Body shop rates

[mikepmcs]

Just interested in what you body techs are getting an hour as far as rates go. I finally convinced my boss(small shop, just him, his son Big Jas and me) to up his metal work hourly rate to $55.
We are still getting killed by the Insurance Co. at $42 an hour which is insane IMO in todays market.
Just curious

v/r
Mike

[hemi-hampton]

Here in Detroit Insurance rate is only $38 a hour. I only charge a cheap low $40 a hour on my Mopar Restos while some others charge $70+. LEON.

[CurtisC]

Seriously? Holy its over $70 at most places where I am. I wish it was $50.

[jaak]

I was just talking to a guy today, and he charges 35/per hour on his restos. Thats in North Alabama. I thought that was a real good rate.

Jason

[restoman]

Up here in Sarnia, Ontario the door rates hover around $55 to $60 per hour. Mine is at $55. Dealerships are higher. My paint material is $30 per hour, on top of the labour rate. Structural repairs are billed at $60 an hour.

Our bodyman gets $21 per hour, the painter makes $25. I'm the owner, so that means I work on volunteer pay.

[Mike DC]

   
Honestly, the thought of a $20K labor bill for bodywork sounds like less of a fraud risk than the shop that charges you $5K in labor for some other job.  (Not that a huge number is always a better deal.  I'm talking purely about the likelyhood of shoddy work problems.)



When the final number gets huge, the hourly billing rate usually had to be high as hell and the shop owner was brutally realistic about how many hours it was REALLY gonna take.  And the work had to be a MAJOR priority to the customer if he's even willing to consider paying that much for raw labor in the first place. 

Both of those criteria tend to shift the probabilities away from getting bondo-fabulous work under the paint. 


 

[hemi-hampton]

Is the guy in Northern Alabama working out of a Building/shop or is he working out of his backyard garage or pole barn? If you got huge overhead & rent on big fancy building you rent or your personal back yard garage could make a big differerance in hourly rate. I only charge $25 out of my garage. LEON.

[dads_69]

I charged $85.00 an hour when I did side work. I quit side jobs a while ago. I paid myself $35.00 an hour regardless of what I did, in the end, I usually made out okay. I work for a shop now, rates are $55.00 to $65.00 an hour depending on what is needed for repair/paint work.
Ins. jobs are $55.00 as normal for here and many other places in USA.
I'm doing an easy body/paint job on a '68 Vet' right now at work, closed door but hood will be off and misc. items. I'll have maybe 60 hours total into it and we charged $7500.00.

Mark

[jaak]

Is the guy in Northern Alabama working out of a Building/shop or is he working out of his backyard garage or pole barn? If you got huge overhead & rent on big fancy building you rent or your personal back yard garage could make a big differerance in hourly rate. I only charge $25 out of my garage. LEON.

He is working out of a shop, on a state highway. Its not a huge fancy shop, but big enough to run a business in. I don't know if he owns it or rents it.

Jason

[BigBlockSam]

wow i wish . the 2 last shops i used charged $75 an hour . and had my car for 2 1/2 years . i brought the car  home in piece's Rene

[AutoRust]

Here at AutoRust we charge $75/hr. For Metal work.We dont do finish work, so this might not apply to the actual topic.
Our overhead is retarded, I am considering raising the rate to $80/hr.
My foreman makes $25/hr, plus, so his pay package total is near $45/hr when you add in benefits, and my matching costs for taxes, insurance, etc.
My Techs are in the $15-$20/hr range. Taxes are what kills me, I am overtaxed and under served. 

[Mike DC]

I wanna do that in the future.  Just find a shop that'll take my money to do metalwork ONLY. 


I don't mind paying $50-100 per hour for the body done right.  But it's infuriating to pay the big rate, and actually get $80 paintwork on top of $20 metalwork.  I always come away wishing I could just agree with them about where they're gonna cut corners in the first place.  The shops usually promise perfection, and then actually do metalwork much worse than I would have demanded, and it's covered by better paintwork than I would have demanded.   

[AutoRust]

It seems to work out well for our customers. We do the metal, then when it gets to the body shop, they can concentrate on what there good at. Around here I have found most body shops are not good at the metal work these classics require, and deserve. Sure, they can weld an OEM replacement quarter onto a 2006 Honda, by the book of course, but when it gets to the older stuff, they just get bogged down beyond belief. We all hear the stories of such and such a shop had my car for 3-1/2 years, and never finished it, or had it for a year and never started on it.
My customers often tell me the body shop is happy they don't have to do metal work, and can just prep and paint it. A lot will do that if thats all they have to do. I understand my labor rates might seem high, but when your a specialized company, you have to charge what you need to in order to make it happen.

[mikepmcs]

Sure, they can weld an OEM replacement quarter onto a 2006 Honda, by the book of course

There's books out there for that stuff, we don't use no stinking books?

[Charger-Bodie]

RATES:

Insuance repars

Sheet Metal.......42.00 per hour

Mech/elec..........44.00 per hour

Frame................50.00 per hour

Refinish..............42.00 per hour

Paint  material.....24.00 per refinish hour


Resto

Metal and repair...40.00 per hour

Repair materials....10.00 per repair hour

Refinish...............40.00 per hour

Paint materials......26.00 per hour

[mikepmcs]

RATES:

Insuance repars

Sheet Metal.......42.00 per hour

Mech/elec..........44.00 per hour

Frame................50.00 per hour

Refinish..............42.00 per hour

Paint  material.....24.00 per refinish hour

Brian, wow,that is really close to ours(insurance) almost all the way down within a couple dollars.  I guess the $55 I was talking about is the guys/gals coming off the street cash money with serious rust and metal replacement.  I know it looks like $55 is exorbitant but Danny always charges too little hours to do the job .

So the money ends up being reasonable for the customer in the end anyway, and Danny actually makes a little profit like business is designed to do, if that makes sense.

v/r
Mike

[NYCMille]

Damn... Bodywork up here in NY is more like $85 p/hr and up you guys are lucky