xrac

Great post Andre. I have read both of your opening posts and found them both helpful and to the point. I welcome you to the forum as a valued participant.

Maybe Thanksgiving.

Good point.

We state all charges up front. Either they agree to what we will charge or they don't. I would do what I gave to do to resolve the situation and then I would fire this customer he us not someone you need.

As Joe has pointed out we can also make more money by becoming more efficient and packaging more billed hours into our day. I am dealing with some of those efficency issues at the present time.

When quoting prices I just give a parts and labor total plus tax. All that 99% of the people care about is the bottom line.

On Wednesday I attended a meeting sponsored by Jasper Engines and Transmissions with a presentation by the CEO for independent shop owners. Upon registering Jasper asked for the labor rate at every shop and reported the results at the meeting. We are here in the hinder lands in the mostly rural Midwest/southeast. The shops represented were from Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky. The reported labor rates ranged from $48-$109 per hour. The average was $78. If one had excluded the shops from the smaller towns I am sure the average would have been in the low to mid $80's. My point is that having been in your area recently helping my daughter I know that groceries, firewood, and HVAC repair are more expensive than in our town. However, your current labor rate is actualy lower than the average of the shops at our Jasper meeting. If I were in your shoes I would immediately raise my labor. If you want to do it in steps then I would immediately go to $78 with my ultimate goal of being at $85 or more within 12 months. You probably would be fine to immediately go to $80.

Welcome to the forum.

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.) If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!) The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!) A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.) A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig.) Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Don't try this at home - maybe at work.) The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (Honey, I'm home. What the?) The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes. Lucky pig! Can you imagine?) The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?) Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity.) Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.) Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?) Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (Okay, so that would be a good thing.) A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder how much the government paid to figure that out.) An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.) Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.) Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer.) Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig? Do the dolphins know about the pig?)

Sometimes the fault is with the tech themselves. I have interviewed quite a few guys who had a time of trying to make it a go on their own and they did a lot of cash work. However, I know there are a lot of shops out there that skirt the edges.

Performace is sexy but it don't pay the bill.

I understand. My experience is that the crowd that gravitates to performance, off roading, custom rods, etc. are always ordering cheap parts on line doing a DIY installation that is less then correct then come to the professional to straighten it up. This can be a losing proposition trying to follow along behind someone. Every year our town has the Frog Follies which is old street rods which we religiously avoid working on.

It does. I use to be reluctant t charge but not anymore. In a year's time it made at least a $20K difference in our bottom line. Look at what you are doing. My guess is that there are a lot of things you are failing to charge for.

WELCOME! I have found friends, knowledge, and smiles here.

What are your biggest expenses? How do you pay the tech? Do you charge for shop supplies? I think one of the first things to do is to raise your labor and to look at hiring another guy. Possibly a part timer or a entry level.

Our local Sears Auto Center has been open in the same location for 50+ years but it is closing. The main store is not closing. In the 70's and 80's it was incredible the business this store did. I think it has something like 20 bays.

My experience with ATI is too high pressure on selling me to suit me and they are expensive. I would consider Elite because of Joe's affiliation. If money is tight have you considered contacting your local Score Chapter too see if they can help you (https://atlanta.score.org/chapters/score-atlanta). Their help is either free or very low cost. From a long distance view point it sounds like that you need traffic and perhaps work on margins. 65,000 cars driving by daily does not help you a lot if those cars are all zooming by with no reason to stop. Car-x looks for destination locations preferably in retail centers.

Wow! The momentum is growing.

I committed to buy the Hawkeye System (no rack) this week. $25k with trade. I could have had the John Bean for half that. I purchased Hunter because it is faster and because service is available usually same day. John Bean service is very sketchy for our area.

Breaking even the first month is a very large achievement. You have a beautiful facility. Very modern and attractive. Thanks for the tour today. I love the amount of space that you have and the location. I predict a bright future.

We didn't have any trouble hiring employees but we had trouble in hiring good employees and the right employees. All my initial hires were with me less than 2 years.

Welcome to the forum. This will be a great resource for a new business. I can't help you find what you are looking fir but it will surface.

I was in the Texas Rose last night, at the bar waiting for a beer, when a butt-ugly, big old heifer (a girl) came up behind me, and slapped me on the butt. She said, Hey sexy, how about giving me your number? I looked at her and said, Have you got a pen. She said, I sure do." I said, Well, you better get back into it before the farmer notices you're missing. My dental surgery is on Monday. =

Here is more of my daughter singing. This is in Birmingham at Church of the Highlands. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10202931077583731&id=1406931130