I'm currently finishing my RV-8A in our EAA museum that is shut down for the winter and there is a guy that owns a plane next to me that noticed the hinge pin covers on the front of my cowl. As many have done, I made up aluminum plates that cover the hinge pin for the cowl split so that they don't wiggle forward into the prop. He asked me if I would do that for his plane. I said that I would give him a quote with estimated hours and an hourly rate. What do you think would be a fair hourly rate for this? Note I'm not an A&P, just your average RV builder.
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Hourly Rates
- Thread starter ericwolf
- Start date
erich weaver
Well Known Member
my opinion: do it for free. They guy will love you for life. You will be repayed a thousand times over in ways you never expected.
erich
erich
gvgoff99
Well Known Member
Hourly rate?
Eric, This seems more like a "by the piece" price that should be negotiated to me. If you have made one set (recently) the time spent to make the second set should be a lot faster than the first set. The third would probably be even faster to make, and so forth.
I, personally, would quote what you think it is worth to you to sit down and make them. Doing an hourly rate would be difficult IMO (I'll resist any lawyer jokes here
)
Eric, This seems more like a "by the piece" price that should be negotiated to me. If you have made one set (recently) the time spent to make the second set should be a lot faster than the first set. The third would probably be even faster to make, and so forth.
I, personally, would quote what you think it is worth to you to sit down and make them. Doing an hourly rate would be difficult IMO (I'll resist any lawyer jokes here
)VERY TRUE!!!
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George - I was considering this as an alternative. I think that this would be the best route to go the more that I think about it.
Erich - You may be on to something. Normally I would default to this line of thinking, but a few things led me to where I am now. This aircraft recently went through a prop strike and when the engine came back, I helped the mechanic mount the engine, install the prop, and install the cowl. No big deal for me, but I he is very thankful. Also, he's a doctor and has money. Thirdly, I've been laid off for 6 weeks and a few extra bucks wouldn't hurt. Given all that, I might still do it for free, or ask for a ride in return.
I think what I may do is cut out the pieces tomorrow and bend them up by hand and see how well they fit. If the fit well without much horsing around, I may just say that I'll do it for free, because it would just be drilling the holes and epoxying in the nutplates from there.
Erich - You may be on to something. Normally I would default to this line of thinking, but a few things led me to where I am now. This aircraft recently went through a prop strike and when the engine came back, I helped the mechanic mount the engine, install the prop, and install the cowl. No big deal for me, but I he is very thankful. Also, he's a doctor and has money. Thirdly, I've been laid off for 6 weeks and a few extra bucks wouldn't hurt. Given all that, I might still do it for free, or ask for a ride in return.
I think what I may do is cut out the pieces tomorrow and bend them up by hand and see how well they fit. If the fit well without much horsing around, I may just say that I'll do it for free, because it would just be drilling the holes and epoxying in the nutplates from there.
cytoxin
Well Known Member
nothing wrong with doing it free. i did a canopy for free (even though the guy bought me time in a spam can so i could go flyin ) but if i was gonna charge it would be no less than 50-70 $ (usd) per hour. The more of them you've done the faster you'll be, thats when you hit the higher $ you also have to trim off all the time you stand around bull shi^&*&
i am a mechanic by trade, every job has a price on it for me, but i have a labor guide to go by. At some point you find you may have to use price as a throttle/ brake, or you could end up with little time to fly your own plane.
) but if i was gonna charge it would be no less than 50-70 $ (usd) per hour. The more of them you've done the faster you'll be, thats when you hit the higher $ you also have to trim off all the time you stand around bull shi^&*&i am a mechanic by trade, every job has a price on it for me, but i have a labor guide to go by. At some point you find you may have to use price as a throttle/ brake, or you could end up with little time to fly your own plane.
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N395V
Well Known Member
Eric,
There are many good reasons to charge for your time, that isn't one of them.
Seems you have already done some work for the guy for free and now he is asking for more help. If he knows you and your financial situation I would think that by now he would have offered to pay you without being asked.
William hit it on the head though if you keep helping others at no cost they will come to expect it and you will have little time to do your project.
Tell him you would love to help out but are really busy and cannot afford the time out of from your job search. If he is a decent guy he will offer you a good price and pay more than it is worth.
I have a couple of hangar mates that over time turned me into their defacto mechanic without pay.
When I confronted them with a bill one day they said "gee your'e a doctor we didn't think you needed the money" They missed the point completely.
Milt - you are absolutely right. I realize now that I completely misstated what I was getting at. What I meant was that he is more than willing to pay for value and wants to pay a fair rate. He has dumped a ton of money into this airplane to make it the way that he wants it. He as more money than time (inverse of my situation) being a busy doctor.
I second what he said. Having a favor in your hip pocket it priceless.
