This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

[John C.]

You don't bid jobs like that anyway but time and materials.

I worked twelve years at a Cat dealer. I never saw a flat rate anything in that time. Even warranty jobs that the factory gave times on were not flat rates. It was just a statement that said it was all they were going to pay.

 

[hosspuller]

Sometimes you have to charge extra either for unknowns you might run into or because the job is a real PIA to do. There are times when you quote really high when you really don't want to do the job but will for the right price.

This ^ post begs to have a repeat of an old joke ...

A guy walks into a bar and walks up to a beautiful woman. He asks her if she would have sex with him for $10,000.

She thinks about and says she would.

He then asks her if she would have sex with him for $100.

Disgusted, she declares, “What kind of woman do you think I am?”

He replies, “we have already established that, now I’m just negotiating price.”

 

[Truck Shop]

Or to by pass it, I've had many times I've waved off overhauls on big cam cummins, Especially if I
know it's a Cummins recon. Cummins used counter bore repair sleeves as a last ditch effort to
save junk blocks-a can of worms. It's a job and is money but still a can of worms.

I could rebuild 3-13spds in the time wasted on a BC recon. And all bench work.

 

[Welder Dave]

If you're an independent (mechanic or contractor) and aren't real interested in a job you can certainly put a higher quote/estimate on the job to make it more worthwhile for you to consider. Some jobs you just have to say no. At a dealer you don't usually have a choice if the job is assigned to you. There was a thread concerning this not too long ago.

 

[suladas]

I have a tendency to quote high on jobs I haven't done before or jobs I don't care to do. I am not familiar with this particular eccentric and have no idea what it may take to get apart once it is on the ground. If bearings have spun out and seized on the shafts, or seized in the housings.........I will need to torch those apart. I will have to inspect everything to know if anything is reusable, I will then have to make my own parts list, I will have to pick up and deliver said parts.

It would be a very labor-intensive feat. I'd like to know what Cat's flat rate is for this job. I'm not getting the numbers they are putting together but I haven't seen a formal quote. I know for a fact their labor will be higher as they will disassemble every single bolt with removing the side and drive plates and removal of the vibration and travel motors........ which is unnecessary the way I do these.

If I did profit 10K on this, uncle sam takes his 35-40% out of it right off the bat. Hell, I'm afraid I may be doing it too cheap

You guys pay that much in corporate taxes?!?! I thought we got screwed in Canada, but don't pay near that. And it sounds like you need more write offs if there's too much profit

 

[Vetech63]

You guys pay that much in corporate taxes?!?! I thought we got screwed in Canada, but don't pay near that. And it sounds like you need more write offs if there's too much profit

I pay an additional self employment tax of 14% last time I checked.

 

[John C.]

Income tax can be at a C corporation rate or an individual rate for an S Corp or LLC and is graduated. The more you make the more you pay. Now the income tax rates are bracketed and you pay more as you reach each bracket. You will pay 10% up to the $20,550 of income. Next bracket will be 12% on all moneys between the $20,550 up to $41,775. Next bracket is a big on where a tax of 22% will be applied in the range of $41,775 up to $89,075 and so it goes. Keep in mind that these rates are for single people. Married couples have different brackets. The highest range is 37% on money over $539,900. A common misunderstanding is that tax is paid at the highest rate on all money earned which isn't true. Taxes are paid at on money earned at each bracket. So if you made say $85,000 all your money would not be taxed at 22%. Only the money that was over $41,775 would be taxed at that rate.

On top of that we pay self employment tax which is Social Security and Medicare. Social Security rate is 6.2% for an employee and Medicare is 1.47% both of which an employer would match. Self employed people pay both sides of those taxes which come out at 15.3 for 2022. You only pay social security on money earned up to $137,000. There is no tax above that on social security. Self employed people pay the Medicare tax of 2.9% on all money earned.

All this sound horrendous but keep in mind that we get to play the expenses and deduction game to lower our rates.

 

[1466IH]

Or just let one of their operators run it for a few minutes!

Flip HNC or TNH $50 to go "fix" it. Within 10 minutes they will have have it immobilized

 

[joe--h]

Go at it like the dealer, change parts until it's fixed or customer goes broke.

Seems to work for a lot of dealer techs, flag the ticket and on to the next sucker.

Joe H

 

[Nige]

Even warranty jobs that the factory gave times on were not flat rates. It was just a statement that said it was all they were going to pay.

Unless you had someone who was very good at writing Supplementary Claim reports........... the good old "If you have a $50k claim you need a $50k story, not the few almost illegible words written on a mechanic's Service Report" type of thing.

 

[Vetech63]

I may be mistaken calling it a flat rate. I remember back in the 80's working for the Terex dealer a book rate of repair time we used to reference on quote jobs. I also remember those repair times being under ideal conditions which were never the case. You could bank on running over 90% of the time.

 

[Mobiltech]

You guys still have me saying WTF !! 40 % tax!

 

[John C.]

Those rates are for poor people. The billionaires have a different system.

 

[Junkyard]

You guys still have me saying WTF !! 40 % tax!

We say that ourselves on a regular basis!!

 

[Pony]

Bugger, looks like along with fuel prices, we win again.
Our system appears basically the same as yours with the brackets, but our top is 45% over $180k.

 

[joe--h]

You don't need your money, we have better things to do with it.

Joe H

 

[Truck Shop]

Those rates are for poor people. The billionaires have a different system.

Yup-it's almost 0%

 

[suladas]

You guys still have me saying WTF !! 40 % tax!

Yep! I guess we don't get screwed with taxes in Canada. As a small business (under $500k gross revenue) the tax rate is 11%, 2% in Alberta, 9% federal.

 

[suladas]

Yup-it's almost 0%

That's just so stupid. It should be the opposite. If your profit is in the millions you should have a higher tax rate.

 

[Mike L]

Except for the part where many millionaires are the employers in this country. We’re probably walking a fine line here where this thread can get derailed and closed. Let’s tread lightly.