$40.00 an hour, that's sad but the reallity. I remember our shop was doing well for itself some years ago, back when the dollar still was worth something. We were bringing in roughly $80.00-$100.00 an hour and like I said that was back when the dollar was worth something. There was no competition locally that could compete and everything required us to go to the factory/plant to check the repair/modification/build, so that cut out the 3rd world. Then those plants shut down 1 by 1, leaving us with a few big companies that we've been doing business with for 35+ years. Taxes and power were cheaper, value of the dollar was higher and we were making nearly double of what we make now. Then you have your insurance, which I'm sure most shops on here don't have to worry about. But we were forced awhile back into getting insurance because of some of the operations we do and that is one healthy chunk of money. Especially when work is slow, it's a real pain. No doubt about it things have gone from bad to horrible for the majority of business's.