Some one post over on carsound about shop rates, so I got to thinking what are the ranges in Canada ?

In the US it seems like $50 - 95 a hour.

 

I've seen shops as low as $35 and as much as $85 but the average seems to be $50.

 

$55.00 is the going rate...

 

Charge what you think you can get - you should !!

Your'e doing custom work and you have more experiance than the "FREE" deck installer at the big box stores.

I'd say you should be at least $60-$65/hour minimum.

Go for it !! If someone bitches, you could always say you'll do it for $45/$50 like the box stores, but you should be demanding higher rates !!

I'm starting to charge $65/hour for our custom home guys and I get it no problem - people are used to their mechanic rates being in the $70/$95 hour range - $65 is a deal !!

For car audio I charge $65/hour - and if the person says they can get it cheaper elsewhere I sell them on the quality of labour. If that doesn't work - I can always drop to $55 like everyone else !!


Go for it !!

 

I wasn't suggesting that ALL of them were - but I would say that the majority of them have nowhere near the experience of Tim (if not all of them). And they typically are not getting the jobs that Tim would be going after anyway - or at least I've not seen that type of work from these store in quite awhile.

Your'e right though, there are some good installers at the bigger stores - sorry if I offended anyone.

It is the perception out there that they dont do the quality of work that a custom shop would do. And that was really my point........when was the last time A&B Sound raised their shop rate - I worked there back in 1991 and it was $45/hr then !!
So if they're not going to change you either have to live with the $45/hr rate yourself - or go with the perception that your'e doing better work and have the right to charge a higher rate.

E/G. Mercedes in Vancouver charge $95/hr
Dueck down the street (GMC) charge $70/hr

Doesn't mean that the Mercedes mechanic is better, but perception is that a Mercedes mechanic should charge more than a GM mechanic - and they get away with it !!

That was the point I was trying to make - not that a big box store installer is not as good as an independant shop installer !

[ January 18, 2005, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: G-MONEY ]

 

I remember back in the day Speaker Works charged $150 a hour, which is funny as hell cause if you have ever been to their shop, they have the big neon painted sale signs on the windows and swap meet style bulk displays on the floor. Sure there are a million trophies and pictures everywhere but in general it looks like a swap meet [img]smile.gif[/img]

 

Tim, we follow the ICBC shop rate, in our area it is $50.00 hr + $5.00 hr for shop materials. Custom work is quoted by the job, but for a deck and 2 or deck and 4 it has been a good way to go. Everyone here is pretty much in line with each other as far as install prices go except for the custom work which we are the only shop that does it.