I just finished working on a 97 Ford Explorer. I am still not too sure what to charge him. Its a v6. I replaced the spark plugs, replaced the broken antenna mast, Oil change, Brake Inspection (F & R), Grease Chassis, Replaced both fog light bulbs, Replaced the blend door and the blend door motor (atleast $1200) at Ford dealer. I also fixed three faulty wires that controlled the power locks and the driver's side courtesy light, so basically repaired his power locks which took 3 hrs to do by themselves. And put new batteries into his transmitter and re-programmed it. If you all did this amount of work and if the parts were all paid for how much would you be looking to get for labor. I always screw my self over being too nice with the amount I charge. Thanks

 

Make sure you make at least a little on the parts and charge a fair rate for labor.
The dealer would charge him $90+ per hour, so even if you hit him for half of
that he would be getting a sweet deal.

A '97 "Exploder?" Yeesh!

How do you double the value of a 97 Explorer? Fill the tank!

 

Just take the hours x a dealer rate and if you want to give a nice guy discount, take it off that. Then add parts.

 

no less then 400, just with all the electrical work you did a dealer would charge a diagnostic fee, about 65-90 bucks and then your looking at paying the dealer an additional 8 hours at what ever the shop rate is for an entire day

your either gonna make money or just have customers take advantage of you and not return

 

That's funny. HAHAHAHA.

 

i do sidework all the time and charge $40/hr. i was like you; far too nice when i started doing it for people then foudn out i spent a whole day working for almost nothing. it's not worth it! make it worth your time or don't do it at all. anybody who expecst you to work all day for peanuts isn't worth working for anyway; they're usually the ones who complain about every little thing too after you just hooked them up.
if you're a professional mechanic as i am, your time is worth money and you should turna good profit without feeling guilty.