Time.

[rodwc]

It never ceases to amaze me that some people in the comunity ( not necessarily this one), simply have no idea of just what is involved with repairs of reps.,or for any other repair or mod.

I have been in the antique clock restoration business for over 30 years, and whenever a quote or price is given (before hand)

the customer in many cases is shocked. (hence giving a price beforehand).

It simply comes down to a few things.

A quantity of time given by a competent , suitably qualified, experienced workperson, is going to cost far more than the average worker receives in general, why?

That person receives no holiday pay (with loading penalties).

No sick pay.

No paid lunch and tea-breaks.

No superanuation.

Outgoings ( in the form of work premises) (fortunately I work from home.)

Equipment.

Etc.

There are only so many hours in a day ( 24 to be precise )

After sleeping, eating, relaxing, this usually leaves approx. 8 hours left to earn money to survive.

If the average wage/salary is approx. A$1000 per week, this will break down to A$25/hour.

If anyone thinks for one minute that a self employed person can survive on this , then they really have their heads in the clouds.

Start thinking at least A$60/hour. (even that is being more than conservative)

So for the average rep stripdown, clean ( thats ultrasonic )and re-lubricate, mods,what shall we say?

4 hours? (think I am being a tad conservative)

If there are any complications on the watch, even sub dials etc. it is going to be far more.( and how many reps get re-jewelled?)

So lets say A$240-300.

Now lets not forget that this is a rep. ( The whole initial outlay didnt amount to this !!!!)

So what, the point is this,the time that the watchmaker has spent working on your pride and joy, he could have done the same working on a gen. watch. (and would most likely get more satisfaction out of it ).

Time is money.

I have worked on total pos on occasions, simply because the customer loved that clock or it was sentimental to them.

Now sentimentality is a whole new can of worms ,so we wont go down that path.

Each and every person puts a value on their time (especially in to-days world.)

So , if you are unable to tackle a job yourself, please consider just what the person who will be working on your piece

has done to arrive in his or her position,and if the work is bad, you have every right to complain, and loudly.

If you go to the doctor or dentist , do they give you any guarentee ontheir services? (dream on).

Edited December 11, 2007 by rodwc

[gioarmani]

Hmmmm.....

[Corgi]

Your post has done a very good job of convincing me you are a hard working, honest, and professional watchsmith who deserves our business.

[rodwc]

Your post has done a very good job of convincing me you are a hard working, honest, and professional watchsmith who deserves our business.

Unfortunately there is a vast difference between a watchmaker and a clockmaker.

When it comes to watches , love them yes,

experience with them , no.

A watchmakers equipment is totally different to a clockmakers equipment.

Afraid of taking something different on , NO., but definately not yet.

That really is the long and short of it.

The following post may give you a better understanding of the situation.

[rodwc]

Unfortunately there is a vast difference between a watchmaker and a clockmaker.

When it comes to watches , love them yes,

experience with them , no.

A watchmakers equipment is totally different to a clockmakers equipment.

Afraid of taking something different on , NO., but definately not yet.

That really is the long and short of it.

The following post may give you a better understanding of the situation.

This is my work for the past 60 hours.

Restorers dont necassarily like what they work on, ( but it pays the bills )

Enjoyed working on this , (but dont like it )I couldnt even give a quote at the start of it,for total stripdown,bushing, repairs, polishing, re-silvering.

I simply said it would be expensive! mainly because of its size,and complexity.

The owner is very understanding and extremly well heeled.

[offshore]

@rodwc,

Some years back, I did some business consulting...amd we had a formula to work out the "real' cost of an employee.

Can't dig it out right now (and it would have altered anyway, with changes to super etc).... but it was dam close to 50% of an hourly rate, on top, to cover super, holiday pay, leave loading, sick pay, compassionate time off, etc etc.

So an employee on that mythical $25/hr, is costing his employer somewhere around $35-$37hr or a touch more.

Self employed or not, you still must take your wages as an overhead, or cost of doing business, and it is not unreasonable to expect to obtain some profit on that cost. So a 50% margin, (which is skinny by a lot of companies thinking) says a minimum charge out would need to be +/-$54hr, (not far short of your $60 guestimate) JUST to return outgoings, and a minimal level of profit.

From recent experience, I can assure you, that an electrician earning $25/hr, is charged out at $75/hr+ !

The other real problem, is productive hours! We were seeing the best of our workforce, who were working a 40hr week, able to offer at best, the ability to charge no better than 30-32 hours/week. So in redoing the sums, that $75/hr is looking very close to the mark!

And if you have slack workers, who are not correctly booking time (or a system not capturing it well) you can see a worker falling to 18-20 charged hours/week. then the numbers are looking decidely unhealthy!

$60/hr?....probably not enough!

Offshore

[rodwc]

Very true,

you have completely understood what I was attempting to put down.

Allthough if the true rates were to be charged, there would certainly be a downturn

in workload. ( until that is , the customers tried to get the work done elsewhere, at

a cheaper rate ) then they would find that "you only get what you pay for "

Or," if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys"

[freddy333]

A good rule of thumb to use for a for-profit business is to charge approximately 3 times your total cost. So if a job costs you $25/hour (whether that is in parts, supplies or labor), you would charge the customer $75. Of course, you have to filter this general formula to fit in with your local market & competitors' pricing.

[FxrAndy]

I hope than any of the people who thought that Ziggy's prices we less than fair read this!