3 hours to swap out pre assembled 5100s w/ 885s - not about the $

No I don’t but I understand how it works. A friend worked as a tech for Lexus and was always so proud of his flag rate hours. All I saw was invective to rush a job and customers paying for time not actually spent on the vehicle. T&M is about as fair as it gets when both parties are trustworthy

 

Don’t forget the tools.

Flat rate is great for the guys that invested in their careers and are experienced, and can do 2.88 book hrs in 90 minutes and might actually turn a profit on that job.

For the rest, it might take 4 hrs.. and that means they’re not getting paid for 1.12 hours of work.

Automotive repair is an area that is oft overlooked. Guys invest tens of thousands so they can make $16/hr. Then we bitch about paying that much.

 

3 hours is way too long to swap out already assembled front coils. Did mine hour each side with hand tools and a manual floor jack. I would suggest doing it yourself.

Edit. I also had to assemble the shocks/coils myself.

 

Follow ^^^ this guy’s advice and tackle yourself next time or ask a local TW’er for help for the price of beer and pizza.

The first time I swapped my front shocks it probably took me 2-3 hours. Now I can have both sides done in an hour. Same when I swapped my rear leaf packs - first side took more time and cursing, second side zipped right along.

I’ve saved a ton of money doing stuff on my own. The only thing I might pay a shop for is major electrical or engine shenanigans.

 

I found that having 4 extra floor jacks helped with the leaf install. Lol. That thing was a bitch installing

 

The shop in this case all gets the honor of using customer supplied parts. So if they tear into it and find out the supplied parts are wrong or have a defect they end up with a beached whale on their lift, a pissed off tech and typically a customer that's as equally pissed

 

My truck is at Toyota right now and it's $139.95 a hr. Think about the work that needs to be done. I'm not reading all that crap. I'm a certified heavy tech and there is nothing that pisses me off more then guys bitching like you. Go buy the fucking tools they are not cheap and do it yourself. Between shop over head shop supplies paying the tech. And then the tech getting ridden to go faster then getting chewed out for not making the time because you cried. Ya $105/hr and 3 hrs which is probably 2 guys working on your truck making maybe $20/hr is more then fair.

 

The quote doesn't say it's for assembled coil overs. It could the rate to remove assemblies, swap coils to replacement shocks and reinstall. I don't know if the book rates are that detailed or not.

Not to mention the book quotes the average time it was determined to take for whatever job. Usually a wrench can do it in less but sometimes it takes longer for some reason, broken bolts, whatever. It should balance out over time.

 

If it takes two guys 3 hours to swap a set of coilovers then that shop needs to
re-evaluate their employees

 

2 guys All 4 corners in 3 hrs
1 guy 8 all 4 corners

 

His quote is for 2.88hrs for the front

 

You deliver liquid happiness. I am sure there are plenty of mechanics that drink the product you deliver. This keeps you busy & your job on demand. Its the economic circle of society. Pay them if you dont know how to do it yourself. Its piece of mind knowing it got done right

 

This is what I like about TW. The OP clearly stated it wasn't about the cost. It was about the time. A few people were nice enough to suggest to him to do it himself and learn something. Some even offered to help.
But most just got on the topic of cost. Even after OP said over and over that it was about time. Why do some of you have to turn everything into a pissin match.

Good answer

 

its not really the number of hours, they are trying to obtain a certain dollar amount for the job...

 

https://store.snapon.com/1-2-Drive-Air-Impact-Wrenches-1-2-Drive-Air-Impact-P893069.aspx

$614.95 US

No sockets no air compressor no air hose just the gun
So you think the quote is fair now ?
And a mechanics tools are not supplied by the shop he pays for them out of his pay check

 

This? Do this yourself. Brain surgery? Pay someone $105/hr. That $576 would go a long ways towards paying for your own shop lift.

 

What does an impact wrench have to do with the OP paying 3hrs for a 1hr job?

 

Yup...and if the job isn’t done right and comes back, the tech fixes his mistake for free.

Working in the rust belt with a wrench in one hand and a torch in the other always reminded me of that old mechanics saying: Every one hour job is only a broken bolt away from an all day job

 

Spot on, on both things

 

Book time and actual time aren’t always identical. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. You aren’t paying actual labor, and if you want to, again.. pay someone else to do it in your driveway or theirs. That isn’t business.

As usual, TW misses the point while pissing and moaning about the cost of labor because their own time is too valuable.

Or, more commonly.. they can’t use their own time because they don’t know how to do what they need, and don’t like how much it costs to pay a business who does.

Don’t wanna pay? Have a pizza party at your house and be a nice guy. Otherwise, lay in your bed.

Pay, learn, beg. Only way to install parts.