John Shanderuk

I love incsetual labor rates. Kind of like... What are you doing? I donno know what are you doing? Same as incestual advertizing (I usually do the opposite of what others are doing). Charge what you need to charge to pay people good money and yourself... I charge $181.09 and thinking of going to $200 an hour haven't had any issues. Maybe I'm pushing the envelope but it is what it is.

I am an import shop hence the name "Uptown Imports" been in business  35 years.

The techs start the estimate by adding the labor line with what and why it is needed. Prioritizing it, we use "R" Recommended "S" Severe or "SS" Super Severe and lookup the labor time. It would look like this "S-Brake flush (fluid black)"

The why is in there so the advisor has something to tell the customer about why it needs to be done,

Tech prints it and writes in the parts that are needed for each labor item. Then it goes to the Advisor. Advisor interacts with the customer.

Just raised mine again to $181.09 and paying techs $60 per flat rate hour. No tiered labor bonuses just $60 per hour. They write the estimates so they live with what they quote for labor. 

I'm charging $169.00 and keeping $17 an hour just for myself on the entirety of the labor hours of all techs when I do payroll, that's how I am paying myself. So if there are 200 billed hours I get paid $3,400. So figure out how much YOU want to get paid and go from there kind of backwards thinking but I got tired of being pooch screwed. Got tired of insestual labor rates (to want to look to those within your industry as your sole source of inspiration and best practices for building your business). I work hard for my money, I'm actually going to work now for awhile (Saturday) so I should get paid. Mike drop...

Sorry about the rant!

$169.06 an hour in Minneapolis no problems charging this much I gotta make money too!

Yeah had a garage door fixed. They put a link in the drive chain and adjusted it $300. Wanted a drain cleaned plumber was going to charge me $600 to take the toilet off the floor and put it back on! We do a heck of a lot more and need to know way more things than most trades but people think they don’t have to pay for it. I think the fantasy world is over the people in our trade want to be paid for what they do to and I think we should get it!

Raised mine $54 in the last year no pushback. Don't care what others are charging need to make this money to pay techs bills and myself!

I concur I've been through this twice first time was a nightmare. Second time I had everything thought out to a tee and it still was a nightmare took 3 years to get out of it. I would plan for at least 150 to 200% more than you think you're gonna spend.

This is the one I bought reliable, quiet, has an automatic drain for water. 
 

https://www.cp.com/en-us/compressors/products/piston-compressors/qp-series

I was discouraged by a compressor manufacturer in Minneapolis from buying a screw compressor because a auto repair shop does not run it as much as a body shop. It gets water in the oil for the screw and pits it out so you have to rebuild it. 

I've been using Lyft for about two years now. They have a dashboard that you can use to order the ride for the client on your computer.

On 4/21/2020 at 10:50 PM, Kushan said:

We use a wall mounted cell-phone locker to put keys in for after-hours pickups. SA will text the customer the lock combo. 

I do the same thing they sell these on Amazon.....   https://www.amazon.com/Salsbury-Industries-19035-06ASC-Mounted-Resettable-Compartments/dp/B00DHMUVNO/ref=sr_1_3?crid=35MYJSP8U2P6J&dchild=1&keywords=cell+phone+locker&qid=1587994745&sprefix=cell+phone+locker%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-3