What to charge?

[Rita]

Our grandson is taking some carpentry jobs to earn money for college and was asking me what to charge for labor. Is there a formula like say double what the materials cost or just try to figure out how many hours it will take and total the per hour figure? Thanks for any help.

[FolioMark]

Depending on your grandson's skill level, 75-100 dollars for an 8 hour day is what I pay my local carpenter. Granted he's a friend, so I may be getting a family rate and he always gets his lunch as well, but 15-20/hour seems fair.

[Jenn]

It really depends what local rate is and your GS' experience. If he's never done this before and is going to help someone/work under an experienced carpenter then unskilled manual labor wage- higher than minimum/Burger King rate. What do new construction workers make around there? If he's a carpenter (unlikely this young) then local carpenter rates. If he's a slow/less skilled one maybe half carpenter rates since he'll take twice as long? He wants a rate such that BOTH he'll be willing to get out of bed for it AND at which the folks paying him won't decide at paytime "We'd be better off doing the work ourselves or hiring so and so for less"

This could be $6/hr some towns, $25/hr in others (usually bigger cities).

[Daryll in NW FLA]

Originally Posted by FolioMark

Depending on your grandson's skill level, 75-100 dollars for an 8 hour day is what I pay my local carpenter. Granted he's a friend, so I may be getting a family rate and he always gets his lunch as well, but 15-20/hour seems fair.

WOW, around here I pay $10.00 for help-if you work for a contracter $7.50 is the starting wage. This is a good place for getting reasonable help,but sucks for getting a good paying job. Daryll in NW FLA

[mommymushbrain]

My hubby's an electrician and when he worked for himself, he charged time and materials only. His rate as a master electrician is $20/hour for here in Arkansas. The electrician rates are comparable to those of a carpenter around here.

[FolioMark]

Daryll, I wish I could get someone to do simple carpenters work for 7.50 to 10/hr especially when Im down in Missouri on the farmstead. When my friend goes down there with me, I give him 75/day but he gets room and board with me too. So it amounts to about your rate. Is your local rate for skilled carpenter or how shall I put this..... "immigrant labor" ?

[Rita]

Thanks for the replies. He is pretty good at carpentry as his dad built their house with some help. His dad and mom have since passed away and so Zach asks gpa or gma when he needs info. He got a job replacing a deck where the wood had rotted. I think he took everything into consideration and thought it would take him two days. I guess you sort of live and learn with these things. Make some money on some jobs and lose on others. Rita

[Beeman]

. I think he took everything into consideration and thought it would take him two days. I guess you sort of live and learn with these things. Make some money on some jobs and lose on others. Rita[/QUOTE]


Actually that's the only way to learn how to price your work. Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is high. If he keeps at it he won't lose on jobs or he will understand how to estimate with an open end to allow for any complications.
Skill level is a factor, but if he is competent to do the job better to estimate as high as everyone else. He will encounter the same expenses as the others do and he deserves the same pay, don't let him sell himself short. I learned that when I first started working for myself I would try and keep the price low. Many times I didn't get a job because they felt it wouldn't be a good job because it was too cheap. The ones that did want the cheapest job were not the people I wanted to work for. Besides why did I want to make less?

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by Daryll in NW FLA

WOW, around here I pay $10.00 for help-if you work for a contracter $7.50 is the starting wage. This is a good place for getting reasonable help,but sucks for getting a good paying job. Daryll in NW FLA

Kind of makes you say Hmmmm.