they plan on keeping the car for any length of time the extra work/money making it drive nice or live long will be worth it. I don't charge that much for my hourly work, but I have REALLY low overhead so I don't need to. Every customer pays me differently. Some might be comfortable giving me a check for $20k and then give me more money when I run out, some might only feel comfortable paying me once they see that work has been completed each week. It's all about making the customer feel comfortable about having me work on their vehicle.

Hourly deffinitly rocks. The best way to do it is figure out what your bills are, what you ABSOLUTELY must make that month to pay all your shop and personal bills. Then add on what you would like to make in profit for yourself. now divide that by how many hours a month you work. Thats your shop rate. I normally quote jobs on how many weeks, months, days, or half days it would take me based on my hourly rate.