Guest rfitz Report post Posted October 18, 2003 OK, I wont go into great length here, so I will just mention 2 or 3 expenses #1 if you are 30 years old, and you make $50,000 a year and plan on retiring at 65, you will need to save $25,000 a year in a IRA, to sustain that income level after you retire, if you live 20 years after retirement that is 1 million dollars in todays money, and probably with inflation closer to 2 million dollars so that expense is $2000 a month, that alone means you need almsot $12 an hour just to pay youreself for retirement... next is college funds for your children, that is another $5 to $15 an hour depending on how many children you have, now you need, Life, Medical, disabilty,dental, which is well over $1000 a month and closer to $1500 a month that is another $9 an hour, so now, with just those 3 expenses you are already at $25-$30 an hour and you havent paid for your vehicle, equip, biz insurance, advertising etc.. and the fact that all your equip. needs to be replaced every 3-5 years, stuff just wears out, so at $50 an hour you wouldnt be saving for the future, of anything, I hope this makes sense to all, or better yet, dont take my word for it, go pay a CPA $150 an hour to have him crunch the numbers, and you will see I am real close to his numbers he will give you... and finally, a normal person works approx. 2000 hours a year, we can work about 2/3 of that due to weather, bidding, paperwork etc.. so now you can only work approx 1400 hours a year total, and probably only 1/2 of those hours are billable, so at $125 an hour X 700 = $87000 now subtract all the expenses I mentioned, then take off 25% for taxes and you arent making $25000 a year, you would be better off getting a job, Kind of scary when you see the TRUTH...??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick G 14 Report post Posted October 18, 2003 Very good points, Rob and they all should be taken into account. I guess the lesson learned is that we are all different, like Alan said. Really we are all in very different circumstances. I already have money in savings from previous business, kids are enrolled in state sponsored collage Pre Pay Plan so by the time they are ready well be ready, dental is covered etc, etc. I think with some smart planning you don’t have to put the burden of all that directly on the price you charge. In this area I have made over 100 an hour on the occasional residential job. But every year my numbers always average out to be at around 50 per hr. And from what I can gather that is the going rate around here. I may be wrong and have been shooting myself in the foot this whole time, Which is why I asked the question that started all this disscussion. My accountant is a family friend and he agrees that my numbers have increased slowly every month and that my cost are in line. Who knows? Good discussion though… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest rfitz Report post Posted October 18, 2003 Now remember, that is my target, on alot of jobs including decks, I make about 1/2 of that target hourly rate because of materials, time, etc.. but hopefully with my new setups for next year, my time for doing decks will dramatically increase, I know that every area will charge accordingly, and that different work demands different pricing, but as long as you can stay profitable, at whatever price you charge is all that matters.. at the end of the year.. Take Care Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John T 744 Report post Posted October 19, 2003 The only thing I'll add to this is that to make any real money in this or any other business is you have to have employees do the work. I have between 1 and 2 partimers working with me at times. When I work by myself I can generate anywhere between $40-$150hr. If I had to guess I would say my average is somwhere around $80-$90/hr. Take into mind that I Live in NY where the cost of living is one of the highest in the nation so the Hourly rate will be higher here also then most states. Now $80-$90hr seems nice but don't forget that the traveling between jobs and doing estimates I don't make any money so I am probably knocked down to about $60 or so and hour for an 8 hour day. Which isn't to bad but the draw back is I can't make much more then this on my own because I am about as fast and good as I'll ever be at Powerwashing/staining. This is why I have Commercial targets in my head so I can hire Employees so I can make more money then I can generate on my own. What saves me now is that I have another job on top of Powerwashing so I can stay at the size I am now and always do all right.....but who wants to do "Just all right"???????? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karlosdaze 14 Report post Posted October 19, 2003 Bird muck has to be gotten off dry first! Try a tooth brush if reachable, or very small stiff brush on pole. Karl. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
