[BigDogPainting]

I'm sure some people are gonna get mad and/or annoyed that I'm asking this. If your not comfortable, obviously, don't comment. I live in Northern California and charge $25 an hour on time and material jobs. I am able to charge for one way drive time when the job is 1 hour or more away. I know some contractors in my area charge "shop hours" of $50, but when your doing a time and materials job what do you get in your area?

 

[Ole34]

over here on the east coast ............phila pa ..mainline area we get anywhere from $50-$80 plus materials per man hour if you bid it that way but you'd be stupid if you did cause the money is in bidding the job not the hour, well at least for me it is anyway........i wont talk about my overhead because the crybabies in here will be all over it tellin me i have way more then whatever i state lol

 

[ewingpainting.net]

I live in Northern California and charge $25 an hour on time and material jobs.

WW

Thanks for letting me get that out


WW

 

[6126]

Lol This should be interesting. But, I will answer your question, More than double what you posted. And my question is.....where does your overhead factor into that $25 per hour? I feel if I was going to charge that I would be much better off just going back out and getting a regular job.

 

[Ole34]

somethings not right .............how can you charge $25 per hour ?? thats more like an employees hourly wage not an owner ......maybe im jsut tired but something smells fishy ............when i first start back in 1998 i was makin $15 per hour

 

[Ole34]

this thread could go Viral :blink:

 

[BigDogPainting]

of course.

 

[PatsPainting]

I'm a owner operator, I pay myself $28.00 per hour when I'm working on the job

Pat

 

[nEighter]

this thread could go Viral :blink:

you think that is why I am itchy and scratchy all the sudden?!

OP.. $25.00/hr is employee wage. No company owner can afford to charge that and survive. Get new customers, take your ad off craigslist, get a site, hit the pavement.. and you will do okay. But get that rate up man, you are a pro. Act.. AND.. charge like it.

Have you figured out any of your company's #'s?

 

[BigDogPainting]

To be honest I wish I could charge more. I bid all of my residential projects based on a $25 hourly rate and there are plenty of jobs I don't win. I manage to stay busy, but don't realistically think I could stay busy if I charged $50 an hour. As far as finding new customers goes, again, it would be great to find customers willing to pay $50 an hour. What do you mean when you say hit the pavement?

 

[ewingpainting.net]

He means, get out and find those prospects that are willing to pay a legit PC. They do exist! Are you licensed?

 

[BigDogPainting]

Yes, I am licensed. Are you only an ****** online or do you give people a hard time in your daily life? If you have high end clientele why would you bother getting upset when you come across someone that doesnt have the same clientele. Obviously, you would never work for someone that considers $25 an hour competitive so I am not taking any potential business for you. I can appreciate neighter who seems to be genuinely encouraging me to get my hourly rate up, but you just seem to be cutting people down on here all the time. Thats enough of my time wasted.

"When someone comes here and gets chased off I have a real problem with that." - Nathan "Administrator"

 

[PatsPainting]

Ok BigDog - I guess what everyone would like to know is the breakdown of that $25.00 per hour. Do you pay taxes?, does that fee include overhead "Your costs of doing business" A simple breakdown will help with the reply's you will get.

Pat

 

[AztecPainting]

Yes, I am licensed. Are you only an asshole online or do you give people a hard time in your daily life? If you have high end clientele why would you bother getting upset when you come across someone that doesnt have the same clientele. Obviously, you would never work for someone that considers $25 an hour competitive so I am not taking any potential business for you. I can appreciate neighter who seems to be genuinely encouraging me to get my hourly rate up, but you just seem to be cutting people down on here all the time. Thats enough of my time wasted.

"When someone comes here and gets chased off I have a real problem with that." - Nathan "Administrator"

Hmmm.... Don't get bitter, everyone knows what they are talking about.

$50.00/hr didn't use to make sense to me buddy, when I was working for a company I thought they were crazy insane and taking advantage of me, now I own a company and let me tell you something $25 per hr i is what I end up paying per employee per hour with premiums and workers comp + add phone bill (I believe you have one), fuel and operation cost (overhead) The rest is profit. Do the math.

Now answer yourself this question: How do I make money???

 

[BreatheEasyHP]

I do fine charging $35 per labor hour for myself and my employees. The most I pay an employee is $15 an hour, which with additional costs comes to $20/hr.

I then charge $1 for every hour in the bid to approximately cover for soft supplies and tool maintenance.

Paint and any other large items are added as needed.

My first job this year I hit 71 labor hours on an 80 hour budget, which effectively puts the labor I charge out at just under $39.50 per hour. Looking at my books, I'd say for the short-term I'm not doing better than adequate.

$25/hr. is not anywhere close to having high-end clientele. I charge that sometimes - for non-profits and poor friends. I call it charity work.

If I can't at the end of the month pay myself at least my share of my wife and my living expenses, my business has lost money - the owner's livelihood should be considered an expense (the most important one). I have a monthly amount to pay myself out of my business, then I'm able to see how much its left in my business account and check it against liabilities. If I have a lot left in the business, I buy toys:thumbup:

 

[6126]

Ok, I generally wont post my #s here. We have plenty of painters in my area posting on craigslist for $25 hr as I would imagine any other city does too. Some are licensed, some are not. None of them ever last though. And I will admit, I have posted my share on CL too, but its pretty much been a waste of time and its not the type of customers I want. Allthough I get very little T&M work, everything I do comes down to an hourly rate. Whether I am using unit cost, sq ft, or simply figuring hours on a job I know what my operating costs are and what I need to charge to cover them. Im guessing you have no employees? At one time I was running a 3-4 guys. I figured everything at $55 per man. And that is by no means high for a legit PC. That worked out OK. Now I have no employees and from my experience its hard to stay in business at that rate as a one man show because all my overhead relies on me as opposed to spreading it out over a few guys. I understand the struggle of getting the business going cause I am currently there myself. As already mentioned, focus on getting the right clients. One thing I do know is there are clients I target and others who are a waste of my time. Getting the right clients doesnt happen overnight, but what can you do to find them?

 

[6126]

I do fine charging $35 per labor hour for myself and my employees. The most I pay an employee is $15 an hour, which with additional costs comes to $20/hr.

I then charge $1 for every hour in the bid to approximately cover for soft supplies and tool maintenance.

Paint and any other large items are added as needed.

Not bad. Sounds like you have a good system, but how many employees? Still seems a little low unless you have at least 5.

 

[premierpainter]

We charge as little as $32 an hour up to $55. The difference is we have lots of guys working so they all pay into our overhead. Small companies have much higher overhead per guy. Go to mycostcenter.com and buy it. It will open your eyes to what you have to charge just to stay in business. It put our hourly rate down to $29 per hour due to lots of workers.

 

[ewingpainting.net]

BigD, I had to go back and reread my post. I couldn't find anywhere where I was kicking you down or even giving you a hard time. The reason I asked why you were licensed, was your rate seems to be of a unlicensed. That rate will keep anyone digging ditches. As you are bringing down the cost in our industry. Its not just a lose to you, but the whole industry. At some point you need to stop looking at as hourly rates rather as a unit cost.
Good luck, and no harm intended.

 

[billy the kid]

it seems to me at 25 a man hr u would need a bicycle or 50 to a gal van to get to work,gas is a son of a gun right now,on top of that workmans comp,insurance rates just got jacked up with out any notice just a bill in the mail...etc..etc... it s tough out here man but a little sun and its race on you know like on the deadlest catch,gotta get in as many exteriors as u can while its dry,doing decks in the morning and night when its cooler,booking interiors for wet days and winter,