All, Thanks for the comments. Let me clarify:
1) With us this is a business not a hobby – Like the rest of you; we are in this for the money. At the end of the day, ALL costs – labor, materials, overhead must be paid and what we must charge the customer must cover those costs plus our profit targets or our kids don’t eat and our wives get annoyed with us.
2) We base our bidding on the estimate the total cost of the job plus profit targets.
3) The question of hourly rate is really one of presenting the customer with an image that we are a professional shop that will not compromise on codes, safety, materials, workmanship or quality. However within that framework, we will do everything in our power to save the customer money.
4) When a homeowner asks, “What is your hourly rate?”, we currently them we charge for materials plus $xx for the first hour and $yy for all hours after the first hour. This seems better than telling them that we charge for travel, set up, etc. If asked why, we explain that the first hour has to be hire is because it includes travel, set- up, etc.
5) When an R&R contractor wants us to do a job T&M and asks our rate, our response is that we charge less for less for full day jobs than for short service calls.
I think this is consistent with what I am hearing you guys say, if not please let me know.
I think the more important question is what are realistic targets for keeping your electricians productive. If your guys are less productive than average, you have to charge too much and eventually get an R&R reputation. Thanks to mahlere for the link.
