Monkeywithawrench
Senior Member
Time is money................my biggest bane is looking up and sourcing parts. The Mack with the fan belt that destroyed the clutch. I was sitting in the office at the desk (this is a shop that is 'unmanned' during the day, everyone is out working.........the adminastrative office is at the owners fathers house in the basement........admin assistant there 4 days a week). So the owner stopped by real quick to grab something and he walked in........."Taking a break?? Milking the job??" (He said this jokingly...........he and I have always joked with each other that "We need a parts looker upper....." as we both sit working our phones or laptop trying to source parts). I was waiting on the email from the dealer for the parts bracket.........because I guess they got my email wrong the first time.One of my deals is i am a Hour and half from a city all most 40 minutes from any parts. So even the close parts were half a day trip for me then i spent hours on the phone trying to find stuff. One of the last deals i did this was when i was working by the hour at a company was find a new seat for a truck. I had a good 4hours phone time and trying to find one time. How does a guy charge for that?
In January..........truck need cups and injectors...........extended crank when it was hot. Owner decided he wanted to send the truck to the dealer to have it done. Said I had bigger fish to fry on the heavier equipment. Dealer said it would take a day to do. I scheduled the appointment. When I scheduled the appointment I asked specifcally if they had the kits in stock and price. They had 4 kits on the shelf. They were booking 4 weeks out for work. The day of the service appointment was the first day of Febuary vacation for the schools. I was going skiing with the family. I finished up some stuff for him on Saturday. Sent text reminding him of appointment on Monday...........went skiing. Monday morning after coming home I get a text.......'How was skiing?? You still up in Maine??"...........I replied "Skiing was great!! Wish I was still there"..........the phone rang 2 seconds later. The dealer took the truck apart, pulled the cups, but didn't have a cup and injector kit in stock...........and there were none to be had. They found the cups but then couldn't source the injectors. I picked up the injectors, brought them to injector shop an hour away (their swamped with work too) to be tested.......then went home and spent 2 days working the phone and internet sourcing the injectors FOR THE DEALER.
We just need to remember..........our time is valuable............if we spent 4 hours on the phone and internet sourcing parts..........thats time away from our family's and our other endeavors. I charge for that time. Whether its sitting at home at the desk or sitting in the cab of the truck with the laptop looking up parts........same same. Its billable hours. Most of my customers don't want me running for parts..............I get that. Most of the times I can get away with having someone else go. Instructions are..........Call me when you get there...........Take a picture of the parts and send it to me............Do not leave until we verify the parts are correct. A few times that has proved priceless..........."Nope, not the right parts........those are wrong".
And sometimes I insist on getting the parts myself. When I explain that I need to look at something, or there are a few options.......only one is right, is cheaper for you to pay me to sit and wait if the parts are wrong while your guy (or girl) goes back to get the right parts??
Doesn't seem right, but it is right........you need to charge for your time.......there can be alot of time spent looking for parts. The difference between you and the dealer is you care (at least I do......and I'm sure we all care).
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