HVAC around here is billed usually around $100.00 to $150.00 per visit. That usually works out to around $75 per hour.

Handymen in this area charge around $15 per hour and $10 per hour per helper. Hiring a handyman is cheaper but you notice the lack of craftsmanship in the overall product (lots of putty and silicone to cover the mistakes.) Hiring a contractor is not any better around here, just more expensive. They farm out most of the job to less skilled workers and just do a little oversight. You can either accept the substandard work or complain about all the defects but they usually don't care.

Yes Milt you need to be more known. If people know you do good work then you will get the job even if you charge a bit more.

For instance my experience with plumbers has been this:
- I want the work done asap and if not now then a firm time. Forget those with answering machines. A cell phone on the job is disruptive but at least I can talk to a real person and get a firm time.

-The plumber is clean and takes his shoes off at the door. He must clean up after the work is done.Butt cracks are okay!

-A decent personality. I do not want to hear about his marital woes etc.

-The job must be done right and if everything works out well he/she will get refer
als even if more expensive. Quotes by the hour or job are fine but no snow jobs...

This thread has gone sideways somewhat but quality of work is more important than a quick low cost job....

miami rates

one American= 2cubans=3 hatians=4 illegals

and that goes for the doc and lawyers too

Medical rates are hard to pin down. My regular Doctor charges around $165 per visit. I get to see him for around 15 minutes, his nurse for around 10 minutes, and his wallpaper for around 35 minutes.

If I go to the quick care the bill is always around $250 per visit.

Baz, to directly address your question about billing, not pay, one has to look at the circumstances. for instance, I get 35 an hour for part time or short day work. Sometimes more, but not that often these days. It's just me out there, so when the subject of price comes up, I can't ask for $100-150/hr. That's preposterous. Yet I still have the truck to buy gas for, etc.

If I have a helper, I can make a little on the helper and I certainly need to at least charge what he costs me. If I have a crew, I can profit more because mark up is spread out amongst the many. And if I have a commercial location with staff, I need to charge for that.

So, the worst case scenario is me out in the field alone with someone in an office in the background. That's why we had answering services 30 years ago.

[QUOTE=Baz;7321756]Dean - sorry you are having to bail out there....hope things work out for you.
QUOTE]

Baz

All is well and thensome...thanks for your concern

Dean

you get a Merican there?

The company (HVAC)that I work for charges $125 for a callout/diagnosis then $125 an hour labour plus parts and or material. This is for commercial customers (apartment buildings included).
Labour rate is $60 per hr. per person for installations.
I don't do residential work anymore.
I'm in the refrigeration union (UA) so I'm making $42.70 per hr.
The indy Porsche mechanics have been charging over $100 per hour since 2002. It's probably higher now. I do most of the work myself now thanks to this fantastic technical forum.

There's still a lot of apples being compared to oranges here. An indy Porsche shop must spend 30K for a PSIII computer and monthly maintenance of same. They have large overhead what with all the environmental regulations. I'd much rather be floating around out in the field from job to job rather than having some inspector coming around checking my work invoices for oil changes against my waste pick up log.

I would think commercial refrigeration would be the hot ticket because there is virtually no DIY work. It's a very captive clientele.

My HVAC / ref guy hates his job. He's a small outfit but take care of many of the accounts in the Staple Center and the Center itself is one of his. He's always on call from 5am to 12pm. He makes lots of money, but no time to spend it. Vacation with his wife and their new baby? Forget it. YOu go when they tell you to to. Half way to vegas, you almost have to turn around and service them.

The guy that I've hired in the past has a 2000-ish Econoline, tools, and himself - that's it for overhead. $75/hr makes him cheap in our local market, and most of it goes to his pocket. Not a bad gig.

Isn't it that way for everyone?

I assume that it is that way. He and I have gotten to be really good friends. We discussed about life and business often. His kids have gotten older too quickly and he just missed it due to too many calls on Sundays half way during breakfast or lunch and family time. Not complaining or anything, but these commercial jobs will kill ya or lead to the ending of the family unit. Stressful. I am not saying one should be a slacker, because you wouldn't last in a service business. I found it isn't just the quality of the work, and that's a given but the service. so many trades people lack communication needed to be in business.

Can be a very tough business and feast or famine. You can also lose an account like that in a heartbeat. Last company I worked for serviced a major national retailer for 20+ years in the Chicagoland area to the tune of 90+ stores. Lost the account with cutbacks. Someone was willing to do it cheaper and will provide poor service. This even with our company known to be their top contractor in the US. Fortunately I got wind of this accidentally at one of the stores and moved on.

Present company I'm working at( 2nd time ), I do most of our commercial work and will be leaving in 2 weeks. I just don't feel comfortable with long term future. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. Luckily I scored a job that will be very good to me long term.

This is a good way to go and where I see the residential market going. He makes more money and can undercut a legitimate business. Only problem is ability for him to service his customers during extreme weather conditions.

If you have a daytime emergency and he's already on another one or at a problem call, he can't get to you. He's only one guy. Not saying this will happen but it can. So you end up calling someone else, he losses a customer.

Sorry to hear about your situation. The jokes goes like this. The commercial guys know their business and the their trade very, but they never sleep due to the big money. All of the residential jobs are left for the fcuk ups like me that sleep all day long.

Even most executives and white collar desk jockeys are on call and often have to rearrange vacations or skip them altogether. I haven't been able to take more than a few days off at a time for the last 25 years. Even then, I was on call and took work with me. It is even worse now because I have to lug along 3 different laptops and two phones when I go on a couple day vacation. It is so hard to get through the airport that it is hardly worth it.

wow surprised on some of the answers here .

local plumbers (masters) $35 plus benifits same for electricians, masons, carpenters, hvac this is union pay scale but most indy's pay there crews the same. Average charge to the end user is $90 an hour.

No need to be sorry. I've always have worked in my 20 year career. I just had something come my way only a fool would turn down.

Dean

Yep, but he's cheap enough that he'll always have plenty of business. Back to that low overhead thing, he doesn't have to charge extra to cover a fleet of vans, buildings, administrative staff, etc.

Another good point. I'm never 100% off of work. On vacation I always have a laptop and Blackberry that I check periodically. It's just the nature of my job. At least most working in service industries get paid extra to be on-call. When I was a mechanic I was paid a small amount for every hour of on-call time, then overtime if I actually had to answer a call.