Reply to Thread

Uncle to bad I was not in the union since i was in the Connecticut division. We did get double time on Sunday , but that was it. Even non-union we still had a good pension and they do pay scale+ to a few !

WE did get time and a half if we worked before 8 or after 4:30 even if we did not work the day shift as long as it was scheduled or as long as we were only off the clock for 8 hours.

Pay-Rate For a "MARKET-MAN"

Well union scale is $27.45 per hour here. last year I made $80-K but that was with alot of overtime. Union is where the better money is at. most of the non-union people I talk to in my area are getting $18 to $23 per hour and getting "HOSED" by there employer!! There are a "FEW" non-union shops paying union scale byt they are "VERY-FEW". The company that "FREEZE-KING-2000" used to work for is in my area. I would love to work for them they pay $$$ "DOUBLE-TIME" after midnite WHICH "IS-NOT" a union requirement. but the "SHYSTER" "LOW-BIDDER" I currently work for underbids them and takes alot of work away from the better contracters. So for the time being I am stuck.

I tried that as a side job to make ends meet before going it on my own. It was nice $$$. (For a while)

After that I would have to spend more time collecting re-build parts and running down my customers to get paid. Not a good way to spend your weekend... but I must admit... The money was good!

Yeagh, I use to think that way..

Alot of it comes down to dollars/man hour. If you can sell 2 big items and work 4 hrs., you can make as much as 20 hrs. labor.

I've watched this father/son company in our area grow to a $500,000 annual/net refrig. business and most of this is made from buying and selling used equipment. 20 years ago they had 1 quonset, gravel floor, bunch of used equip. Today they haave 4 quonsets (full of new and used equip.), cement floors, paintshop, shears, brakes, 4 wheel drive tractors, combines, etc. etc. Not to mention the sections of land rapidly growing in value and the writeoffs when you're also doing farm and cattle biz.
Best way to make money in this industry is by knowing who needs what and who's got what.
Thats my opinion after seeing 2 guys flipping equip. versus 20 guys doing service and installs for the last 20 years.

Lusker, your a Hero amongst us. Good job.


I dont thingk I would want to handle that traffic though.

I have enough trouble with Austin traffic.

By the way, another word for Austin is "Congestion".





[Edited by R12rules on 06-01-2004 at 09:27 AM]

Originally posted by s tek
If i charged 125hr I wouldn't be in business next month.
I would love to charge that much I'm over 50 and been doing service call for 30t yrs. I can only charge as much as my comp or they will have it all.

Generally it do’s not happen that way. What happens is the customers tell your comp what you are charging and they raise there rates.

lusker

good post! You sound like you both take care of your customers AND employees!
I guess it takes an old technician not forgetting where he came from to see this! Congrats on your ventures!!!

dan

...

I am new here so please keep this in mind. The following is not bragging nor am I jumping on anyone no matter how it sounds. Please read below knowing I have only the best of intensions.


This September I will have 30 years in the business, the last 15 years owning my own business. I do not think I am the smartest or best in the industry in Atlanta but we as a collective are some of the best-in-class. I do know that I treat my customers (all huge foodservice types) very well, but I treat my employees better. I am still out there turning wrenches and sniffing refrigerant right by their side then coming home and doing the paperwork until midnight or later. I have the aching bones and pacemaker to prove it. If they need to attend to family or doctor’s appointments or just need a day off they have my blessing and we all take up the slack very willingly as it could be "you" the next day.

I run a small 5 man shop that has to cover one of the heaviest traffic areas in the Nation. We waste at least 2.5 hours each a day just in traffic jams and part running. We have over 600 customers that give us around 20 calls a day. From out most outlaying southern area customer to the most outlaying northern area customer is about 2 hours or more in traffic… we charge 30 minutes in travel and $17.00 for gas and truck.

With that said, here is my point. All of my guys from my least experienced to my most valuable oldest technician make a salary that ranges from 40k to 60k + benefits and other tax overhead. I do not pay overtime. They collect 50% of the labor when they bill out overtime and they love it. Yes, they do a recall without being paid if need be. But I will not send a technical away from his family on weekends or after a hard day in Atlanta without paying them very well if the company gets paid. So if he bills out $500.00 in labor he gets $250.00 and most of that money is earned by driving. Today one of my guys walked away with 7 hours of holiday double-time labor making $504.00 before taxes.

Our labor rates are $72.00 an hour to our customers which is about average. You can find as high as $90.00 or more for the same business in this area. Commercial Foodservice HVAC, Refrigeration and Cooking Equipment repairs, little to no installs. They help me keep our overhead down and my office has been in my home for 15 years. Oh yeah, I make the same rate as they do but I don’t get overtime when their babysitter can’t come. I am here to help them as they are hired to help me. I am one that takes care of his employees to endless points.

I pay my bills in 30 days or less. I pay my employees every week. I pay the feds and all of my other taxes on time. I also don’t get paid when the service is slow and these bills are due. When my guys only bill out 60% of what it takes to run this business they still make the same pay. When our customers don’t pay their bills on time, I don’t get paid. When we have a good month I will make up my pay then if I can.

I can’t say this for every business owner across the Nation. My guys are my most important commodity then the customers. I am an old technician that got tired of being paid peanuts and did something about it. I jumped from the boiling pot into the fire without looking… but guys, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks for listening… best of luck to all!

agree 100% ! anything UNDER 65 an hour ANYPLACE IN THE NATION... is screwing the wage package for all of us!!!!

We are at $78.00 per hour in Connecticut portal to portal.

Originally posted by frozensolid
I am a Union Mechanic in a non union state. I am compensated well for my labors. But the most valuable part of being a union man, you don't lose your benefits if you change jobs.

You don't have to hope your kids don't get sick, before your insurance kicks back in.

I have worked union, and non-union. Union is better. Better pay, better benefits, better conditions.

Union Mechanics have to be highly skilled. No one is going to pay big bucks, to a guy who can't perform. Not down here in Florida anyway.

I agree!!!!I have 27 years in with the union.I worked 1.5 years in Idaho at a non union shop. They treated me and the others good, but the benneis were not near the same. Had to co-pay for medical and no preovisions for pension at all. Had some other quirky things like subsistance when you were out of town. Max they would pay was 40/day. well try to find a bed and food for 40/day anywhere in the real world. Plus the 40/day was only good for 5 days a week, so if you stayed out for two weeks you lost 2 days a week in subsistance. yeh that made sense to me so I only did that one time.
Quick learner.
Union gives you a set of rules that everyone has to obey. employer can not pick favorites based on the nose in the rear.

Originally posted by s tek
I hired another tech 2 weeks ago he has assoc degree 3yrs g/store exp I started him at 15hr plus 5% parts he sells, I charge 38 for him.

It bothers me to hear that a mechanics pay might be based in part to how many parts he sells. Opens the door up for a lot of abuse. Pay them a fair wage and share the company profits if you want, but don't put the customer in the middle of how much the mechanic can make.

I am a Union Mechanic in a non union state. I am compensated well for my labors. But the most valuable part of being a union man, you don't lose your benefits if you change jobs.

You don't have to hope your kids don't get sick, before your insurance kicks back in.

I have worked union, and non-union. Union is better. Better pay, better benefits, better conditions.

Union Mechanics have to be highly skilled. No one is going to pay big bucks, to a guy who can't perform. Not down here in Florida anyway.

We are getting a four HUNDRED percent increase in oil production out of Iraq right now, yet the price of oil has steadily risen.

We service techs have had to endure more crap than even the medical profession, (now THERE is an oxi-moron for you...), plumbers, electricians, ... even cab drivers! And yet, we are paid whatever someone feels they can charge.

Whatever the market will bear is an old term used to describe supply and demand.
Only dif is, with us ... we are not being brought into the loop as far as what we want from a job or from this industry.

And this sucks! BIG TIME!!!

Some wise man in another thread, asked the question; "What do you want from your employer?"

One guy, acting as a smart ass, said; "World Peace".

I mean, here is someone asking the question an employer NEVER ever asks employee's. NEVER EVER!!!

And someone says something silly like that! Gads!


Me ... what did I say? I spoke my mind. I "Did the Dow".



I really dont like how political unions have been over the last nearly one hundred years. They have acted shamefully over the years.
It's truly disgraceful.
But without something like a union here, we are pretty much doomed to receiving exactly what we are presently getting for compensation for our labors. And this is needless.
We are much too intelligent for this to continue to take place.

I guess in the citys you can charge more....we get 78 hr

Refrigeration men unite. If we all took just one day off, we would look a whole lot more valuable.

It won't happen, but if it did, I think the pay scale would climb quickly.

[Edited by frozensolid on 05-23-2004 at 06:37 PM]

I had lunch with the owner's step son last week. He sounded like a man who was interested in moving forward into work which would pay us more money.

He said the HVAC people got together some time ago and moved up theri pricing. But the low temp guys have never done so.
He said it is ridiculous to have such well trained men and women in an industry and yet NOT be able to properly compensate us for our work.

He said maybe if we got into some induistrial work, we could earn more money.
He would like to see the company move in that direction.


I know we cannot enter into meetings to establish Price Fixing.

But there has to be something we CAN do.

If i charged 125hr I wouldn't be in business next month.
I would love to charge that much I'm over 50 and been doing service call for 30t yrs. I can only charge as much as my comp or they will have it all.