been thinking of some side work

[Tupac]

a decent tire machine is min. $3k. balancer anywhere from $1300 up.

 that said, you don't need either of them to plug a tire. what you are paying for is the mechanics time, and the convenience of not doing it yourself.

 it costs me 5/tire to properly dispose of them. taxes......i have an accountant for that, 'cause i don't know enough, nor do i have the time to learn.

 depending on what you're working on, types of repairs, etc.....it costs to get rid of oil in some places....some places you can get it picked up for free, and there's a couple businesses locally that pay for it.

 it usually costs money to get rid of antifreeze properly.

 then there's rent, insurance, etc etc etc etc

You mean you don't pour used oil back into the ground where it came from? 

[SEraider]

I suggest $20-$45 per hour range, depending what the job is and how specialized.  You can add a small travel fee of $5-$10 per job. 

Don't work per hour.  Work per estimate.  If you estimate 2 hours of work on a medium difficulty job, then $30 x 2 + $10 for travel is $70 plus parts.  You need to be efficient in locating replacement parts also.

Remember - the speed kills the slow. 

[Flench]

You mean you don't pour used oil back into the ground where it came from? 

LOL

[ridley1]

Good luck, but the problem is this small engine machines are too cheap to buy new or good used; I paid aprox  200-250$ for a lawnmower, 80-100$ for trimmer, 600$ for a snow blower; as long as are made in Asia and sold here for this price, doesn't make sense to fix; people are buying extended warranty and run this toys for 2-3 years, if breaks down after  get a new one.

That is the problem....Call it the wal-mart effect....
I admit....I have a dirt cheap push mower..because I use it to cut in an area that has a lot of tree roots, rough ground, etc.....so  I whang the blade often enough that the machines not going to last, so I consider my push mower disposible.

I friend of mine would take pooched lawn mowers and turn them into air compressors.

I also have a Stihl FS81 string trimmer that is on the high side of 25 years old. It needs some carb work done to it....but what the hell....I just run it with the choke slightly on.

[Bizman]

There's been some talking about how much would be the right amount of money for one's services. Actually it's quite a simple calculation, sort of an upside down profit and loss statement. Let's start from how much you'd like to earn yearly after taxes. It goes like this:

Your desired annual net income
+ income taxes
+ retirement insurance
+ other insurances (illness, accident, damage, car, lawsuit...)
+ rent or other workroom costs
+ car maintenance and gas
+ phone
+ advertising
+ tools and their maintenance
+ accountancy
+ office equipment
+ mail
+ VAT
+ any other unavoidable costs I've forgot
_____________________________ ________________________

= The amount you'd have to make to cover all these. Spare parts paid by the customer aren't included.

Now divide that with 11 months to get your monthly budget. The 12th is for your vacation!
Divide the monthly budget with 22 working days for your daily budget.
Divide the daily budget with the amount of hours you're planning to work. 8 for a full-time job, 3-4 for a side work.

The amount will be much more than the salary of someone working for a company. That's because the employer normally will cover most of these costs, at least here in Finland. A self-employed person has to take care and cover all these by himself, only the regulations may vary. I already mentioned vacation. Another thing that should be covered by the charge is the readiness time. All businesses should have official opening hours during which they should be available, at least by phone for booking. There may be many time hogs during those hours: A customer wants your services later than you've opened but early enough to prevent you from doing another job in between. Moving from one place to another takes its time. You finish a job only to notice a couple of screws that should be inside the case. Saying goodbye may take half an hour after you've handed your bill... All these are hours you can't debit for, nevertheless they belong to your normal working day from which you should get paid for! So the charge for the actual working hours has to cover all this for you to get a decent pay. A salary that's comparable to the wage you'd get from the same waiting and lagging from an employee.

[Flench]

There's been some talking about how much would be the right amount of money for one's services. Actually it's quite a simple calculation, sort of an upside down profit and loss statement. Let's start from how much you'd like to earn yearly after taxes. It goes like this:

Your desired annual net income
+ income taxes
+ retirement insurance
+ other insurances (illness, accident, damage, car, lawsuit...)
+ rent or other workroom costs
+ car maintenance and gas
+ phone
+ advertising
+ tools and their maintenance
+ accountancy
+ office equipment
+ mail
+ VAT
+ any other unavoidable costs I've forgot
_____________________________ ________________________

= The amount you'd have to make to cover all these. Spare parts paid by the customer aren't included.

Now divide that with 11 months to get your monthly budget. The 12th is for your vacation!
Divide the monthly budget with 22 working days for your daily budget.
Divide the daily budget with the amount of hours you're planning to work. 8 for a full-time job, 3-4 for a side work.

The amount will be much more than the salary of someone working for a company. That's because the employer normally will cover most of these costs, at least here in Finland. A self-employed person has to take care and cover all these by himself, only the regulations may vary. I already mentioned vacation. Another thing that should be covered by the charge is the readiness time. All businesses should have official opening hours during which they should be available, at least by phone for booking. There may be many time hogs during those hours: A customer wants your services later than you've opened but early enough to prevent you from doing another job in between. Moving from one place to another takes its time. You finish a job only to notice a couple of screws that should be inside the case. Saying goodbye may take half an hour after you've handed your bill... All these are hours you can't debit for, nevertheless they belong to your normal working day from which you should get paid for! So the charge for the actual working hours has to cover all this for you to get a decent pay. A salary that's comparable to the wage you'd get from the same waiting and lagging from an employee.

Nice