[henryblowery]

If you had a small parts run where you spent an hour programming the part, and seven hours in the shop running two machines at a time, do you charge eight hours, 15 hours, or somewhere in between?

Just a thought I was pondering over the weekend.

Thanks.

Gray

[lakeside]

When you quote on a job it the total cost of the job. If it takes you 10 hours or 50 hours your price is the same as your quote

[henryblowery]

When you quote on a job it the total cost of the job. If it takes you 10 hours or 50 hours your price is the same as your quote

Let me rephrase that. If you think it will take eight hours, one hour programming and seven hours running two machines, do you quote $400(at $50 an hour) plus materials, or do you quote $750 plus materials?

Gray

[lakeside]

you take your total machine time. You could use 7 machinist at once it will still be 7 hours of machine time.Bu now it 1 hour of labor

[fer_mayrl]

Yes it would be one hour of labor, but that is one hour of each of your seven machinists.

From my point of view I would charge 15, think of it as how much time WONT'T I be able to use my machines for other paying jobs. So 15 hours not 8

[miljnor]

You charge what the market will bear! If your market is strong enough to get the 15hours and still have the customer happy then charge the 15hours.

But on the other hand if they look at you like your loco, then maybe teh 7 hours is the ticket..

If it was easy to figure out everyone would be running there own business successfully. And of course that isn't the case.

In my area and for the parts I typicaly do, I try to get 1.00 a minute of runn time plus material. This is close to whats fair for this market. On molds its slightly higher and on close tolerance stuff it can run alot higher. And aircraft parts are in a whole different league (do to pucker factor and PIA factor).

Good luck.

[lakeside]

can you run 7 machines at once and have a broom up your @ss to sweep floor as you run around?

[tobyaxis]

can you run 7 machines at once and have a broom up your @ss to sweep floor as you run around?

Mike, you sound like my first Boss in a Machine Shop. But you forgot the Bring your own T.P.

Gray,

Every market is slightly different and as you get more experience you will learn what you can get away with. Most shops think I'm nuts for what I charge for services but I'm the one they call when the other guy skipps out on them and won't finish or fix what they did. Then when they become a repeat customer I reduce the price by 10% for every 10 jobs. 2% Net 30 is what I charge with 50% up front to start.

Your going to have to check the market in your area and learn. This is tough, but most places don't want another competitor in their area.

Thank God there is a young man interested in something else besides video games.

Shop Rate(hourly)+Material+Tooling+Fixturing=Total
Additional Fees
10% Difficulty
40% Major Difficulty
2% net 30

Sorry, I had to change a few things because the old lady is now doing the books and she said I was being too greedy 5% net 30

Mike, this is for you

[diarmaid]

Since the question was how much 'would' you charge I can answer this totally theoretically since I dont have any experience to say what I 'am' doing. So....

I would charge for the 7hrs + 1hr programming = 8hrs. I wouldn't charge the full 7 hrs for the second machine, but I would charge enough to cover the general wear and tear on the 2nd equipment plus the degradation for parts and consumables. In hours this might come out as two or three hours but depending on your eqpt you will have to calculate your consumables hours specific to your circumstances. Therefor my total charge might come up at about 10hrs = $500.

You have to consider your overall business situation. Is having a fast turnaround time for your customers important to you? Is there a lot of competition making cost a serious consideration? If you want to charge full for the 2nd machine then maybe you should run the two at the same time on different jobs and sacriface the turnaround time. Maybe you could charge full for the 2nd machine also. But if your running two machines maybe you would be better off having two seperate jobs going. How much business is knocking at your door. Lots of considerations.
M2cents.

[M-man]

How can you afford to put food on the table with such low costs?

[diarmaid]

Me or henry with his $50 ?
If me then I don't! As I said I have no experience. When I have my workshop up and running I may have to revise my 'logic'.

[henryblowery]

If me, I don't either. Look at my age, and you'll see that putting food on the table ain't my job

Gray

[miljnor]

well if your really only 14 or so then you will run into age discrimination, sad but true. You won't be able to charge as much as an older guy that may have half your skills.

Once your rep is made then this won't be as much of an issue but until you look a little older some people will have problems with the "young wipersnapper".

[Mcgyver]

Gary, at 14 years old, is this a hypothetical question, or are you one driven young man?

imo Miljnor had the right answer. look at this way, your 'hourly' rate is just a representation of what you the market will bear in your area - its a convenient to quickly price things. but you're in business to make money, so want to charge as much as the market will bear.

from another perspective, if all your machines are busy, you're going to want to charge 16 hours because machine time is a constraint, on the other hand, if machines (and/or labour) is sitting around, anything you charge over material/energy/consumables is contribution margin. in either case, whether they are full or idle is indicative of the market and what it will bear.

[Geof]

2% net 30

Sorry, I had to change a few things because the old lady is now doing the books and she said I was being too greedy 5% net 30

What!!!!

2% net 10, full invoice amount net 30, 1-1/2% extra per month prorated daily on overdue accounts. 25% deposit and balance on delivery for a new account. Are you running a business or a charity.

[The Puma Man]

It sounds as though you price jobs very differently in the USA than we do in the UK. we price a job by so much an hour based on overall running costs and its the same for all customers, no favorites. If we charged different prices i.e. £30 per hour to one and £35 per hour to another then we would loose that customer. When you do get established, buyers do talk about the price you charge

[henryblowery]

Gary, at 14 years old, is this a hypothetical question, or are you one driven young man?

imo Miljnor had the right answer. look at this way, your 'hourly' rate is just a representation of what you the market will bear in your area - its a convenient to quickly price things. but you're in business to make money, so want to charge as much as the market will bear.

from another perspective, if all your machines are busy, you're going to want to charge 16 hours because machine time is a constraint, on the other hand, if machines (and/or labour) is sitting around, anything you charge over material/energy/consumables is contribution margin. in either case, whether they are full or idle is indicative of the market and what it will bear.

For now this is just a hypothetical question, but hopefully someday it'll be a real "problem".

Thanks for the help.

Gray

[tobyaxis]

What!!!!

2% net 10, full invoice amount net 30, 1-1/2% extra per month prorated daily on overdue accounts. 25% deposit and balance on delivery for a new account. Are you running a business or a charity.

That's what I said today before leaving to another job. :nono:

Back up to 5% net 30

[ynneb]

Lets look at it this way.
The client needs 100 items that take 1 hour each to make. That's 100 work hours.
If you had 100 machines the whole job would take 1 hour to do, but still takes 100 work hours. Would you charge that person for only 1 hours work if you used 100 machines ? I doubt it.
Your two machines example is the same as my 100 machines example, except you just have a lesser number.

Answer = You charge 15 hours.

Besides, having the luxury of two machines actully costs you even more than having one machine. You need to cover this cost too.

[lakeside]

I include labor in machine time