Great thread !I agree with Ron 100% about the labor rate, but custom shops may be forced into it, so to speak.
If you walk in the dealership garage, you see the newest diagnostics computers, top quality equipment, skilled and trained (ASE) techs, who have made major investments in their own tool sets. The training and equipment gives them the ability to get something done in an hour. Like wise, the investment these techs have made in them selves demands a higher pay scale. The dealership has to charge a rate high enough to cover these costs, but, the customer gets the job done right in a timely manor.
Now walk in to many Hot Rod shops, and you may see a welder or two, a few old tool boxes, a drill press and a grinder, ..... It's also quite common that t he employees here have had little or no formal training, and have made little or no investment in their own skill set and future. In effect, they are not acting in a "Professional" manner. They do not get much done in an hour, and they labor rate suffers in turn.
I know that this is not all shops, but many of you would have to agree that this setting of a Hot Rod shop is the most common, and that the Professionally run shops are a rarity. Management is the key, and for the long term, we have to look at the management of our industry as one area that needs help, a lot of help. Have a great day guys.
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