charge for work???

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noclinkers
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charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

I had a local shop ask me to make some pieces for them today to get by until they could fix their plasma machine that went down.

I made 12 pieces 59.5 x 14.25 with 4 having 1 pierces ea. and the others having 7 pierces ea. out of 14 gauge hot rolled.
They made the files, but I spent a half hour making them cut ready.
They supplied the steel, but I did pick up and deliver 1/2 hr. each way.

All toll I probably had 2 hrs. including drive time. What do you think a fair price would be??
Last edited by noclinkers on Wed Jan 06, 2016 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tnbndr
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Re: charge for work???

Post by tnbndr »

Price it like any other job you run. If you don't have a pricing structure set up, now is a good time to do so. Have rates for CAD time/hr, shop time/hr, rates for cutting taking into account number of pierces, length of cut, cutting time/hr.
There is an excel spreadsheet on this forum you can modify for your needs.
For your job description I would be at around $680.00 just off the top of my head.

Here is the spreadsheet location:

http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=9565
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noclinkers
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Re: charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

Wow, If that is the going rate I am seriously undercharging!

I do need to set up my price structures because most of my work up until now has been primarily art stuff and I price that a bit different but, being new to this type of work and by that I mean production or working with other businesses, I have no idea what are "going rates" within our industry.

Ok then, I need to try and figure out what my hourly charges should be.
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Re: charge for work???

Post by vmax549 »

There is really no such thing as the going rate . YOUR rate should be set based on YOUR overhead costs and your profit margin. Also remember IF you only have 1 process that is teh entire profit center (plasma cutter) your cutting cost will be a LOT higher than someone that has multiple profit centers in their shop. (plasma cutting, sheetmetal work, sand blasting,weldingfabrication, powder coating. NOW if you can cut 8hrs a day and 5 days a week then you will do fine with just 1 profit center but few shops can pull that off from my experience.

(;-) TP
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Re: charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

vmax549 wrote:There is really no such thing as the going rate . YOUR rate should be set based on YOUR overhead costs and your profit margin. Also remember IF you only have 1 process that is teh entire profit center (plasma cutter) your cutting cost will be a LOT higher than someone that has multiple profit centers in their shop. (plasma cutting, sheetmetal work, sand blasting,weldingfabrication, powder coating. NOW if you can cut 8hrs a day and 5 days a week then you will do fine with just 1 profit center but few shops can pull that off from my experience.

(;-) TP
Thanks, I understand this, but I really don't know where to start as I am new to this. I have been trying to read as much as I can and get a base to start at, but don't want to loose work during the learning process. I have put together a estimate and the colored text would be fees that I would charge. This is only four pieces of the order, but shows where I'm starting at.
What do you think?

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noclinkers
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Re: charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

I guess my numbers are way off above and the info is hard to see so I will try to make things more clear and add more info to help those willing! Thanks for the help.
I own my shop. I'm using a 4x8 torchmate/water table and a Hypertherm 65. 80 gal 2stage compressor with a air dryer. I live in Nor Cal around the Ukiah area.
If you need more info let me know.

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gary42095
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Re: charge for work???

Post by gary42095 »

2hrs total time. material supplied by them, i would guess 250-300 would be what i would charge. then again i dont do too much outside cutting. there are i think a few things to consider. local shop with their own table, competition? fellow small shop trying to make a buck stuck on hard times? big shop doesnt care just needs to get things done, you will never hear from them again
i understand the comments, run it like any other job,to a certain point.doing work to help someone while they are broke down is different to me than an outsourcing to get it cheaper or easier. im always willing to help someone out (not free, but not shafting either) if the shoe was on the other foot what would happen. will you get repeat work from this other company? will you ever be stuck and they can help you?
i had to call my competition once when i had equipment down, emergency job , sucked to be in that spot but whatever. i called and talked to the owner, told him i needed a truck sent out now. he did and sent me a bill. charged actual time, (not 4 hr minimum that is fairly typical) and was more than fair with his hourly rate. point is , he could have screwed me royally but didnt. stand up thing to do in my opinion. he has never needed my help probably never will, but if so i will remeber what he did for me and not screw him back. outbidding someone on work is another story.

charge , what YOU need to to keep going. i might have to charge more than you because my rent is too high, i have 10 guys i need to pay every week, or simply because there is no one else that can do what i do. same goes the other way saturated market, no overhead, etc.

just my $.02
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Re: charge for work???

Post by steel 35 »

300. + Because it touched my truck.
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Re: charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

Thanks for all those who have helped both here and Pm.

This is hopefully going to be my second career. I have been a Farrier for 26 yrs now and my back is letting me know about it. I have for sometime now been making artsy stuff plus fire pits and gates. My wife makes jewelry and we go to craft fairs, but I think that would be a hard way to make a living consistently. Seems as though the production work is the bread and butter if you can be fair and consistent in both your pricing and product.

Got a call from another shop just starting out and they have some work for me, so hopefully this is the start to it all.
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Re: charge for work???

Post by beefy »

noclinkers wrote:I really don't know where to start as I am new to this. I have been trying to read as much as I can and get a base to start at, but don't want to loose work during the learning process.
That is the approach I am taking.

I think it is better to start cheaper to acquire some jobs and get your foot in the door. Perhaps from that work, word of mouth will lead to more jobs. As you gain experience with both the process and dealing with customers (they can be great time wasters I'm finding out) you can gradually increase your prices until you seem to be at a "balancing" point, then perhaps back off a bit (isn't that how we find the max accel/veloc of our tables LOL).

For 2 hours total time, including 1 hours travel I'd be happy with 250-300. That's over $100/hr and really is easy money even after costs are taken out. It seems there's some here that think about $300/hr is normal, and if they can PERSISTENTLY get that rate then good on them. However I can't see such high charges being sustainable, and giving you repeat business, not for such simple service cutting.

I gave a pretty good price for my first service job and now they are knocking on my door for further cuts. This is the bit about customers wasting your time though. They said they have some 100mm wide strips of metal they want me to slice into 150mm lengths. I asked if they are flat and have a straight edge on one side and he replied, "As straight as scrap steel can be" (what the........... :lol: ). Crikey, when it arrived here it looked like some oversized mega robot had ripped it off what it used to be attached to. I guess customers can be trying different directions when they are trying to save a buck and want to "supply" the metal, and the back and forth communication can waste your time in the process. You have to somehow make up for that wasted business time but more importantly learn to see it coming and avoid it. Before they told me about supplying those strips of steel, I had been working on the cad side of things (wasted time). They also wasted my time on the first cut when they changed the material thickness after I did test cuts and DELIVERED them a sample. Oh and of course the guy who brought the mangled steel had to ask if he can see my table and we ended up chatting for a while. I've heard about that time consumer too.

You said you own your own shop. I take that as meaning that is one cost you don't have, but I don't think you should take that "overhead" off just because it isn't costing you now. Does anybody rent out a property for free simply because it's paid off, of course not. It's an asset that you own / have paid for and it should be returning your investment.

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Re: charge for work???

Post by noclinkers »

Thanks Kieth, I agree with you. I've learned a lot about pricing and that is important, but I had already decided 250.00 was a good price for this job. I will be using what I've learned in the future. I live in a small area and have done business with this shop before I got my machine and he is an really good guy. We all seem to cross paths regularly so I would rather him be happy and wave then to have a grudge all for the sake of a dollar.
Working with the public can be very challenging, rewarding and very entertaining!!
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Re: charge for work???

Post by vmax549 »

This is one of those cases where I think differently. Being he is a fellow job shop and you obviously know him AND one day I may need the return favor in the future I would have called him and ask him what he needed to pay for these parts while his machine is down so he did not loose money on his end. AND that would have been the cost. NOW IF it turned out that I ended up doing a LOT of support work for him THAT would be different He would pay a negotiated price based on SHop rates. But for this case it would be as stated.

(;-) TP
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