$ per hour

We all know the cost of parts for our cars. But what would you estimate the number of hours YOU'VE spent and at what price per hour? May give some members a good idea what to charge for the project cars. So what ARE YOU WORTH per hour? Me, I figure my time at $20 PH

I'll probably say 100+ hours I've worked on my car (and it's not finished yet). When ever I do side jobs fixing peoples cars I usually charge them half of what a shop would charge. Am I worth that much? I don't know you would half to ask my customers that.

Priceless! Just kidding. For me I enjoyed most of the work and treated it as a hobby. I probably don't work fast enough to charge an hourly rate. I usually help out friends free, especially my sons friends with their Mustangs. I try to pass some knowledge and skills on to the computer generation. My son is impressed with all the tools I have.

Now don't lose sight of the question. Me I do almost all ouside work these days non gratis. But, what's our hourly rate amount to on these things we love if we took them to the auction?

We charge 35.00 per hour

I charge $65 p/h.

Jim

@ anything below $40/hr, you're cheating yourself.

We all know the cost of parts for our cars. But what would you estimate the number of hours YOU'VE spent and at what price per hour? May give some members a good idea what to charge for the project cars. So what ARE YOU WORTH per hour? Me, I figure my time at $20 PH

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What a Great subjective question ! Here's the deal with my 2 cars..First the mustang I will grab the time frame from nov 2010-march 2011..5 months Where me & my helper worked pretty much everyday (5 days a week 8-5=40 hours a week) 1 month=160 hours x 5=800 hours ! I can tell you what I paid him (full time helper) excluding MY time $8000.00 !!!!! was his end ..which if you do the math is $10.00 per hour. My end for my skill level & expertise minimum $50.00 per hour Do the math.. I will never ever see my $$$$ Time investment back.(I'm doing it for strictly because the car has sentimental value & I want my kids to have that car when I'm no longer walking this earth a legacy if you will) If you look at the videos though you can see the massive amount of work we did in that short time frame. Labor rates are very subjective since it really depends on what your doing , the skill level of the tech doing the job & THE TOOLS HE HAS TO THE DO THE JOB. You can take the exact same job Put a B tech on it at say 20 an hour where it takes him an hour to diagnose the problem and 2 hours to repair the problem. total 60.00..Now put an A tech (at say 30 an hour) on the same job..30 minutes to diagnose & 1 hour to repair (he invested in better tools so he can work quicker) Total 45.00 See how subjective it is !! The other thing which factors into a "labor rate" is overhead..You can have the same job at 2 different shops but 1 has a lower labor rate Why? because maybe his rent is lower or maybe he has no payments on his equipment..The thing you guy's seem to forget even though your working out of your home is OVERHEAD. If I pull into markmels driveway & ask him to repair my car It still costs him $$$ for him to work on my car..he's got an electric bill to pay...insurance..etc. It's not a free ride. So that 20.00 an hour he's charging is not really 20.00 in his pocket. something else to think about if your doing work on the side & you own anything of value (home car's etc.) Is liability !! what happens if I leave my car overnight while in his possession he leaves it on the driveway & next morning he finds it's been broken into? or what happens if he does a suspension repair for me & I'm driving down the road the wheel falls off & it causes an accident ? You can bet your bottom dollar that your insurance ISN'T going to cover JACK ! MAKE SURE TO COVER YOUR BUTT when doing work out of your home. Ok enough I could on & on ,I think you get the picture ! Numbers on the camaro just the last 6 weeks doing up the engine compartment & motor 240 hours my helper $2400.00 Me well forget it I'm getting depressed looking at these numbers Anyway I charge $50.00 per hour & you can bet I'm going to "pick & chose" the work I do based on liability!!)..The going rate here is $90.00-110.00 per hour .

Yeah. I'm thinking with the hours I/we put in vs. paying the going rates charged to have it done outside. We may be only making $5.00/hr but we're saving thousands. TRUE?

Yeah. I'm thinking with the hours I/we put in vs. paying the going rates charged to have it done outside. We may be only making $5.00/hr but we're saving thousands. TRUE?

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Supposed top notch resto shops charge minimum 65 per hour those 5 months would have cost me $52,000.00 at a resto shop My cost including my time 48,000.00 So yes I saved a few grand The biggest thing.. I GOT A MUCH BETTER JOB That I know is done 110% in 5 months not years because they had to work on other cars besides mine !!! That alone is priceless..Just ask anyone who's had their car in body shop hell / prison

Yeah. I'm thinking with the hours I/we put in vs. paying the going rates charged to have it done outside. We may be only making $5.00/hr but we're saving thousands. TRUE?

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Supposed top notch resto shops charge minimum 65 per hour those 5 months would have cost me $52,000.00 at a resto shop My cost including my time 48,000.00 So yes I saved a few grand The biggest thing.. I GOT A MUCH BETTER JOB That I know is done 110% in 5 months not years because they had to work on other cars besides mine !!! That alone is priceless..Just ask anyone who's had their car in body shop hell / prison

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oh Q, you had to drag me into this conversation huh?

Yeah. I'm thinking with the hours I/we put in vs. paying the going rates charged to have it done outside. We may be only making $5.00/hr but we're saving thousands. TRUE?

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Supposed top notch resto shops charge minimum 65 per hour those 5 months would have cost me $52,000.00 at a resto shop My cost including my time 48,000.00 So yes I saved a few grand The biggest thing.. I GOT A MUCH BETTER JOB That I know is done 110% in 5 months not years because they had to work on other cars besides mine !!! That alone is priceless..Just ask anyone who's had their car in body shop hell / prison

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oh Q, you had to drag me into this conversation huh?

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Yep Tn...Misery loves company ::blah::

& your in the same boat as me PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN ..& You had to pay to get your body work & paint done..Lucky I can do it all ! Look on the bright side at least we will have something to show for it..unlike people who waste money on other addictions

I misunderstood the question I usually charge from $40-$50 an hour.

I have almost 700 hours into the '73 Mach 1 I just finished. Yes, I kept track. Dollars per hour would equal 0, because no matter what I would "charge", I would never get it back out. The way I figure, I either spent 700 hours doing something I love, or I would've spent 700 hours watching sitcoms. Time would've passed either way, but now I have something to show for it.

Steve

I have 38 years in mine. I guess that puts me at about -.05 per hour. It is something I reall don't want to think about. Kinda makes me ill.

I can't even begin to guess at how many hours I have accumulated over the past 27 years of ownership.

From the first brake job to a couple of motors. Engine bay paint, fitting headers, adding rear sway bar, putting interior and painting undercarpet, swapping guages, on and on and on.

I don't work on other peoples cars, if I do it's for free. A Jeep club I belong to recently met and swapped a good body onto the frame of a jeep that got rolled. That was fun! There were about a dozen of us working on various parts of the car (okay, usually only one or two actually doing something at the same time it seemed). The cool part was the various skill sets that had come together.

Final thought. I do almost all of my own work. Transmissions, rear ends and paint are the only things I don't do. I justify buying tools based on the money I save. I am trying to decide if I should swap the convertible top myself or not...

I dont even track the hours on the stang. TOO depressing.. For outside jobs I estimate at 40.00 per hr. I dont advertise and the shop and tools are paid for, my only expensees are elec./ heat/ and theres always building upkeep and tool replacement. I have a 69 Dart coming tomorrow for 2 new 1/4 panels, no paint. price $800.00 labor.

I'm with FastE. I figure with the material costs + my time + beer + band aides = under a dollar an hour.

The cost to be able to MERGE....Priceless

I think that if a shop is performing restoration work, the rate should be $55-$65/hr and $85/ hr to paint.

If you break this down 35-45% would be over head.

15-20% would be profit margin.

30-40% would be wages / benifits etc.

You dont have this kind of overhead in your garage.

You wouldnt charge a profit margin on your own time.

You wouldnt charge taxes or enviormental fees.

$20-$30/hr would be a resonalble rate if you professionally do this for a living.

A professional body man or mechanic should have at least 100% higher productivity that a average weekend mechanic.

So $10-$15 should concider for you monitary investment.

So if your doing work your self you can take the extra hours to go way beyond the effort that a job shop would do.

I think my time spent on my car is priceless becuase i enjoy it and it gets my head out of the every day grind.