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RCBH928
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Labour prices

by RCBH928 Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:48 pm

I am looking labour cost for an electrician and it says the USA average cost is $280 per hour, thats 35x minimum wage($8). Isn't this a ridiculous price for fixing some light bulbs and installing wires? At that price he will make monthly minimum wage in just 5 hours of work, less than 1 day. Am I missing something here?


further research shows american median(most occurring) pay is about $6K a month , dividing 22 work days and then 8 hours per workday the average pay is $33 per hour. So the electrician is making 8.4x the average pay?! Do the numbers check out?

Further calculations shows that an electrician if working regular hours (8hours X 22 day-a-month X $280 per hour) $49K per month (about 70% of median yearly salary) and over half a million dollars per year?! For replacing bulbs?
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Re: Labour prices

by alienjesus Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:15 pm

If you’re getting an electrician in to replace lightbulbs, you’re definitely the one at fault, not him.

You’re also not factoring in cost of training, tools, travel time, inconsistency of work schedule, potentially overheads for running and staffing a business and numerous other incremental costs. That electrician isn’t taking home all of that money as profit.
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Re: Labour prices

by lwcook Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:21 pm

alienjesus wrote:If you’re getting an electrician in to replace lightbulbs, you’re definitely the one at fault, not him.

You’re also not factoring in cost of training, tools, travel time, inconsistency of work schedule, potentially overheads for running and staffing a business and numerous other incremental costs. That electrician isn’t taking home all of that money as profit.


Not only that, but if you're working per hour/job like that, they don't have a guaranteed salary at x/amount of hours like you would at a 8 to 5. Time in between traveling to job sites, getting supplies, quotes, etc isn't something you can directly bill for so it is incorporated into the hourly rate.
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Re: Labour prices

by Nemoide Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:48 pm

First, I don't know if your numbers are totally accurate: I make less than $3k/month after taxes and am pretty sure I'm closer to the median than that $6k/month figure. I've never hired an electrician personally (I rent an apartment and am not responsible for those costs) but $280/hour sounds unusually high to me. What's your source for those numbers? I suspect you're looking at a site with bogus information.

But also in general, YEAH, hiring electricians can be expensive and they do make a good amount of money. They totally earn that though! I've never heard of someone hiring an electrician to change their light bulbs. (I-is that what you do? Most folks change bulbs themselves.) Usually electricians are doing things like installing wiring through a house and adding outlets or things like that. It's a job that's safe when you know what you're doing, but if you don't, you could easily kill yourself by touching a live wire. It's also something that has to be done properly: a bad wiring job can start easily a fire and burn down someone's house. When you hire an electrician, you're generally hiring someone who is well trained and knows how to do the job safely. And as others have mentioned, your money has to help pay for their supplies, transportation, etc.
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Re: Labour prices

by Gucci Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:24 pm

I’m a commercial credit underwriter. I see a bunch of tax returns for contractors such as electricians and plumbers. If it’s a decently large outfit, there’s quite a lot of expenses involved. Insurance, material, labor costs, equipment expenses, staffing people for the offices, etc.

Definitely not taking that $280/hr home. They'd be lucky for $40 of that $280.
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Re: Labour prices

by lwcook Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:41 pm

That's exactly it. I'm not a electrician, but an on-site technician that works for a company and it works the same way. The amount they charge for a service call is many many times what I make per hour. That rate covers the company vehicle that gets me there (gas/insurance/maintenance,) dispatchers, tools, training on the product, my salary, stocking parts to repair quickly, etc.

I briefly looked into freelancing and those costs all add up quickly.
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Re: Labour prices

by Gucci Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:11 pm

I wanted to add that the really successful contractors (company with many workers — not a sole proprietor) are the ones that get government and other large contracts. Being the sole plumbing or electrical contractor for a large college, hospital, or government offices pays big.

Edit: but to be considered for those contracts, you have to be properly bonded, have insurance, and some even require a large business credit line for working capital outside of the line for bonding. It can get crazy.
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Re: Labour prices

by stickem Sun Dec 05, 2021 12:26 am

I think you're confusing what an electrician company charges per hour vs what an individual electrician makes per hour.
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Re: Labour prices

by Limewater Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:23 am

stickem wrote:I think you're confusing what an electrician company charges per hour vs what an individual electrician makes per hour.


On top of that, I think he might be confusing average service call price with hourly rate. My searches on electrician hourly rates shows something more like $80-$100 per hour, but getting a skilled tradesman to your house generally costs more than just the hourly rate.
But yes, a tradesman actually makes way less than his hourly rate.
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Re: Labour prices

by RCBH928 Sun Dec 05, 2021 1:22 pm

alienjesus wrote:If you’re getting an electrician in to replace lightbulbs, you’re definitely the one at fault, not him.


I had halogen spotlights that I replaced with LED spotlights. There was wire cutting, installing new devices(iirc), and then re-wiring for each bulb, it was not a matter of twisting out and twisting in. There is also wall outlet changing, its just unscrewing and rewiring, but if you do something wrong I believe you can electorate yourself to death. So not sure if I was at fault or not.

I wouldn't mind paying $280 for an electric engineer withat will draw the whole wiring of a 50 story building that he went to harvard to get his degree, but just for twisting screws around idk seems a bit high?!

lwcook wrote:Not only that, but if you're working per hour/job like that, they don't have a guaranteed salary at x/amount of hours like you would at a 8 to 5. Time in between traveling to job sites, getting supplies, quotes, etc isn't something you can directly bill for so it is incorporated into the hourly rate.


Do corporates pay their employees for traveling to and back from work?! Either way, most of them will be traveling 30-40min to job site so its not even a full hour and how much would that cost?
The other lie is that handy men do not have 8-5 jobs so they need to make up the time they are "free" . There is no "free". Most handy men I talk to give you few days ahead due their busy appointments let alone the jobs they refused to take. One HVAC guy told me the closest opening I have is a month away. So no, I will not accept the idea that handy men are just sitting idle all day long waiting for someone to call, its infact the opposite, you have to wait for them.

Nemoide wrote:First, I don't know if your numbers are totally accurate: I make less than $3k/month after taxes and am pretty sure I'm closer to the median than that $6k/month figure. I've never hired an electrician personally (I rent an apartment and am not responsible for those costs) but $280/hour sounds unusually high to me. What's your source for those numbers? I suspect you're looking at a site with bogus information.

But also in general, YEAH, hiring electricians can be expensive and they do make a good amount of money. They totally earn that though! I've never heard of someone hiring an electrician to change their light bulbs. (I-is that what you do? Most folks change bulbs themselves.) Usually electricians are doing things like installing wiring through a house and adding outlets or things like that. It's a job that's safe when you know what you're doing, but if you don't, you could easily kill yourself by touching a live wire. It's also something that has to be done properly: a bad wiring job can start easily a fire and burn down someone's house. When you hire an electrician, you're generally hiring someone who is well trained and knows how to do the job safely. And as others have mentioned, your money has to help pay for their supplies, transportation, etc.


You are correct, I took if off a site : https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/W ... y-by-State
Average Electrician Pay: https://homeguide.com/costs/electrician-cost-per-hour

If the numbers are wrong, then I apologies and this whole thread has no reason to exist
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