What would you Charge for this

The parts overall dimensions are 3 x 4 x 4.25.I made 3 pieces from 6061.I cut from a big chunk with saw,and had to face and square 3 sides.Other 3 sides are factory.Tolerances are loose,along with finish.Customer supplied material.
The part is easy,just a lot of chips.
What I am trying to figure out is what my shop rate should be on parts that I feel I am running to best of my abilities with the equipment I have.
This part would give me a good idea for a middle ground.Nothing special about it,no scratching my Nuts or learning curve involved.No special tool or jigs. So if some of you would be so kind and give me some ideas of what 3 of these,machining time is worth in dollars.Don't care about time,just the money.Include the fact I had to saw cut and face and square 3 of the sides.Thanks in advance.

Hard to say. Did you use a hammer and chisel or a 5 axis machining center?

david n said:

Hard to say. Did you use a hammer and chisel or a 5 axis machining center?

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Don't matter how you want to make it.What is 3 parts worth minus materials.How much would YOU charge?

I'd say about $450 for the lot of three, that would include some programming time, as my machine takes forever without some instructions

He said he did not care about the time, so a couple of files would work just fine. No machine payments or 3 phase juice required--just LOTS of elbow grease.

Philabuster said:

He said he did not care about the time, so a couple of files would work just fine. No machine payments or 3 phase juice required--just LOTS of elbow grease.

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And since you read what I was asking,may I ask you"how much would you charge for 3 of these"

guy comes on the forum to ask a simple question because he has a problem.In my case I do not think I charge enough for my time.
I took the time to write my question thoroughly,hoping that I could get some good answers.But like I see almost all the time on here people want to give some meaningless answer. I re-read my post 10 times and still can't figure out how you cannot understand it,but hey Thanx

jrmach said:

guy comes on the forum to ask a simple question because he has a problem.In my case I do not think I charge enough for my time.

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Yes, I was being a smart ass since you said you did not care about how long it took.

Common question, but you are the only person who can truly answer how much you need to charge. No sense wrapping a few hundred dollar bills around each and every job because it seems like you are charging too much.

This thread had a lot of good replies on this very subject:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...ys-realistically-charge-one-off-stuff-256290/

Typical Ass Clown responses

You asking us "how much we would charge" so you can figure out your shop rate should have no bearing what so ever on what you "should" charge......period.

My costs are certainly NOT the same as anyone else's in this forum, and neither are yours.


You need to charge what ever it takes you to do the job to pay your bills for the time it takes YOU to make the part with a profit.

If your pricing, or your quality, or your delivery are good for the customer, you will win the job.

If it is not........that my friend, is called.....competition,.....and that's where you will need to figure out what you need to do to become one of the lead dogs!


Best Regards,
Russ

The basis for marketing is determining how much you can charge for whatever you are selling and still make the sale. The question is very legitimate. The same amount of material & labor go into production automobiles, but the value of each model is quite different.

I agree with the earlier reply, about $150 each.

Red James said:

The basis for marketing is determining how much you can charge for whatever you are selling and still make the sale. The question is very legitimate. The same amount of material & labor go into production automobiles, but the value of each model is quite different.

I agree with the earlier reply, about $150 each.

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That's all well and good and I don't disagree with what you are saying from a "marketing" standpoint.

The problem I have with it is his wanting to figure out what to set his "shop rate" on based on others responses to what they would charge. It's too broad based.

Some shops only charge $20/hr and can't get work. Others charge $100/hr and can't get it done fast enough to keep up with customer demand.

If he just wanted to know a price to charge for the pieces regardless of how long it would take HIM to make them, that's one thing. But to want to set HIS shop rate based on that info is wrong and not doing him any justice what so ever.

A guy from India or China comes on here, sees this thread and says he can make those for $60.00 total including material. His shop rate is now less than $10/hr if it takes him 6 hours to make those on a bench top mill?

There's a BIG difference between what he can "charge" for the pieces, and what he can set his "shop rate" on based on what others would do them for,.......and that was the question he was asking.

Best Regards,
Russ

wrustle said:

You asking us "how much we would charge" so you can figure out your shop rate should have no bearing what so ever on what you "should" charge......period.

My costs are certainly NOT the same as anyone else's in this forum, and neither are yours.


You need to charge what ever it takes you to do the job to pay your bills for the time it takes YOU to make the part with a profit.

If your pricing, or your quality, or your delivery are good for the customer, you will win the job.

If it is not........that my friend, is called.....competition,.....and that's where you will need to figure out what you need to do to become one of the lead dogs!


Best Regards,
Russ

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IMHO Russ pretty well nailed this.

You gave us no idea of your equipment and overhead.

There are many kinds of saws and mills.

Overhead varies greatly.

The value one puts on their time varies greatly. What is your time worth?

Gee, Russ..

You snuck your second post while I was composing mine and put detail into my position... LOL

lots of good things said above to be considered here. for me, off my cnc knee mill, self employed, so the only machinist i have to pay is me, about $100 ea. there have been times the mill has been down, if i had to go over to the little rong fu manual, it would take 3x the time, but i would charge less per hour, as i feel i am not offering my customer my normal level of service. but i am not going to work 2 days on these for $300, so maybe $175 ea in that case. if Morris the local maple syrup maker wanted them i might ask for 5 gallons of grade b, if it was Roy the small engine guy down the road, i might load the non running snowblower in the back of his truck and trade labor hour for hour, and expect parts at cost.

i actually see 1 day in machining. i with dung on this. about 150 each. i might go 125 if you brought me the material.

HuFlungDung said:

I'd say about $450 for the lot of three, that would include some programming time, as my machine takes forever without some instructions

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C'mon, Hu. Get with the times. You still don't have one of those machines that completely runs itself, like all our customers think we have? Just hit a button, DONE!

I think I'd be $150 each. I also see about 1 day of machining, and if a job will take up an entire day, I think I should be able to get $450 for a days work.

A good thing to do is to document the time it took you, with pictures of the part, or print of the part. Just in case it repeats, you'll know exactly what it took, and also, if something kinda sort of similar comes along, you have a basis of time involved to go off of.

There are a lot of jobs I've lost money on the first time around. But if I lose on it a second time, then I've got a problem to fix on my end. Keeping track of all costs and time is imperative.

I read your first post, looked at the part and figured $150.each before reading the rest of the drivel. 3 pcs like that done in a mill, about 5 hrs at $90/hr.

Thanks guys,,
Some of you get what I was after.I will try and explain a little more.Onesy,twosy is what I mostly dne man shop.Have manual lathe,mill,grinders sanders ,etc.Also have a Haas VF2.I am pretty good for tooling on all machines,By no means can I compete hour for hour with a full machine shop.I simply do not have the equipment,nor do I have the skill level,when you add up all the Brain power in a shop with many employees.So I am presenting this particular job because I feel the equipment and tooling and skill level on this easy job I should be running at %100 for my shop.
What I am trying to get a feel for is what is my services worth.I tend to under charge,and quite frankly I think I do not have a high enough opinion of myself and skills sometimes.
I hear all the times on here the amounts per hour machine shops charge.I do not think I can charge anywhere near what I hear.I know others are running jobs smarter,faster,more resources,etc.
By knowing how much someone would charge for the 3 parts,it will help me get a better idea if MY hourly is too cheap.Hu responded $450.He very well could of done that job in 4 1/2 hours.MY time for this job including meeting with customer,cad/cam,sawing,facing,squaring 3 sides,running 3 op's.clean-up,paperwork,meeting with customer again at pick-up was 8 1/4 hours.
So using the above information I could assume if Hu did it in 4 1/2 hours that his shop rate is $100 a hour.Well his shop rate has no use to me,because I certainly cannot charge $825.But his useful information of $450 can be applied.450 divided by 8 1/4 = $54.50 an hour.
I know there are many,many things to be considered when coming up with a shop rate.This thread I was trying to see (1)what the market would bear sort to speak (2)how much my skills are worth.I know I cannot walk away with the feeling that I can now charge $55 a hour,much more to consider,but this helps with figuring out where I should be.I am trying to re-evaluate myself.That's hard to do with a honest and fair approach.A lot of people tend to be overly proud of themselves,ME,,,I am the opposite.I know this,I under value myself.So I am trying to get a better grasp on just WTF I am worth.And asking this question is just one of many ways I can hopefully stay out of the poor house.I surely do not want to overcharge,I believe in being fair,but I believe as the years have gone by and my tool and machinery inventory has increased along with my skills improving and my speed of doing jobs,,I have not increased my shop rate in line.

jrmach said:

I hear all the times on here the amounts per hour machine shops charge.I do not think I can charge anywhere near what I hear.I know others are running jobs smarter,faster,more resources,etc.
By knowing how much someone would charge for the 3 parts,it will help me get a better idea if MY hourly is too cheap.Hu responded $450.He very well could of done that job in 4 1/2 hours.MY time for this job including meeting with customer,cad/cam,sawing,facing,squaring 3 sides,running 3 op's.clean-up,paperwork,meeting with customer again at pick-up was 8 1/4 hours.

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I'm a 1-man shop, also doing one offs. I would be in about the same ballpark as has been mentioned, $400-$450 for all 3 with material supplied by the customer. In looking at your process list above, I would charge for the same items. From experience, I would know that it's real easy for me to waste extra time on talking to the customer twice, clean up, and doing paperwork. So I would be careful about diddling around in those areas, but that's just me. I like to think I'm pretty good at machining though, and would probably cut the bar into (3) pieces last. It's aluminum with open tolerances. I would take the 3"x4"x12" (approx.) bar and square it up as one piece, including the ends. Then I would mill away both sides, and maybe even across the center of each part while it's still in one piece. Then I would saw the first part off, and mill the saw cut end of the main bar to size. Last, saw cut the bar in half to get the remaining two pieces out and then finish the ends of the three pieces to size. I tend to think of doing as much as I can with 1 setup.