Hourly Rates

[Papa1stuff]

I am beginning to think that Sawyers are not charging enough for their time.
I just had and air conditioner problem and the total bill was $635.00 , 313.00 for a part and 83.00 for din,and 240.00 labor .that was 3 hours at $80.00 per hour,now mind you that was for just one man with a few tools. Wow!!

All you sawyers not only have the mill but loaders ,chainsaws and lots of other tools ,and how much  do we charge ? $60.00 or $70.00 per hour for all that :-[

I think I will sell my mill go to school for air conditioning ,Wait a minute ,I am too dang old to do that ,guess I will keep on giving my time away and have  fun sawing!!
;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D

[WDH]

You are exactly right.  Many sawyers saw too cheap, and live on depreciation. 

[r.man]

I worked around a plumber two years ago and his rate was 80 per, hand tools only.

[Bruno of NH]

I'm a builder and run the jobs .
Jack up buildings repair them have thousands in tools and liability and get paid the least of all trades . It's very sad .
Bruno

[red]

Starvation Wages . . you have to find a Niche Market !

[Skip]

You have to charge what the market will bare in your area .

[starmac]

I met a nice hard working young man last year with a brand new woodmizer. I guess the look on my face was wrong when he told me he was chargeing 30 bucks an hour. He said do you think that is too much. lol  I told him I would be money ahead to scrap my mill and use him for everything I needed at that price.

Now granted he was part time, and trying to build up a customer base, with a manual mill, but was young and had already added power feed to his mill and probably could saw as much as I can with hydraulics.
He worked at the truss company, so I would imagine his day job paid somewhere in the 25 buck an hour or even north of that.

[rjwoelk]

Had a plumber replace our sewer pump in the basement, his rate was 130. Per hr.
I am looking at a min of $100.per hr for sawing.

[WV Sawmiller]

I met a nice hard working young man last year with a brand new woodmizer. I guess the look on my face was wrong when he told me he was chargeing 30 bucks an hour. He said do you think that is too much. lol  I told him I would be money ahead to scrap my mill and use him for everything I needed at that price.

Now granted he was part time, and trying to build up a customer base, with a manual mill, but was young and had already added power feed to his mill and probably could saw as much as I can with hydraulics.
He worked at the truss company, so I would imagine his day job paid somewhere in the 25 buck an hour or even north of that.

   My thoughts are once you establish a rate it is hard to go up so need to be in the ball park at the beginning. If this guy charges $30/hr this year and next year he tells his "customer base" his rate is $60/hr I think they will be offended. I might think was the old bait and switch routine.

    I don't try to knock any of my competitors who charge less than me. They know what they are worth.

[starmac]

Sawmiller I talked with the kid a couple of hours, and explained exactly that to him, he is a hard worker, nice wife with a baby on the way and just getting started in milling on his own. I also met his cousin, another nice young man who has a successful mill business in another area of the state, so will help him with tips.
He had decided to stay with the low rate for a while to see how it went, while explaining to folks that he was just starting out and that was his rate for a while only.
He seemed to be a good and hard working kid, with a head on his shoulders, I suspect he will figure it out and do fine. There is quite a few mills around here, but hardly anyone doing any custom milling.

[WV Sawmiller]

Starmac,

   I wish him well and hope it works out for him. I hope he is clear to each customer that is his "Introductory rate" so they aren't shocked and offended if they call him in the future or refer him to their friends.

   I'm in a little different position than many new sawyers in that my equipment is paid for and I am not dependent on the mill for a living. I expect it to pay for itself and plan to invest profits in more support equipment or for a little throw away money and not to make mill payments.

[Carson-saws]

Good ole "location location location"