give me your opinion

[Papabear]

A guy came to me needing help because his crown gear came off fell into his housing ane parts ad he ha spmebody else take it apart and they left town paid for the whole job. The vehicle owner asked me to put everyting back together but all the parts where in pails (water and pine needle filled) whereas i had to make swense from the jumble because he only wanted it all cleaned up and put back together. all the parts and the diff housing (had about a 1/4 cup of dust in grit in it)where left open to the environment out side uncovered for 3 mos. so i had to clean everything up (i am very thorough and meticulous) and i also had to replace the axle seals and axle bearings got the rear rotor/drums machined re-connected the driveline and did brakes on the rear axle i also put the tires back on and i charged him 10hrs and he thinks i am charging too much what do you think?

 

[joe_diesel]

A guy came to me needing help because his crown gear came off fell into his housing ane parts ad he ha spmebody else take it apart and they left town paid for the whole job. The vehicle owner asked me to put everyting back together but all the parts where in pails (water and pine needle filled) whereas i had to make swense from the jumble because he only wanted it all cleaned up and put back together. all the parts and the diff housing (had about a 1/4 cup of dust in grit in it)where left open to the environment out side uncovered for 3 mos. so i had to clean everything up (i am very thorough and meticulous) and i also had to replace the axle seals and axle bearings got the rear rotor/drums machined re-connected the driveline and did brakes on the rear axle i also put the tires back on and i charged him 10hrs and he thinks i am charging too much what do you think?

Did you give a quote prior the starting the job? If so and the job was exactly what you expected the I'd go with the quote. That being said, if the job entailed work that was not otherwise involved in the accepted quote at the start, then I would go with an adjusted price so long as I reviewed the additional charges with him prior to accomplishing the work. If not then "time and material" is fair. Further, for the work you did (as stated) 10 hours seems decent. I've worked with several guys that do this kind of stuff out their home and it always seems they under charge because of complaints.

 

[Papabear]

way that i do it is i charge a flat hourly rate plus parts (parts at full price not my discount) plus consumables ie. brake cleaner, silicone, rags/papertowels. ( all consumables i charge at my discounted price) all the shops in town charge full price for parts plus 25%, all consumables at full price, plus charge 110/hr. and my clock only runs while i am actually doing something on the vehicle. I don't charge for calling for parts or picking them up or any diagnostic time unless i have to open my tool box. whereas the local shops will have 3 vehicles in the shop simultaneously have the clock running on all 3 only 1 mechanic working and charge shop time for waiting on parts etc. And he did ok the extra work. i also know that the local shops would have gone by book time for every individual job wether they had it aprt already or not.

Tomorrow i am going to call all the local shops there's 4 and get quotes from them (i am personal friends with all the owners) They send me all there overflow or customers that can't afford the 110/hr ( like single mother's or young people that don't have alot of money yet in there lives) and once i get the quotes i will sit down with the customer and show him the difference i also know there is not a shop in town that would finih what someone else started ecspecially under those circumstances

 

[joe_diesel]

Right, most charge book rates here too. So, I'm guessing you charged more than $500 (which would have just been the labor cost). Even so, if you are less than book or even on book it's more than fair. Sounds like his issue really needs to be resolved with the first person who worked the job. I don't know about you, but I would rather do the job from start to finish. The crap of picking up where someone else left off is no fun and often does not result in time savings for me.

 

[Papabear]

i only did it really as a favour because the customer is a friends uncle and i only charge $50/hr the next closest is $110/hr (the first person was paid for the full job and skipped town.) i charged $500 on the nose. ( if i did the job start to finish my way) just the diff portion it would have been 4hrs with hand tools from start to finish. the time consuming part was the cleaning and figuring out the shimming as it was all mish mashed in a pail even the clutches where scattered so i had to match all the friction surfaces as best as i could.

 

[Papabear]

I already have a good rep for mechanical i am not concerned about one customer he has a rep as kind of being a shyster anyway i just want to to know if i am being fair or greedy

 

[Ironman03R]

I think he got a deal, sounds like about half of what some places would do, if they would even take the job at all.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Had a friend in Viginia Beach that worked on nothing but Jaguar, monday through thursday only. He was very good at what he did too.

Had one customer that needed his engine rebuilt and authorized the work.


As he was working on it and had the engine torn down the customer decided he didn't want to pay the bill and said he wouldn't pay what my buddy wanted so he chucked all of the parts in the trunk and told the customer to get it towed out of his shop because he would not work on it anymore.

Me, I'd crank up the air tools, rip it back apart, keep the new parts and say come and get it.

 

[joe_diesel]

Had a friend in Viginia Beach that worked on nothing but Jaguar, monday through thursday only. He was very good at what he did too.

Had one customer that needed his engine rebuilt and authorized the work.


As he was working on it and had the engine torn down the customer decided he didn't want to pay the bill and said he wouldn't pay what my buddy wanted so he chucked all of the parts in the trunk and told the customer to get it towed out of his shop because he would not work on it anymore.

Me, I'd crank up the air tools, rip it back apart, keep the new parts and say come and get it.

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I'd be tempted to keep the car (if you could) or at least file a mechaincs lean.

 

[Papabear]

well i keep a stack of transfer papers in my tool box and before i open the hood the owner of the vehicle has to sign them and they also sign a contract stating when payment is due and any arrangements for payment if any agreement has been met prior to me opening the hood. (he has paid me)