u/account_created_

Curious what wait time people have experienced calling customer service. I’m at 30 minutes now and counting.

For anyone that purchased a car that had to be delivered from somewhere else, how long did it take? I purchased mine Saturday, to be delivered from MA to NJ, and it still has not been picked up for delivery yet. What is the expected timeframe for that?

When I started out I’d quote a kitchen repaint at “materials + $X per hour” and feel good about it. Then I’d finish the job, look at what I actually netted after gas, insurance, tool wear, the unpaid hour driving to the supply house, and realize I made about $14/hr.
The thing nobody tells you: your hourly rate isn’t your pay. Overhead eats 20-35% of every job before you see a dollar. Profit margin is a separate line on top of that, not the same thing as your wage. Most independents I know skip one or both and wonder why they’re broke in February.
Quick gut check on your last quote:
• Did you add overhead as its own line (insurance, vehicle, phone, software, dead time)?
• Did you add a profit margin after labor and materials, not instead of?
• Are your rates from this year or 2021?
I got tired of doing this math in a notebook and built a free web tool for it: builderquote.app. No signup, saves to your browser, spits out a PDF. Mainly sharing because the overhead/profit split is the part that fixed my pricing, whether you use my thing or a spreadsheet.

When I started out I’d quote a kitchen repaint at “materials + $X per hour” and feel good about it. Then I’d finish the job, look at what I actually netted after gas, insurance, tool wear, the unpaid hour driving to the supply house, and realize I made about $14/hr.
The thing nobody tells you: your hourly rate isn’t your pay. Overhead eats 20-35% of every job before you see a dollar. Profit margin is a separate line on top of that, not the same thing as your wage. Most independents I know skip one or both and wonder why they’re broke in February.
Quick gut check on your last quote:
• Did you add overhead as its own line (insurance, vehicle, phone, software, dead time)?
• Did you add a profit margin after labor and materials, not instead of?
• Are your rates from this year or 2021?
I got tired of doing this math in a notebook and built a free web tool for it: builderquote.app. No signup, saves to your browser, spits out a PDF. Mainly sharing because the overhead/profit split is the part that fixed my pricing, whether you use my thing or a spreadsheet.