About 10 years ago I was talking to the now retired owner of essentially the only
machine tool sales company out here.. We were talking about a repair that his tech
did in the shop I was working at.. NOW I realize his rates were really reasonable.
$90 an hour for travel, $110 an hour working and $50 for an overnight.
The owner said he had to go up to $110 an hour on travel also, he was losing money..
I didn't believe him, so he gave me a little business/math lesson... 75 miles per hour
that he had to pay the tech 50 something cents a mile. That's $40, tech was making around
$30.. Up to $70 an hour now... Add in the SS and insurance and vaca time and we are getting
towards $80.. And now if the guy is on overtime, we're getting right towards $100 an hour
for a $30 an hour tech to drive. Also count in that they didn't whack you for gassing up time,
piss time, traffic jam time etc... 220 miles, you got charged 3 hours, the tech may be
getting paid for 4 to make the drive...
He was losing money on travel..
And then not every hour is billable.. Need to pay for that somehow.. I never paid a penny for that same guy
to talk to me on the phone and baby step me through a problem..
Compared to what you pay Cletus to change a water pump.. Its rather reasonable... The total cost may
be ugly at the end, but when you break it down, its rather fair.