JD,
I would also factor in additional costs for hiring and keeping a more talented group of mechanics. This assures that your customers end up with a tech capable of solving customer problems. This has a value. And a cost.
I would also present it to my customer in a percentage if you can.
Example: 95 vs 87 per hour. "we provide the best techs we can find for less than 10% more" sounds better than "we charge $8 more an hour".
I always felt that there are customers out there looking for a premium service and are willing to pay. If I were in a specialized field I would want to charge a premium.
Steve

Absolutely, I think my biggest issue is to educate some of our own staff first then customers. Most local dealers will not touch our equipment and when they do we usually are called in for even more extensive work. In my years with counterbalance and narrow aisle units I dealt with Home Depot and have to agree. The only place I had to debate that tires and wheeels are a consumable item and not covered under the lease agreements. It is enlightening when they tell you we are going to pay this amount regardless of your bill because this is how big we are.

JDBurton,

Sometimes the customer needs to be educated on service labor. How often have you encounterd on conventional lift trucks a service labor rate of $50/hour when yours might be $80/hour (or something similar)? Often that's all the customer see is the $ difference. When in actuality, he may pay more for a repair because your techs can do the same service in 1/2 the time - do to training, etc.

Other issues that enters into the final bill - is travel time (aka service call charges - how do you treat them, etc. - lay it out to your customer(s) & force your competitors to to do the same.

For certain - service labors on forklifts is not standardardized in the US - NY, California etc are vastly different than here in the Atlanta area.

Major companies like Home Depot, Wal Mart, Lowes etc like to force the issue on standardized rates, stndard reantal charges, central billing, etc. (some of which is controlled/subsidised in various forms by the lift truck manufacture. manufactuer.)

yeah hubtex diagrams are german. We have delaerships that do some work etc but also provide factory support to them and to customers...problem is some people feel we should do it at standard dealer forklift rates and not get back the hours of travel, hotels, plane tickets etc.

Your dealing in Hubtec's, correct? We have worked on a few down here when I was a service manager with Barloworld. General mechanical issues were not much of a problem, but you really need to be good with electrics to understand the wiring diagrams. I think they were in German or something like that if I remember correctly, its been a couple of years now.

I agree on ice units, our main market is advanced 4 directional electric sideloaders using a proprietary control and steering system so far we've never seen anyone else try to work on them except for our licensed and trained dealers.

JDBurton,

Just playing a bit of devil's advocate, but if you are talking about engine powered side loaders, in my opinion there is little difference to a conventional lift trucks. The main differences seems to be in a travese mechanism for the mast (rollers & cylinders), maybe some stabilizer jacks (cylinders & pads) and a power transfer case. from tranny to differential (similar to those used in many electric units). If they are electric type add in the electronic controllers(s). The main issue might be in vehicle you might need to haul them on due to overall length.

Only if none of your conventional places can work on your equipment. Like if you needed tranny work in your car you wouldnt take it to Midas you would take it to a tranny shop and expect a higher rate because that is all they do.

Otherwise you need to stay in line with your competitors. Possibly leave the labor rate the same and mark up travel expenses for the out of town calls. It doesnt have to be much 5 or 10%. And the customer still feels good about your service department.

All of these have worked well for me in the past when I was with a conventional dealer. I just need to modify it for a specialty manufacturer that also offers service through technicians across the country. How many of you would agree that specialty equipment such as sideloaders could justify slightly higher rates than conventional local dealers?

Good advise, I have also done it many times.

I might suggest you also contact your competitors and ask them what their standard billing rates are for various services - repair, PM service. And ask what their shop supply charges, oil disposal fees, etc. are as well as service call policies are (port to port, actual or flat charge - like 2 hours minimum, etc.

What your local competitors do makes a big difference in what you are able to charge. Of course you also need to make the % margin as previoulsy mention.

You might be surprised how many will cooperate if you play "show me yours & I'll show you mine". Done it sereval time in my career

Take your average cost of labor (techs wage plus any benefits i.e. insurance, 401k, uniforms, anything you spend on your employees). Modern relatively good companies are in the 42 to 44 dollar range for cost of labor. A good profit margin on labor is 55 to 65%. So if your company is within these boundaries your labor rate should be approaching 100.00 per hour. This also leaves you room to wheel and deal on any quoted work and still make descent profit in these tough times.

To set your standard hourly labor rate look to get about 4 times what you are paying your tech or at least 2.5 times your fully burdened rate. If my tech was traveling multiple states I might want to have full day or one half day minimum billing increments. I have used $230 for per diem which includes lodging and meals. Only you know what your service vehicles are costing you (capitol cost, maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc...) so you might want to add a suitible mileage charge.