Well said! We raised our labor rate by $20 this year to $170. May not be high enough still. But my main issue that we're working to solve are the large leaks in the dam. We're correcting the labor guide to more closely reflect actual times or building contingencies into our estimate to allow for us to request more labor when needed. When communicated correctly it works.
Then we are rounding up the labor. Labor guide is close sometimes and has errors or is misleading at other times.
In a class today, we discussed bumping the actual labor time by 20-30%. Then he said to add 10% to the total and give everyone a loaner car or Uber.
Being afraid to charge properly all the time was an expensive lesson. We're doing way better now. I feel like we are about 80-90% corrected. Also, need to keep one of my techs from doing unauthorized / unsold work too. When he gets on a roll, stop is not in his vocabulary. We're working on this too.
Productivity isn't an issue for us yet as I'm staffed for where I expect to be (which is overstaffed for today). We'll be ready to manage that when it is required.
I'm happy that our profitability has grown enough to allow me and my shop foreman to attend the Vision Training Conference in Kansas City. Today was the 1st of 4 days. Both of us had a great 1st day!
Raising Labor Rates and Prices May Not Achieve Profitability
in Joe's Blog
A blog by Joe Marconi in AutoShopOwner Team
Posted
Well said! We raised our labor rate by $20 this year to $170. May not be high enough still. But my main issue that we're working to solve are the large leaks in the dam. We're correcting the labor guide to more closely reflect actual times or building contingencies into our estimate to allow for us to request more labor when needed. When communicated correctly it works.
Then we are rounding up the labor. Labor guide is close sometimes and has errors or is misleading at other times.
In a class today, we discussed bumping the actual labor time by 20-30%. Then he said to add 10% to the total and give everyone a loaner car or Uber.
Being afraid to charge properly all the time was an expensive lesson. We're doing way better now. I feel like we are about 80-90% corrected. Also, need to keep one of my techs from doing unauthorized / unsold work too. When he gets on a roll, stop is not in his vocabulary. We're working on this too.
Productivity isn't an issue for us yet as I'm staffed for where I expect to be (which is overstaffed for today). We'll be ready to manage that when it is required.
I'm happy that our profitability has grown enough to allow me and my shop foreman to attend the Vision Training Conference in Kansas City. Today was the 1st of 4 days. Both of us had a great 1st day!