Labor cost...

[Grey D.]

Hey all, just got my bill from a reliable performance shop for installation of front and rear sways, rear brake pads and installation, and installing the new poly bushings. $967. This seems a tad expensive to me, but bear in mind you have to remove the front subframe front the front sway bar, even then, im not sure. Just curious if you guys thought this was fair or not.

[bez101]

thats £611 uk pound
id find that to much for over here
how many hours did they take

[B6UltraSport]

My initial reaction is that price seems very high...

[Grey D.]

Well it sucks enough it's been in the shop for two days, although it is a small shop (less workers). I think it was 4 hours the first day, and like 5 yesterday. Their rate is $75 an hour... I expeceted it to be a little expensive because it is more of a speciality shop, but nonetheless... It seems I couldve put the RSB on and done the rear brakes myself and saved a few hundred. I'm just curious where the time went. They mentioned something about having to fabricate a specific... i'm blanking on the name, lack of sleep lately, but basically a thing to hit with a hammer to get the old upper bushings out. Just to clarify, it was like every bushing powerflex makes minus the motor mounts because I'm just going to do VF down the road a little.

[Grey D.]

This also makes me wonder if we should start an official thread on labor costs. I know there are a lot of variables, but it helps to have some knowledge of what to expect beforehand. I'm not saying I have been, but everyone can agree nothing sucks more than getting ripped off.

[LWNY]

Not labor cost, but cost to perform such and such service. $75/hr is dirt cheap here, less than the neighborly gas station's hourly rate. Your specialty shop should have been able to perform such service in less time than a jack of all trades shop who has to fiddle around and find out how it is to be done.

I once had a generic (although reputable) shop change my strut, fiddle around for a bit of time to find out how to compress the springs and charge me a fortune because they didn't have the proper tools. Change my bushings because of some clunking sound, which came back soon after.

[tpliquid]

damn thats expensive.. im glad i do everything myself and save the money for parts.

[Grey D.]

damn thats expensive.. im glad i do everything myself and save the money for parts.

I'd love to, I just have don't have the proper tools at my disposal, and if dropped the money for them, I wouldn't be able to use them enough to justify the cost.

[krazyboi]

I'd love to, I just have don't have the proper tools at my disposal, and if dropped the money for them, I wouldn't be able to use them enough to justify the cost.

Post on regionals...bring beer and pizza...make new friends

[fusionx]

$967 seems wayy to expensive. I would say at least half of that would be fair...

Rear sway bar's are the easiest things ever to put on. Not sure about the front. Brake pads aren't TOO bad either.

[Grey D.]

At this point I'm just happy it's all said and done. I'm amazed the difference the F&R sways make against understeer, its going to take me quite sometime adjusting to new entry speeds haha. The steering is so responsive now it's not even funny. Overall I was really impressed with the quality of the powerflex kits. Big thanks to Alan Wei @ Modbargains and to the guys over at PTP in Ft Worth, they didn't do the installs but did an amazing job with the alignment on this crazy ass laser rack they just got. Overall just a great bunch of guys and they have great rates so I highly recommend them if you're in the DFW area.

[black99.5a4]

These are the reasons why when I quote anyone, I quote them what the job costs and not charge them hourly.

Doing a build or a job hourly, will always cost a lot more then a flat rate. I use to work at a hot rod shop in Pottstown, PA and we had to build an air cleaner for a supercharged mustang and because the guy doing the job, didnt like the way one would look, or another would look and so on. (also had to make it fit the stock hood, the smallest filter we found, barely fit) and in the end, the supercharger over powered the filter and bogged. Spent 2 weeks building various things and billed the customer in the 1500 range for time that never amounted to anything.

Welcome to hourly business. It sucks and is the main reason why I flat rate. Its cheaper and imo, looks better to a customer or potential customer.

[guiltyblade]

seems very expensive. If I lived near you I would bang it out for couple beers and a hug.

[BBC]

Sounds like they charged you to make a tool for their shop and to learn how to do the installation.

tools/training=cost of doing business, and should have no bearing on how much a repair or installation costs.

[Grey D.]

Well lesson learned I suppose. Albeit, expensively. Again, I'm definately sticking with PTP from now on as they charge flat rates on most services, and have some amazing staff and equipment.