How do you bill for your time?

[creia]

A few recent threads (most recently lefty's) have reminded me of something that I've been curious and meant to ask before...
How do you professional techs get (adequately) compensated for your time when you are diagnosing/trouble shooting and engine that a customer brings in to you? Do you get a deposit or some type of diagnostic fee up front? If so, does it generally adequately cover your time? I would hope so as I can imagine that some (many?) will bale when you present them with the labor and material repair costs after you diagnose the problem(s).
Michael

[bgsengine]

we'll tell em up front, if they are not willing to put at least $50 into a unit, don't bother bringing it in - from there it's a flat $35 estimate/diagnostic which becomes part of the labor time if they go ahead with the work (since we would have had to tear it apart anyway.) Once they realize that $50 is more than half the cost of a new one from WalMart or Home Depot, they don't bother having it fixed, (when its cheap handheld junk) We've mostly eliminated those anyway since we started working only on brands we sell - so they bring a Husqvarna or Stihl and we send em out the door to find someplace else to fix it .

[RoyM]

Charge them minimum 1/2 hour up front to cover the time writing up the order and diagnosing. If it is a factory warranty issue assure them they will be reimbursed once you are paid. If not warranty and they choose to fix it the deposit would be included in the repair bill. If they walk at least you are paid for your time rather than being left with a scrap machine and no coin in your jeans. I worked for a distributor, we got a lot of consumer complaints about shops that adopted this policy, you have to be polite but firm.

[KE4AVB]

Isn't it strange how stupid the customer assume we are?

I had customers the past thinking that just because I am the one writing the bill I get all the bill to put in my pocket even when I worked for the other fellow. Customers don't even think about the overhead we spend just to have a place for them to come to with an experience tech that knows what he is doing. They don't realize the expense we go through just have the correct tools we need to do their repairs available nor realize the time it takes look up parts and price out a job.

I have found out that if a few customers are complaining then your pricing is fair as there will always be those that want something for nothing. They are usually the ones that nit pick everything anyways.

On the subject of handhelds I am upfront with the customer on these that I don't waste their and my time working on those throw-a-ways due the costs involved.

If just all those that come by trying to sell me their broken equipment, I simply don't buy them. Normally it is too costly to do as I can't even sell them for the parts that I install to get them up to par.

[bobodu]

If they have a "BERNIE 2016" bumper sticker......I charge them three times more.

[Walt 2002]

What? From a Moderator?

Walt Conner

[bgsengine]

If they have a "BERNIE 2016" bumper sticker......I charge them three times more.

Yeah - to pay for the ones that get the work done for free (yeah, right)

[creia]

Many thanks to all that replied. I was curious as my son and I purchase mostly non-running engines (all 35-50 years old) and not only get them running but also do a full high-quality restoration on most of them.On these vintage engines that we take into inventory it generally takes AT LEAST an hour just to diagnose and figure out what they will need to just get them running again. We do not have clients paying us to do this, but if we did we would charge AT LEAST a full hour at the going professional small engine tech rate to cover our butts. The client would be made aware of this beforehand and need to provide a deposit in this amount. If they declined they can find someone else. It sounds like we would be consistent with what you guys are doing.
Michael

[KE4AVB]

That petty well sums it up...If the shoe was on the other foot they would be charging us. This I know as I once was on the other side and was having some else to do the work for me before I learned how. Besides even this internet that we research isn't cheap like it once was or it at least it not for me now that I paying nearly $60 / month here for the cable internet.

[Luffydog]

$60/month haha wow I gladly swap I pay over a $100. That's not including my phones with a hotspot for on site lookup for parts and pricing and that's $300. So yes I have to charge for the time I spend for diagnostics if not the numbers would decline fast into the -'s. if they choose not to fix at least I covered my time out from the other person unit that I was working on. Yes I do have a time clock that I do use just to keep up with things not all is charged out but other wise just to see how different jobs fall in the time zone.