How to determine wage?

Feb 1, 18 12:58

Post #1 of 15 (1405 views)

My local government has asked if I would be interested in building some specialized firefighting equipment for them. This would consist of sourcing equipment, ordering, and then loading it all into trailers to be ready for deployment. I have already done basically the same thing for my own fire department, but it was done as a volunteer and was spread over the last few years. They want this done before summer.

I think I can estimate pretty well how many hours I would need to do this, but they want to know how much I would charge and I have no idea what the going rate for something like this would be. I have never really been in a position to negotiate a wage like this, and have no idea where to start or how to set my price.

Help?

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Starting from scratch...

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 13:22

Post #2 of 15 (1377 views)

Quote:

government

Its government spending start high ! Yes sir I did say one billion dollars, billion with a B

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 13:33

Post #3 of 15 (1356 views)

Figure out how much you think your time is worth. But definitely make it more than what your getting paid now. You'll be doing the work on your own time so you could look at it like it's overtime work and charge that rate. It's really up to you. You don't have any overhead so you don't need to build that into your price. If you want to be fair you could take the materials and mark them up 15-20%.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 14:00

Post #4 of 15 (1330 views)

I'm a cost estimator for a living.

First, where are you?

Second, if you come up with a wage, let's say $30/hr, you must figure burden. This is tax, insurance, and profit in the rate. It is not unusual for burden to be 50%.

So if you make $30/hr, you'd charge $45/hr.

Re: How to determine wage? [Bumble Bee] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 14:43

Post #5 of 15 (1304 views)

Bumble Bee wrote:

I'm a cost estimator for a living.

First, where are you?

Second, if you come up with a wage, let's say $30/hr, you must figure burden. This is tax, insurance, and profit in the rate. It is not unusual for burden to be 50%.

So if you make $30/hr, you'd charge $45/hr.

Woah. That seems cheap. Of course, there are more business expenses that that. In the trades I see most business charging 4X employee pay. Plumber who gets paid $25 per hr the company bills out at $100. As an example.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 14:47

Post #6 of 15 (1301 views)

For consulting / piecemeal work, using 3x your hourly rate (if you had a stable job) is not unreasonable. So, round #'s, if you were getting $50K per year at a full-time job, that's $25 / hour, so charge $75 / hour. As someone said, it's government, start high.

There are three kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

Re: How to determine wage? [r7950] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 15:04

Post #7 of 15 (1293 views)

r7950 wrote:

For consulting / piecemeal work, using 3x your hourly rate (if you had a stable job) is not unreasonable.

+1
3x wage is where I start.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 1, 18 15:55

Post #8 of 15 (1272 views)

skinny wrote:

My local government has asked if I would be interested in building some specialized firefighting equipment for them. This would consist of sourcing equipment, ordering, and then loading it all into trailers to be ready for deployment. I have already done basically the same thing for my own fire department, but it was done as a volunteer and was spread over the last few years. They want this done before summer.

I think I can estimate pretty well how many hours I would need to do this, but they want to know how much I would charge and I have no idea what the going rate for something like this would be. I have never really been in a position to negotiate a wage like this, and have no idea where to start or how to set my price.

Help?

Bluntly, you need to understand your knowledge is actually in short supply, the google geniuses can google all the shit they want but until it's actually deployed it's all theory. You have a system, you know from experience it works, charge accordingly.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 2, 18 14:01

Post #9 of 15 (1084 views)

$120 per hour.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 2, 18 15:31

Post #10 of 15 (1063 views)

I work for a local credit union with 22 branches in my area.

I have a master list of about 500 vendors/contractors and basically can tell you hourly/mileage price sqf(janitorial) etc. For anything from vault maintenance to electrical to elevators to interior design/architectural etc.

...don’t get me going on Chubb or custom blinds!

Basically you have what appears to be a specialized skill set...for me in Canada I would need to see minimum gst# (tax thing) 10$ mil liability and police check.

All that costs extra...you don’t want to do this cash etc.

Basically a firefighter makes about 80k up here. I would go 100-120 an hour and do everything above board.

There is always a small town monopoly and specialized skill set premium

2c
Maurice

Re: How to determine wage? [mauricemaher] [ In reply to ]

Feb 2, 18 16:09

Post #11 of 15 (1052 views)

I'm in Canada. Volunteer fire departments. I am already considered to be an employee due to my position with the department, so not really an independent contractor. And I found out today that several other people have already offered to do it for $30/hour.

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Starting from scratch...

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

TriHard Indiana

Feb 2, 18 16:19

Post #12 of 15 (1045 views)

skinny wrote:

My local government has asked if I would be interested in building some specialized firefighting equipment for them. This would consist of sourcing equipment, ordering, and then loading it all into trailers to be ready for deployment. I have already done basically the same thing for my own fire department, but it was done as a volunteer and was spread over the last few years. They want this done before summer.

I think I can estimate pretty well how many hours I would need to do this, but they want to know how much I would charge and I have no idea what the going rate for something like this would be. I have never really been in a position to negotiate a wage like this, and have no idea where to start or how to set my price.

Help?

The 3X multiplier advice is spot-on.
BTW, stop referring to your professional consulting fee as your "wage".
Wage=hired help.
Fee or Rate=BAMF with valuable knowledge and skills.

Good luck and congratulations.

Lifeguard: "Do you need help?" Me: "No, that's just my butterfly."

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

Feb 2, 18 16:33

Post #13 of 15 (1038 views)

skinny wrote:

I'm in Canada. Volunteer fire departments. I am already considered to be an employee due to my position with the department, so not really an independent contractor. And I found out today that several other people have already offered to do it for $30/hour.

Shitty and stupid,

Ie if the city/region doesn’t vet contractors etc.

30$ an hour is just dumb as dog shit. Also cities aren’t allowed to do cash work...you know breaking the law etc....so some guy is basically willing to assume all liability for “fire truck stuff” and the city is willing to take on that liability on behalf of what sounds like a cash worker??????

Sorry, lots of things wrong with this one.

Re: How to determine wage? [skinny] [ In reply to ]

TriHard Indiana

Feb 2, 18 17:31

Post #14 of 15 (1021 views)

skinny wrote:

I'm in Canada. Volunteer fire departments. I am already considered to be an employee due to my position with the department, so not really an independent contractor. And I found out today that several other people have already offered to do it for $30/hour.

Bail. They're looking for hired help.

Lifeguard: "Do you need help?" Me: "No, that's just my butterfly."

Re: How to determine wage? [TriHard Indiana] [ In reply to ]

Feb 4, 18 9:16

Post #15 of 15 (937 views)

TriHard Indiana wrote:

skinny wrote:

I'm in Canada. Volunteer fire departments. I am already considered to be an employee due to my position with the department, so not really an independent contractor. And I found out today that several other people have already offered to do it for $30/hour.

Bail. They're looking for hired help.

This.

Long Chile was a silly place.

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