My co worker hooked me up big time with his kids work that needed something cut. So 9" circles with the center cut out to the end, almost like pac man shaped. Customer supplies the materials. I just have to cut them out and drop them off.
Do you charge differently per thickness even if they supply the material?
So they needed 32 of these, half in 3/8 and half in 5/16 (i think I have those sizes correct)
So what would you charge then what would you charge if it was a rush rush job and had to be done by the morning?
I told them 15 per for small ones and 17 per thicker ones. They asked if it was a discount for cash so I said lets call it 500 even. Never cut these materials before so I guessed at specs and the thinner stuff came out amazing, the thicker stuff took me a few tries but i got it. some looks really nice and some have dross that will easily fall off, probably in the car ride there. Some of the plates they gave me were 9" square and making a 9" circle was pretty tight, some edges got cut off but they said it was perfectly ok.
Either way this is my first BIG job and it took me 2 hours. $250/hr is amazing! So I hope it turns into something else. I'm just curious what you guys would charge. Oh and i used the consumables in the torch and then 1 set after which still have life left. My little 29 gallon harbor freight compressor got a damn work out but it all came out good. Now I have to clean the slates for a few hours
Edit: i also did the cad drawing but it only took 5-10minutes
Well, since you did the cutting and math and are happy then it's all good.
You need to figure in not just your cutting time but, setup time, clean up time, travel to and from.
Also I would tell them in the future not to cut the blanks if possible. Put the largest sheet your table will handle and nest the pieces, it will be quicker for you.
I am a round numbers kind of guy I probably would have said $25 no matter what the material. Just cutting, no cleanup, no delivery, etc.
Dennis
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tnbndr wrote:Well, since you did the cutting and math and are happy then it's all good.
You need to figure in not just your cutting time but, setup time, clean up time, travel to and from.
Also I would tell them in the future not to cut the blanks if possible. Put the largest sheet your table will handle and nest the pieces, it will be quicker for you.
I am a round numbers kind of guy I probably would have said $25 no matter what the material. Just cutting, no cleanup, no delivery, etc.
That's the other issue is the plates are pretty heavy so I'm happy they had them all small and cut up. I had back surgery 8 months back so I try not to lift anything heavy.
It took me roughly 2.5 hours. I will have to go back and clean up the slates, but we settled on 500 cash so $15.xx each.
so i'm not complaining, just curious if my pricing was in the ballpark. I don't really have a formula, i just kind of shoot from the hip
It would be really hard to compare prices on something like that, too many variables. I have a 5'x10' table, so I would only load material once, nest them, and hit the go button. Then again for the second sheet. I have no idea what kind of time you have in indexing each piece of material, you show to have a 2'x2' table, so I am guessing you loaded and unloaded each one. I also don't know how far away the customer is, you said you were delivering, don't know what is involved in that, nor do we know if they dropped off the material, or if you picked it up to begin with. All that factors in.
I can tell you, just a WAG (wild ass guess) without having an actual dxf, that I would probably be in the $4.00 range for each one, JUST FOR THE CUTTING. That does not include loading / unloading sheets, cleanup (which would be almost zero if the steel wasn't crap) delivery, etc. As far as CAD time, I will throw 10-15 minutes in on the job for free IF it's a large job. If it's some small one off piece, they pay $60 / hr unless it's retarded complicated and I have to break out the slide rule, do trig etc, and basically design and engineer the part for them from some scribble on a napkin. Then it's $100 /hr.
As far as rush charges go, it's $100 / hr on top of standard cutting fee's / rates for an after hour charge. I try not to double dip on this, but if I am up at 2 am cutting, and they are in a big enough of a bind that they have to have it and know up front it's gonna cost, and they still say yeah go ahead, I figure they are ok with it. Usually that's something along the lines of a drilling rig is sitting waiting (several thousands of dollars per hour in cost, sitting idling waiting on a part) or a crane is broke, or an excavator is in the middle of the pipeline right of way blocking everything etc. Funny thing is, I am the only dude that will even answer the phone after hours with a plasma table, and I have been real damn tired by the end of the week, but have had some really great weeks revenue wise because of a few after hours calls. Hell, now if they call they usually already have the material OTW to the shop. I have literally gotten off the phone, got dressed, and when I walked out the door to walk to the shop, the driver was sitting waiting to be unloaded with the 3/4" plate or whatever they wanted cut. I make a big point to call those guys when I leave on vacation, just to let them know I won't be around so they don't send a guy and call then I'm off somewhere with the family.
Take the above for what it's worth (probably nothing). I know there are places where guys get 3 times what I charge, but it ain't around here. I have waterjets, lasers etc as direct competitors. I can tell you, I deliver a superior product, in a timely manner, for a very competitive (and fair) price. Once they find me, they all come back. I even cut some parts for a local welding shop that HAS THEIR OWN TABLE and can't run it for shit. Their customer was complaining, so they sent me the file's and I cut a lot of 1/2" parts for some stuff they were building. I just smiled, took the check, and told the shop manager don't worry, I know nothing.......
All that aside, some industrial customers want large quantities, so price per part is less, custom on off stuff is ALWAYS higher, and art is ALWAYS higher than production cutting. Sometimes as much as 150% of what it would cost for an industrial customer.
That was very helpful, thank you.
I did load each piece one at a time, i don't have nesting either. Which wasn't a big deal. Cut take the small square piece off put the new on on and line it up with the torch and maybe knock some dross off in the meantime. 1 minute each swap. Thicker material was harder because it was almost like it welded itself to the slats and didn't want to budge so i had to hit it with a hammer. Figure 2-3 minutes each piece there.
they dropped them off at my work and i just unloaded from my truck to the garage then back to the truck and they picked them up from my work
