Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

its like i tell my boss all the time.......2hrs if it wants to be done.......sometimes it doesnt want to be done and what should be a simple job goes south. i never look at the time it takes thats the mechanics problem i look at what was done for how much i was charged. i restored a mgb and could get the muti carbs ballanced after 2 days i trallered it 200 mile to a shop where the guy spent 3 mins with a screw driver then changed a jet in one carb and with in 25 mins had it purring he didnt use a air flow meter or anything just did it by the sound of the motor. then he handed me a $150 bill what could i say other than thank god you fixed it.

 

[durban]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

i share my knowledge & skills for free , i be-leave in 0ne hand washes the other hand , because to morrow i need help with something else , i come & ask you very nicely , if you don't wanna help you've lost a good friend .

 

[Cofe]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

"Good mechanics are hard to find". Is in the first statement that you made on this post. And when a person usually finds a good mechanic, they are snowed under with pending jobs. Some mechanics will raise their rates to limit the work load they have. By doing it this way, they are in fact saying that if you want the best, then you better be willing to afford the premium work.
Other wise go somewhere else.

 

[CVX20SPRINT]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I'm not a marine mech,but have been a licensed auto-tech for 30 years(15 of that at a GM Dealer).I have a lot of time,money and training invested to get where I am now.Sometimes it boils down to you paying me for what I know and not neccessaily what I do.Like the guy that set the MGB carbs,it is sometimes ends up being cheaper to pay a guy that knows the product inside out even if it seems like alot for the little bit he actually did.JMHO.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

Guy brought his 1979 55 Evinrude to me to fix.
Well....crap.....I had to clean every electrical connecton from the starter to the battery, replace the batt cables, just to get it to turn over fast enough to generate spark.
Ok now I got spark.
Now gas....rebuilt carbs to get it running.
Started it up....no water from the pee hole. Digital temp gun showed overheating within 1 minute.....
Ok, pull lower unit, attach hose directly to water tube, which was rotted from age....got water to the engine, restarted.
Ran like crap. Why? It was getting water in the lower cylinder while running, with the hose attached to the water tube.
Leaking exhaust plate, side gaskets.....OK.....now I gotta pull the powerhead to fix that leak correctly.
Eight powerhead bolts, I got three out, but the rest were frozen. Not budging.

Today, I called him and told him to come get the engiine. That was it's last breath. Done.

I didn't charge him BECAUSE I DIDN'T HELP him any....I guess the only help I gave him was to tell him his engine was done for....
I figure I lost a ton of money in labor only, but I just can't charge a guy if I can't help him. If he doesn't get anything for his money....

But I learned in the process. and I sweated....

Ah well.

that is exactly why sooo many shops wont touch saltwater or really old engines......too many suprises...
my old codger mechanic always say , dont bother it isnt worth it....when I ask about repairing things MYSELF.....he knows 4 our of 5 times it is a waterfall of problems one after another before you can get a motor running to even diagnose it!!!


bob

 

[colbyt]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I am just curious, its very hard to find a good mechanic now a days. I found one after many many years, one of the best around to fix my kind of motor. The only thing I question is the amount of labor time he puts down. There is no such thing as a 1/2 hour and I know some things he has done can't possibly take that long. Would you say anything or just go with it. 90.00 an hour is the going price but adding an extra hour adds up on different things he is doing. Don't want to lose this guy...

In addition to all the great replies and your 'I don't want to lose this guy', I would add: 1) maybe he has a 1/2 hour minimum and he finds that easier than nickle and diming with misc charges, fluid fees and the like.

If you don't want to lose him the total bill must be right for you.

 

[gt6974a]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

With the time and effort I've put into my engine, I wouldn't question a mechanic's time. Though that's probably why a certified Evinrude/Johnson shop won't even attempt to work on my 2000 Ficht

 

[WernerF]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I can't imagine any work on an outboard to be done in less than 1/2 an hour, even a simple spark plug change. You also have to include the time needed for customer conversation (there might be a second or third phone call for explanations), time for writing the bill and check payment and the time for tidying up the workplace. What counts is the time taken until you can switch to the next engine.

 

[durban]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I can understand why mechanics don't really want to work on older motor that have been in salt for years , corrosion is no1 & 2ndly bolts that are ceased in breaking off & leaving studs behind at times its taken me days to get them out , if some one is prepared to pay the price fair enough i will make it run like a new one .

note all the holes eaten buy salt

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I have a 1/2 hr minimum whether it takes me 2 minutes or 29 minutes, if its over 35 minutes you get billed a hour.

 

[durban]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I can understand why mechanics don't really want to work on older motor that have been in salt for years , corrosion is no1 & 2ndly bolts that are ceased in breaking off & leaving studs behind at times its taken me days to get them out , if some one is prepared to pay the price fair enough i will make it run like a new one .

note all the holes eaten buy salt

after repairs to these parts using my epoxy formula from my experiance the most corrosion takes place where the salt water doesnt even get in for some reason the the salt\air gets in & saltaway doest get in there either , the only cure for it is to epoxy the inside , i love doing this as a hobbie

 

[kodibass]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

I run a small outboard shop as a side job,, I am lucky to have more business than I care for. So when some one brings in a 20++ year old motor and wants it fixed I give it a quick look over and then quote them a price that is at least twice what I estimate it will cost to fix their motors problem. If all goes smooth when they pick up the fixed motor and the bill is much less than I quoted they leave with their repaired motor and a smile. I tried the hourly thing / book guide and a couple other methods it was a pita. I have a steady repeat customer base established over several years of trust and fair honest quality work, yep I'll die poor!

 

[CanWoodsman]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

Guy brought his 1979 55 Evinrude to me to fix.
Well....crap.....I had to clean every electrical connecton from the starter to the battery, replace the batt cables, just to get it to turn over fast enough to generate spark.
Ok now I got spark.
Now gas....rebuilt carbs to get it running.
Started it up....no water from the pee hole. Digital temp gun showed overheating within 1 minute.....
Ok, pull lower unit, attach hose directly to water tube, which was rotted from age....got water to the engine, restarted.
Ran like crap. Why? It was getting water in the lower cylinder while running, with the hose attached to the water tube.
Leaking exhaust plate, side gaskets.....OK.....now I gotta pull the powerhead to fix that leak correctly.
Eight powerhead bolts, I got three out, but the rest were frozen. Not budging.

Today, I called him and told him to come get the engiine. That was it's last breath. Done.

I didn't charge him BECAUSE I DIDN'T HELP him any....I guess the only help I gave him was to tell him his engine was done for....
I figure I lost a ton of money in labor only, but I just can't charge a guy if I can't help him. If he doesn't get anything for his money....

But I learned in the process. and I sweated....

Ah well.

A very similar thing happened to me with an older motor I took in to be fixed.
1st shop screwed me around & wanted me to do more work even though they produced zero results the first time with a fairly stiff bill.
2nd shop checked out my motor & recommended not fixing it as it would cost twice as much as the motor would be worth. They knew I was not in a position to buy another one off them. I thanked them and asked what I owed for their time.
Their reply was "Don't worry about it."
A few months later I bought another used older motor that ran fine at the time & so far I have been able to repair it myself.
So no I have not used their services again but I have repaid them many times by sending business their way by telling this story.
As a business word of mouth can be your best advertizing or your worse enemy.
BTW: The 1st shop is no longer around due to the "word of mouth" and it was a long way for me passing on the word.

 

[terry 5.2m]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

You have to remember, the mechanic doesnt break his time down into 10 minute increments, they have rates they charge out for repairs on an hourly/half hourly basis. I do repairs on the side, and I can guarantee that I actually lose money doing it, lol. Time spent running to the dealership to get parts, hardware store, my fuel etc... never gets added onto the bill. I love doing it though, so dont mind. I usualy charge a case of beer to get a motor back on the water

I JUST FOUND MY MECHANIC!!! Ill ship my motor to you with 4 cases of beer and lunch money.

Honestly that seems to be about the going rate for a good mechanic. If he is a darn good mech consider yourself bless to only be paying 90/hr for top notch work. I got sick of local yocal who was charging me outlandish fees for nothing to be resolved.

I am now learning to do it on my own with the help of those here I have already tore into more than what I felt comfortable at first.

 

[gscaton1]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

Just want to say thanks to everyone for there opinions, alot of good ones. It looks like to me and I will do it when you find a good mechanic and he fixes things right the first time, live with it. I had too many bad mechanics work on my boat and have to take it back time after time. Hes worth the extra time to give me piece of mind. thanks again.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

My concern was the total time of labor he has on some jobs. I will bite the bullet because he is very good and don't want to loose him.

BUT...... Nowhere in this post (that I can find anyway) is an example of how much time he is charging you for amy particular repair, such as rebuilding of carburetor(s), lower unit work, water pump replacement, etc. Nor do I see what engine you're speaking of. We would need a definite example in order to make a judgement call.

I could scan and send you a complete OMC copy of their Flat Rate Manual but I'd expect to be compensated for my time and efforts.

 

[fireman57]

Re: Great mechanic, would you question his labor time?

Well said Joe. I guess that is what I was alluding to in my posts. You just found an elegant way of saying it.