Minimum price charged

@serjik911 Maaco doesn't make it's money on the cheap paint jobs. Those exist to upsell Customers for additional bodywork and upgraded paint jobs. Each Maaco is a little different as they are Franchises. Most of them concentrate on getting as many cars through the doors as possible each week. 15 years ago the Owner of a Maaco talked me into coming to work for him. It was straight commission which is why I did.......for 4 months. Made good money but a horrible experience working beside thieves, methheads and convicted felons. VA has a tax advantage program that encourages Businesses to hire Felons. He hired as many as he could. I could make $1800-$2200 a week there but I was constantly having stuff stolen out of my box right under my nose. Someone picked the lock on my Macsimizer once. Stole something they wanted. You haven't lived till you worked beside a 50 yo methhead, hopped up on crank, stripping the hood top and trunk (we got tons of those jobs) of a car. He kept his stuff in a cardboard box...no lie. Working there was hell. Never again.
 
I had a helper that was a crackhead. He worked with me at a dealership for years, and had his ups and downs. At his worst, we got paid Friday at 5:30 and by Saturday morning he was broke. Ended up getting him in rehab that insurance paid for, for 3 months in a resort like center near Austin. He was good after that for about 6 months, then it started all over again. I was buying him a new pencil blower every Monday because he would "lose" them. Come to find out I guess they made a good crackpipe. These are the type of bodymen and painters that give the whole industry a black eye. They will do anything to make enough to get their next fix, with no conscience. Reputation is everything, charge for it.
 
dhutton01 said:
Chris you never cease to educate and entertain....

This is epic:
You haven't lived till you worked beside a 50 yo methhead, hopped up on crank, stripping the hood top and trunk....

Don
Click to expand...

Times like that I was seriously questioning my choices in life.:oops: If I could go back to being 20 again I would do SO MANY things differently. I'm at the age where I finally understand that Eddie Money song when I was a kid "I wanna go back". But all I can do is look forward and I'm trying to only associate myself with quality human beings, be a quality human being ,and do what I'm passionate about. Just wish it would be a little easier sometimes.
 
I love this thread.....

Always great to get a peak behind the curtain of different industries. The more stories you hear, the more you find out it's all the same. There's always the cheapest guy out there.....and you get what you pay for. Anyone can be the cheapest....success comes when you differentiate yourself with quality and service...... The anecdotes are hilarious though.

Chris: love your Maaco story. Reminds me of the Earl Sheib commercials I used to see as a kid: "I'll paint any car for just $99.95"

 
Makes me wonder how many jobs the professionals did here before they actually felt they were charging enough.

I mean, starting, I get it, no reputation, probably doing some things twice or three times to get it straight, you cannot make what the guy doing this 30 years gets for a job that they finish in 3 days.

There are still jobs I do on the industrial side, quantities dwindling, just keep upping the price and keep getting it back means you are still not charging too much I guess.
 
Back in somewhere around 90
I was at a convention, and the head of a company invited me to visit the plant he ran for a big company
He introduced me to a beautiful 26-year-old girl that had one job and no bosses???
All she did was fill activator cans, and the figures he said she did was equal to any four guys. He said she was a coke addict and answered only to him, and he did not see a thing when she went to the car to freshen up her habit.
He said surprised drug tests; she was always fired the previous day. Lol
 
You had me going with that story, thought it was going to be that you married her. That took a wrong turn..........I hope.

Its too bad this business does not work on tips. Get a 4000.00 back tatoo, love it and give the artist an extra 500. Seems the 99 out of 100 people we do work for think they got screwed no matter how good the deal was. You just want to get the next job. That is all I can wish for all the people doing this as side jobs, be happy with what you got, because its what you would not have had. You lose money and you can honestly say that it was still worth it because you gained the experience with the work, the estimate, or to never take a job from that person or that type of repair again. Hell, its a bonus to give repeat business to a jobber for supplies so they will take care of you better.
 
I know I give every paint job my all . I’m getting to the point I dread telling someone it’s done and they can pick it up - I just wait for that phone call a few days later that said they “found” something- even though they agree that I’m not perfect- and they’re happy with the price there is ALWAYS something they want fixed
 
anotheridiot said:
Get a 4000.00 back tatoo, love it and give the artist an extra 500.
Click to expand...
Off topic but huh???o_O

Dave C 5 said:
I know I give every paint job my all . I’m getting to the point I dread telling someone it’s done and they can pick it up - I just wait for that phone call a few days later that said they “found” something- even though they agree that I’m not perfect- and they’re happy with the price there is ALWAYS something they want fixed
Click to expand...

It's always worse when you are doing something so cheap that you are barely making minimum wage, because you've been beaten down by the Owner. People like that, are the ones that complain the loudest and want it "perfect". Of course this only comes up after the job is done. Before it's always "sure I understand" "of course" or my favorite "I don't want it perfect I just want it to look nice". Kinda how I imagine our camaro friend on here Chuck would be to the guys he gets to do the work for him.

Psychology is an interesting thing. Personally I think if I was more "Type A" and an asshole (sorry but it's the only word that fits:) ) I would have done better over the years both in working for myself and for others. I'm more "Type B" and I have always tried to be a team player and accommodating to people and certain people seem to be able to sniff that out and take advantage of it. Seen it with people I've done work for and Bosses who underpaid me because I was a "company guy". I know my Dad (who was most definitely "Type A") used to get his way in business dealings simply because he would not stop till he got his way. I'm not that way but I think there has to be a happy medium.

So I'm not doing work for anyone anymore without a written contract spelling out everything in explicit detail. I've also decided that I have to get customers from out of the area. DC Metro area is 3 hours away to the north. Raleigh Metro is less than an hour and a half to south. Those areas are going to be my focus, why I'm building my car now. Got to get different customers because I can't do anymore jobs where I'm making $8-10 bucks an hour after it's all said and done.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Off topic but huh???o_O
Click to expand...

blame google

Full Back Tattoo Cost. A standard full back tattoo cost to cover the entire back with a lot of detail work and shading will take around 40 hours of work and cost from $2,000 to $5,000. A half-back tattoo costs about $1,000 if it's an outline done in black ink only.
National Average Cost: $250
Minimum Cost: $30
Maximum Cost: $4,000
Average Range: $150 to $450
 
for me, i always did just ok for myself. always paid the bills but was never able to charge enough to make a growing business out of it. i could have done just as well working for someone. only plus side was that i was working for myself. i honestly didn't start doing well until about 3-4 years ago when i decided i just had to quit working on anything automotive and get into other areas. just dealing with the people and no one will ever pay you a decent hourly rate working on cars. the money just isnt there because the cars or motorcycles your working on just arent worth the money or time your putting into them. there is the rare exception if its a $1-5mil car or something but not many. i stopped working for individuals and started doing work for big mfg companies. my prices are all prearranged. no haggling. one client is by the sqft the other is by the job. i knock out each job and just send an invoice. no bs involved. only real drawback is that its production stuff so you have to keep up. you dont have the luxury of saying...im 4-5 weeks out so lets schedule that in. they produce as much of their product as they can and i just have to roll with it. me and my helper here have been 60+ hrs a wekk for 5mos now with no end in sight. sat and sun doesnt matter but for literally 15 times the hourly rate of automotive work, ill suck it up and semi-retire in 4-5 more years, move to georgia and answer the tech line at spi, lol.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Off topic but huh???o_O



It's always worse when you are doing something so cheap that you are barely making minimum wage, because you've been beaten down by the Owner. People like that, are the ones that complain the loudest and want it "perfect". Of course this only comes up after the job is done. Before it's always "sure I understand" "of course" or my favorite "I don't want it perfect I just want it to look nice". Kinda how I imagine our camaro friend on here Chuck would be to the guys he gets to do the work for him.

Psychology is an interesting thing. Personally I think if I was more "Type A" and an asshole (sorry but it's the only word that fits:) ) I would have done better over the years both in working for myself and for others. I'm more "Type B" and I have always tried to be a team player and accommodating to people and certain people seem to be able to sniff that out and take advantage of it. Seen it with people I've done work for and Bosses who underpaid me because I was a "company guy". I know my Dad (who was most definitely "Type A") used to get his way in business dealings simply because he would not stop till he got his way. I'm not that way but I think there has to be a happy medium.

So I'm not doing work for anyone anymore without a written contract spelling out everything in explicit detail. I've also decided that I have to get customers from out of the area. DC Metro area is 3 hours away to the north. Raleigh Metro is less than an hour and a half to south. Those areas are going to be my focus, why I'm building my car now. Got to get different customers because I can't do anymore jobs where I'm making $8-10 bucks an hour after it's all said and done.
Click to expand...
Yep, two crowds amongst others, but one crowd are "people pleasers" and the other are aholes who try to take advantage of them. They'll use you until you say no, then they move onto the next people pleaser.
 
Jim C said:
for me, i always did just ok for myself. always paid the bills but was never able to charge enough to make a growing business out of it. i could have done just as well working for someone. only plus side was that i was working for myself. i honestly didn't start doing well until about 3-4 years ago when i decided i just had to quit working on anything automotive and get into other areas. just dealing with the people and no one will ever pay you a decent hourly rate working on cars. the money just isnt there because the cars or motorcycles your working on just arent worth the money or time your putting into them. there is the rare exception if its a $1-5mil car or something but not many. i stopped working for individuals and started doing work for big mfg companies. my prices are all prearranged. no haggling. one client is by the sqft the other is by the job. i knock out each job and just send an invoice. no bs involved. only real drawback is that its production stuff so you have to keep up. you dont have the luxury of saying...im 4-5 weeks out so lets schedule that in. they produce as much of their product as they can and i just have to roll with it. me and my helper here have been 60+ hrs a wekk for 5mos now with no end in sight. sat and sun doesnt matter but for literally 15 times the hourly rate of automotive work, ill suck it up and semi-retire in 4-5 more years, move to georgia and answer the tech line at spi, lol.
Click to expand...

That's awesome Jim. Happy for you.:) Good to know that one day instead of being a Yankee, you'll be "Damned Yankee" living in Georgia.:p Something tells me you'll fit in fine.:)
 
Jim C said:
for me, i always did just ok for myself. always paid the bills but was never able to charge enough to make a growing business out of it. i could have done just as well working for someone. only plus side was that i was working for myself. i honestly didn't start doing well until about 3-4 years ago when i decided i just had to quit working on anything automotive and get into other areas. just dealing with the people and no one will ever pay you a decent hourly rate working on cars. the money just isnt there because the cars or motorcycles your working on just arent worth the money or time your putting into them. there is the rare exception if its a $1-5mil car or something but not many. i stopped working for individuals and started doing work for big mfg companies. my prices are all prearranged. no haggling. one client is by the sqft the other is by the job. i knock out each job and just send an invoice. no bs involved. only real drawback is that its production stuff so you have to keep up. you dont have the luxury of saying...im 4-5 weeks out so lets schedule that in. they produce as much of their product as they can and i just have to roll with it. me and my helper here have been 60+ hrs a wekk for 5mos now with no end in sight. sat and sun doesnt matter but for literally 15 times the hourly rate of automotive work, ill suck it up and semi-retire in 4-5 more years, move to georgia and answer the tech line at spi, lol.
Click to expand...
I'd love to do something similar but on a smaller scale. How did you make the contacts?
 
chris, thanks. actually i lived there for about 3 years back when i was in the army. was stationed at ft stewart just outside of savannah. wouldnt mind going back down south one day. point to that whole story above is that the automotive refinish business is a tough one. always dealing with people who usually always want the job as cheap as possible. this makes for an industry thats not the easiest to make money and promotes speed over quality of work. commercial clients are really the way to go if thats possible.

aae, i really only have 2 major clients. i still have a bunch of other customers but just a small job per year from each one of those. the one place i used to work at 20 years ago. they had a need for a faux wood finish. they saw some of my work so the president of the company called me, had a meeting and all down hill from there. i got into doing faux wood on garage doors by doing one for a builder then the dealer who installed it saw it, contacted the president of the garage door company because he knew they were looking to bring a wood finish to their doors. same deal, had a meeting, went to canada to do some training for the paint system, came back and have been doing those ever since. its funny i havent actually tried to seek anyone out. it just kinda happened. i can tell you this, almost everything has paint on it. not just cars. take a look around. almost everything. its just a matter of seeing what companies are near you that might need finishing services. if you can offer unique finishes that will set you apart and it can help the company sell product then your in! look for more expensive products also. they help. the boats and houses that my work goes on are all $1mil and up so my cost just gets lost in that. easier to charge more money on something that is expensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top