People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

I have been self employed for several years now. From 2000-2004, the business was my full time primary income, but the area I live in faltered somewhat and business slowed. In response, I shifted my priorities more towards fabrication, tuning, wiring (i.e. more supportive services of the diy guy that likes to wrench him/herself). Point being, now this has become more of a secondary income to a job I now have, along with school pursuing my M.E. degree.

Well, as a result, I don't do as many installs anymore. I do though, still do installs for past customers if they ask. Recently I've had a guy who called me asking to do a turbo setup for him. I did the swap in his coupe about a year and a half ago, so I told him I'd do it for him if he really wanted me to.

Now, having never been a fan of low prices just to get the work, I have always been on the upper end of pricing with the tradeoff of quality work. In the time when I was working full time at this, it was important to me not to degrade the market value of the work being done with crackhead pricing to compete with guys in their moms' garage. I relied on the quality to speak for itself.

Well, recently having gone through hell on occasions here and there with a few customers, I can't say I miss doing it full time. It was starting to ruin what I once enjoyed doing. Like I said though, I still do one or two installs here and there. Given the fact these are "side" jobs in a sense, I no longer see fit to charge on the high end.

So to sum it up...what's fair pricing for the following work so I don't hear ---- about it:

Sourced and obtained all parts for turbo setup
Fabricated stainless log manifold
Oil, water lines
Mount large frontmount
Customer bought aluminum intercooler piping...so add aluminum welding to the labor
Mock up all charge lines
Full down pipe in mild steel with open dump
Chip P28
Street tune on Crome w/wideband plus full datalog...not seat of the pants b.s.
Additional info: All welding is TIG, the car has A/C (not sure if he wants it retained or not), car also has power steering, the guy may want a full custom fabbed downpipe-back exhaust sytem as well.

Labor costs w/o exhaust ?
Labor costs w/ exhaust ?
Labor add if A/C retained ?

I'll hold what I typically charged for this job until I see some responses.

Thanks.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

2800ish

while a real shop would charge 3-5k


3500 with a full stainless custom exhaust.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

0

burn tell him to drive it and be happy with the 40mpg

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

70 bux an hour..

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

thats not at a lower rate.....any auto garage or fab shop may charge that much, but it doesnt mean the tech is getting 1/2 that.

if he made $70/hour and not have to pay a high rent(for the shop) pay insurence that a shop would pay (to cover there ass)...then he would be makin more then a dealership (not the tech) would make

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

LOL where the ---- do you live. Any decent shop around CT gets $85+ per hour.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

ya so? end result is the same. The guys still has his own bills topay. maybe 70 might be overkill but 40-50 bux is more than fair.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

Alright, lets all gather round....

Hourly rates and all that jazz are fine, but if any of you deal with parents and youngin's (i.e. 16, 17 etc.), you know they just want a price up front.

I can guesstimate timeframe, and hell if you throw in the standard rate for TIG welding...this dude's lookin at big dollars. Like I said, this was my number crunch method years ago...I just fab parts now and do supportive tasks. I charge hourly for tuning, diagnostics, and all that, but this guy just wants a setup.

I am just wondering what you part timer's are charging out the door roundabout for a complete setup that's fair to both parties. I am just tired of hearing ---- from some of these local quacks on the local speed sites. They know I am not doing this for business anymore, so I guess that's a victory for some of them...whatever. Anyway, I just was curious what some of you part timer's were charging for a quality setup, done right, out the door.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

tell them the price you're already holding at, and if they bitch about it, tell them to ---- a goat.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

That was generally my approach in prior years, but unfortunately I have to maintain some acceptance on the local sites to sell my mani's, O2's housings, dp's, stuff like that. I generally don't care, but a small faction of haters has assembled and this guy (with the coupe) is acquainted with them. My instincts almost tell me to send him down the road, but he has alot of friends with alot of different types of vehicles (WRX's, SRT's, etc) which could get me alot of R&D and jig potential for new products.

This really is a delicate situation, which is why I am going through all this b.s. walkin on egg shells.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

Start high, you can always negotiate lower until you don't feel comfortable doing all the work for whatever price you settle on.

Ask him what he thinks is fair for the job, and then you figure out if you're willing to do it for that.

After all, you're the one doing the work, not one of us. Do it for what you feel comfortable doing it for. I would say as long as you don't go into the red on this deal, you're fine, since this isn't a main source of income for you anymore.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

its different then that...like i said a shop does pay for insurance, incase there is an accident (weather on a road test, working on the car, tuning,ect...) so if there is a problem the insurence will cover it. now if this guy fucks up a motor or hits another car during a road test...do you think he would cover it??? probly not and thats just one of the reasons shops charge that much (to pay rent, pay the tech., cover insurence, keep the doors open)


this guy probly does it out of his garage (as do you and most of us on here) and no offence to the guy who started the post (it's not directed at you) but if i rolled up to someone's house and they told me $70/hour. in the words of fook i'd tell them to

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

1,500-1,900 for labor, he covers all parts costs then charge him an hourly for tuning. :)

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

Just the crowd you don't want to cultivate.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

Consult the sponsor sections on various honda sites. Collect data on pricing. Make a ------ sheet. Print it out and hand it to him as an estimate. Any parts you suggest to him, you should collect 5-10% for your professional advice. If you are not happy with the amount of money you'd make compared to the amount of work you will have to do, simply tell him that. You could also hand him a quote, explain to him he can have the work done for less money, but he should understand who you are and the quality you will provide.

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

didnt you already bitch and whine about this in the h-t welding fab section like 2 months ago?

i think you did...

Re: People been bitchin about my prices lately...need some insight here...
 

if he's part of these "haters" then he's probably just playin you for a cheap install

bottom line is you set the prices for good quality work, if he doesnt like it he can skip his happy ass down the road to someone who will do a shitty job for half the price.. some people just dont care about quality of work, if you do, straight up tell em that and most people wont mind paying a little more for good quality if they can afford it