Billing customers

ever had a bill from a Lawyer/Solicitor. There is always the last item....
Sundries. Paper, Ink, Coffee,Postage. $10.00
then, there is this..

“Charge ’em for the lice, extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks I knows
How it all increases, all them bits and pieces

Jesus! It’s amazing how it grows!” "
 
Location is often plays an important role in the cost of such work, if you are located in an area with a good deal of manufacturing there will be many large and small businesses that feed off of the manufacturers, the market sets the price. If you live in rural Nebraska and the nearest machine shop is 150 miles away charge whatever you can get.


This sums it up perfectly . The job has a price and if you're not willing to it for that price , someone else will . If my customer has a line down that's costing him 10 grand an hour , charge him accordingly . If it's someones personal job and he's not in a hurry , do the same . I always provided 24 hr turnaround time that the larger shops couldn't provide and I was always busy . Over time , you'll get the hang of how bad somebody needs or wants their parts .

Not sure how it is these days , but years back , invoices to larger companies from smaller companies such as mine were always put on the back burner . 30 days turned into 60 days , 60 to 120 , to never , etc . That is why I no longer do business with them and if I do something for someone , it's cash in hand . If not , go somewhere else . :)

And just FYI , my manufacturing plant moved out to rural Nebraska 2 years ago . :grin:
 
No one has mentioned tolerances. I would think that a job with low tolerances would be faster and thus you would charge less than a job with very tight tolerances. Also quantity should play a part. If you only make one, then you have to recover all the costs in a single part and there is no "learning curve". If your order is for 100 of something, it makes sense to spend a little time working out efficiency angles such as making a Jig to hold the parts so you don't have to indicate each one or just the fact that you you can expect to be faster on the 100th part compared to the first part.
 
No one has mentioned tolerances. I would think that a job with low tolerances would be faster and thus you would charge less than a job with very tight tolerances. Also quantity should play a part. If you only make one, then you have to recover all the costs in a single part and there is no "learning curve". If your order is for 100 of something, it makes sense to spend a little time working out efficiency angles such as making a Jig to hold the parts so you don't have to indicate each one or just the fact that you you can expect to be faster on the 100th part compared to the first part.
This is the most obvious conclusion that I have ever come across on a hobby machinists forum, bravo MR Boswell.
If I had charged every single car, motorcycle, antique, RC car/boat/plane, machine tool, woodworking, stamp/coin collecting, gardening, home restoration, architect, inventor, fisherman, cyclist, gardener, lawn care technician, general cheap person enthusiast far more they would have went away quickly, I did not do this quickly enough, lesson learned.
 
If I'm doing something for the neighbors then I might do it for a cheeseburger.
This is a great question, and some great responses! I have sidejobbed for decades, and everything said previously has merit! There is no easy, one size fits all, answer to this question. Your individual situation and the degree of primary income derived from this situation will dictate. My rates are:
Some customers get charged the "full bore, grief and aggravation" rate. Some get the "friendly local return customer" rate. Some, I just do the job to get to hang out with them. I have fired customers I simply could not get along with.
Good thing this aint my main line, for surely I would go broke!
 
Nowdays,I would think it very wise to charge and pay electronically,and keep all records of your expenses,and be very aware of the procedures for deductions etc...........Its so easy for the IRS to catch up with you,that full compliance is very wise.,including declaring cash income......usually you or your accountant can claim more in deductions that you actually earn,..............now this this advice comes from an old time tax evader,who never got caught,but it will cause difficulties if you want to expand ,or organize finance.....Also ,sooner or later ...someone will drop a dime on you to the tax,state,or county...........so best to know everything before you start.
 
And $4X if you worked on it before:big grin:
10 X if they insist on watching. 20 X more if they insist on HELPING and do not understand what go away means.
A humorous anecdote, on a Saturday, (Never Leave The Door Open On A Saturday) this is when the hobbyists (by hobbyists I do not mean hobby machinists but every hobby including every cheap bugger that thinks that they can fix their 30 year old Maytag washer) and cheap people prowl about.
The shop owner left the door unlocked and lo and behold some guy walked in with fairly detailed drawings for a lathe part, 1 part only.
Steel
The Shop Owner shows me the drawing and asks how long will it take, I tell him that we have the 2"+ material in stock and the part is 2" max diameter x 3" long so 3 hours max.
The customer was not buying $12.00 worth of material.
I brought the material says he, it was a nasty rusty 5" diameter X 5" long piece of unknown steel.
He did not understand that turning a 5" diameter blank to less then 2" would take a good deal of time even using a CNC lathe not including drilling, boring and threading a hole in the center an a few other features.
My employer told him to go away. Which I found nice after 30 years of dealing with these people when I owned my own shop.
 
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