What to charge for racking job?

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dirtyhanfri

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
677
Location
Madrid - Spain
Hi

I've been asked to rack a pair of SSL channels.

I have to build a PSU, work on the enclosure etc. Who sells the channels will give me the schematics and mail me a few pictures of one of his racked units, to get some ideas. He says it's not a hard work.

Materials will go around 100€ (rack case, toroidal, ac & audio connectors and psu comps)

I think it would take 2, maybe 3 days. One for build the PSU and make the holes in the box, another for mount everything and wire it. And the third day for testing and such. I work at home and could be in it full time.

Am I beeing too optimistic?

And, the main question ¿what should I charge the client? (He was my teacher when I was studying sound, now it's my friend and eventually my boss, when I work in his studio) I think around 300€ for my work is ok. Too much? Not enough? I'm kinda new at this job and don't want to underrate it...

Any suggestion will be welcome, thanks
 
I think 300 Euros is very reasonable. I don't think he would get it cheaper elsewhere. If you did it in his time while you are working at his studio how much would he be paying you?

Cheers

Ian
 
This is what I would have to pay for such a job (I don't do my own metalwork - I can, but a pro machinist is so much bettter):

Enclosure: £60-70
Machinist's fees: £80 (approx)
Toroidal, PSU PCB, Vregs, caps etc : £25
Sockets, wiring etc. : £25
Misc: £20
Total = £190 ~ 220 Euros... Not including a day of my time to wire, rack and debug everything... What if one channel has a problem because of a faulty component and you have to track this down?

Slim pickings... Show us your work. If it's good I'll send you some work for 300 Eu -)

Justin
 
I had my hair cut this morning. The barber spent 15 minutes and charged the equivalent of 10 Euros. That's 40 an hour or 320 a day. Surely your time is worth as much as his?

Cheers

Ian
 
@thermionic: Well, the channels are supposed to be in working conditions, at least that's what the dealer says..., and I was asking 300 just for my time, not including enclosure, psu and so.

@Ian: Yes, my time is as valuable as the barber's time, but I think he isn't the whole day cutting hair, also I work at home, this is kind of hobby for me, so I don't have to pay rent and some taxes for having a workshop.

Well, I was thinking in some less than I use to charge for my dayjob, also, I'm talking about 300€, plus the taxes (more than 21% right now). I'll go with 400+taxes & materials.

Thanks to everyone for the input
 
ruffrecords said:
I had my hair cut this morning. The barber spent 15 minutes and charged the equivalent of 10 Euros. That's 40 an hour or 320 a day. Surely your time is worth as much as his?

I dunno. . .  Lets all see your doo and hanfri's rack work and start a poll.  Hair is like motors to me.  Find a good barber and car mechanic and keep them happy.

It's always tough.  I still tend to double my estimates in the third decade of doing it.  The emotions of "doing it for teech" would lower my price because compensation comes to us in more packets than currency.  I find it dooming when I try to keep a clock while I am racking.  I use a radio in 1 hour sleep mode to keep track these days, and charge less when I can work in my pajamas.

I like to set a price for racking or refurbishing perfect modules and let the client know that any module problems will be charged at bench rates additional once I actually get the modules in my hands.  Some modules are cherries and I lower the fixed fee, and bad modules are documented and I explain my findings before I proceed on a mutually agreed outcome. 

Mike


 
in a systems design class I took the formula for estimating was total cost of parts plus cost of estimated manhours multiplied by 2 or 2.5 IIRC.
 
Again thanks for the advices.

Two main conclusions: I will charge a bit more, I'd like to keep it around 500 + parts cost, hoping everything goes fine. I talked to my client about possible failures in the modules and things that could make the final cost rise. He understood it, is a nice guy actually, and shows a respect for my job that makes me give the best. I think friendship is not letting me be objective, but hey, what are the friends for apart of making us loose some time? Anyway it won't interfere my dayjob.

As sodderboy said, working in pijama and a bit of personal satisfaction make aceptable to low the price a bit. I will work eventually with the racked channels, and people going in the studio will see them and ask about. That could be a good spot to catch some clients (guitar players who want me to build some pedals or fix something).

The another conclusion: I'm lucky about my hairstyle, I can cut it myself.

I created some kind of expectation here, a bit of pressure for a noobie like me  ;) I will post photos if I get the job.
 

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