CNC/Conv milling and turning @ $30/hr

[metlcutr55]

many thanks to the creative bankers and investors, my workload is non-existant. i need to make house payments. garage size shop, 3 axis cnc turret mill knee driven, and 17" gear head x 35" z length cnc engine lathe. pm me or email metlcutr55(at)yahoo.com, replace (at) with @. and mods if this is out of line please nuke. thanks.

[metlcutr55]

lots of reads, no messages, no contacts. hey make a comment, why no response here. the rate is good, and theres no backlog. what do you all think? why no responses? do you think im just clueless not having any backlog? could be, im a horrible salesman. or is it that bad out there? id like to hear your input.

[Runner4404spd]

first of all this is not the place to post this. this forum is for posting jobs that need to be done. your more than welcome to bid on whats posted. second, yes it is bad out there. by you whoring out your labor rate your no better than the chinese. no real shop can sustain itself at $30/hr unless your a hobby shop. if thats what you are then say so and bid your jobs accordingly.

[metlcutr55]

Originally Posted by Runner4404spd first of all this is not the place to post this. this forum is for posting jobs that need to be done. your more than welcome to bid on whats posted. second, yes it is bad out there. by you whoring out your labor rate your no better than the chinese. no real shop can sustain itself at $30/hr unless your a hobby shop. if thats what you are then say so and bid your jobs accordingly.

i offered the mods the option to pull this thread. hobby shop? maybe, just a big garage, the equipment ive listed, and support equipment, ive been running 12 years doing this solely, supporting myself and family and making all the payments. the rate was about 2x the $30 in the subject line. now i just need to make my house payments before the bank decides it's theirs. but when i asked for comments i didnt ask for a ****ty attitude. the chinese can go to hell. you can go with them.

[mikeh78]

runner4404spd, why the hostility?? we are all trying to make it. It is very frustrating for all of us. If he can do it for $30hr then good for him. He is trying to pay the bills. If you and I can't compete with that then we need to do better!!! I am making it part time as a second job on $30/hr myself.

This forum is more for the "small guy","hobby guy","garage guy", etc if you are a medium to large shop this is the wrong place to be. Most people that post here are hobby guys that are not going to pay more than $30-50 Hr for parts. I can count on one had the number of "big" jobs posted here.
So hopefully we can all just give our best effort and sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. But there is a lot of negativity here lately. Everyone keep your head up and pray for better times.

just my .02

and good luck metlcutr, I wish you the best.

[Runner4404spd]

metlcutr55,

after rereading my post it does sound really harsh, i am really sorry, was having a bad day when i posted it. good luck to everyone with their struggling shops out there, and since i didn't give any good advice to you here is some that has served me well.

never post your hourly rate. even if your at $30 an hour most places are looking to get a quote on a part. they really don't car if you charge 30 or 100 per hour as long as the part is good and your per part is competitive with everyone else. if you can do it in half the time or quicker than someone else thats great. but trying to get into someone with a really low dollar per hour figure i have found to be hopeless. there are guys on ebay that post and sell shop rate for $30.00/hr and never a single bid.

maybe you want to post some examples of work you have done. do you have a website? set one up, it won't cost alot and you can showcase your products or things you have done with customers permission of course.

again, sorry for the over active typing and good luck to you...

JErry

[mikeh78]

Jerry
that is great advice!!!!!
Good luck to you also, it is bad out there.
I hope we all can get thru it. Every day we lose another shop around here.
If we can weather the storm it will get better.
Mike

[Donkey Hotey]

Whoa! Careful, you don't want this thread getting punted to Jo Momma.

[metlcutr55]

jo momma! ah ha ha, Donkey and i share some space on another forum where a thread tending toward controversy would be booted to a special section, where EVERYONE would likely pigpile on ea other. Jerry, no harm intended to you, or anyone, including the chinese. perhaps i should have said "im willing to work at a big discount, need to pay the bills now". i agree with the opinions that hourly rate is not necessarily the issue, have often felt when buyers ask "whats your hourly rate?" it was a fairly pointless question not knowing what you can do in an hour. some of them seem sharp but others only look at the bottom line. even dealt with a large machinery maker who insisted ea part has a standard cost, that the per unit cost should be the same for 1 part as for 20, regardless of matl mins, setup, heat treat, yada. and had a habit of quoting and buying 20, then needing 5 for the same price down the road. my choice of working comfortably mostly by myself with good but older and slower machinery puts me in a spot to make the 1's and 5's and 10's and sometimes 100's, almost never 1000's. im trying to develop some product line of my own, but it takes time, and beta time to prove before selling. i have lots of resumes out, and would jump at a job at a decent rate right now, but most around here will train an operator and pay $10/hr. i guess time will tell. thanks to all for the good wishes and the same back at you.

[Runner4404spd]

not to sound like a schmuck, but if your working for 30/hr and that includes materials, heat treat etc. then you might as well go an get the 10/hr job. it probably also has benefits which is a hidden cost that most don't associate with their pay. nothing stops you from working there and working at home on your own stuff. i started my business after hours out of my basement and now i own my own shop. ultimately, being your own boss is great, but there needs to be a time that you step back and do what is right for your family.

[Dualkit]

Check out this poll I postedhttp://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78445

Never post an hourly rate, according to the poll $30 hr makes you expensive in here! $30 an hour could be more expensive to a customer than $75 an hour if
your methods of production are slow. I am glad the OP posted feedback, I didn't
think any pleas for work were getting any responses, he confirmed it.
Most people posting RFQs in here have day jobs, so the quantities and dollar
volumes are pretty low, and most of them don't have a lot of money to throw
around. I have been bidding on the freebie sites for almost 2 years, I have found
one steady customer that I was making $1,000 a month profit on till the economy has slowed them to a crawl. So far this year I have brought in $3800
off of internet bidding, I am using it to fill time, until my own products start selling again or I develop something else that sells. These sites are not going to save anyone's slow business. It does seem new people crop up by the day
with hopes of scoring work, the race to the bottom isn't over yet.

[denmar]

I have a small shop, 1 fadal, conv lathe, conv mill;;I used to make in a bad week $1500/1800, that's $ 30.00/hour; now I will charge $ 30.00 LABOR ONLY+ MATERIAL,
PROGRAM, SETUP AND TOOLING..