Truck Load Rates Halt 8 Week Slide 2.0

I figure my time to be worth $100 to $150 an hour when working on my truck. I had a chance to outsource this camera install I am doing now and it was about the same cost per hour for me to do it. So I decided since I am home I would do it and save the cash. It was 800-1000 for the install and I figure it will cost me about $80 out of pocket for the stuff I had to buy for the install.

 

Hmmm....That's the strangest statement I heard for a while...How can you quantify monetarily your own time?
You don't get paid per every hour of you life, do you? Unless you are a Hollywood script writer who is falling behind a schedule with the publisher, neither you have alternative opportunity income when it comes to mowing your lawn, reading a book or wrenching for that matter. Spending money at the shop vs doing it yourself does not mean - financially - anything else but saving that labor-hour money. It is, perhaps, a compromise or sacrifice when it comes to you family life or leisure but generally, those who wrench, do so because they like it.
If, in 4 hours, I am able to find a rotten electric wire in the harness that causes short vs letting it be done by a seasoned electrician in half that time, that is still $200 in my pocket...What value did I lose by accomplishing it myself? It would be an awkward thing to say that an hour of my life is worth more than $50 or even $1000 for that matter. Even if it is, it is not like I could make more during the same time period.

 

Yes and may be no. There are times in which there is no "help" around, so it is a do it or.. lay on your bed till freeze or dehydrate. But typically yes, I do it because I like to not give away something I have to work for extra hrs and can spend on myself and/or for the sake of satisfaction "it is done right", or "yes, I did it!",)

 

"Generally" should have not been dotted there...lol
I would do all the wrenching I could if I had all the tools, place and knowledge.
I think that the most important thing about amassing wealth is not letting it trickle in little streams here and there, especially if you can easily prevent it. Going into debt has mostly to do with unnecessary spending. It sucks to be frugal for sure but at the level of what long term earnings of an average owner - operator are, being mindful of all the money you can prevent wasting is too essential to the game to be overlooked.

 

The only up side to doing your own mechanic work is down time. Down time is the killer and since you’re already down you may as well do the work.

The up side to owning new equipment is generally speaking less down time. Therefore more billable hours are spent driving not wrenching. Plus you have more quality down time to spend with the family not in a shop all day Saturday and Sunday trying to get ready for Monday.

 

I consider wrenching to be a part of the owner-operatorship business. If you can do it, the more power to you. If you can't due to lack of know-how, recourses or sheer laziness then you are at more disadvantage.
Similarly, a rocket scientist still needs to research, read, write and study at his post work hours to keep up with his profession pace.

 

I honestly have just one idea of what you are calling a "down time". For me it is something happened during freight movement. Otherwise I'm sitting home for weeks at a time usually, last winter was on the road 5 weeks total, is that a down time?)

PS: down time for me, as well, is spending money I can keep by doing it myself and not working for a day or two to give it away to someone else. I've just replaced a piece of an exhaust pipe under the cab, 2 hrs lazy tinkering during 10hr break, and saved two days of on the road earnings.. quote from the dealer was around 1k, that I would have to "waste".

 

The “tech” doing the actual work isn’t getting the full hourly rate. Something like a oil change is usually the least paid in the shop.

 

Another thing is that the labor-hours are not really clocked the same. I can see techs to do things energetically and enthusiastically at the "proper" pace and on the other end of the spectrum, so many of those sloppy, taking forever, more walking and talking than working, lazy kind of techs.
Also, I've had situations when they were "working" but never fixing, and they wanted to be paid for their fruitless work just the same. I think an honorable shop should have a motto "We can't fix it, we ain't paid", unless they tell you upfront that they can't guarantee any solution, so lots of diagnosing and guessing will be involved and it is on your bill.

 

My time has value. My life doesn’t revolve around my truck and time spent on the truck takes time away from something else.

If you run and generate revenue Monday thru Friday and then spend half a day on the weekend working on it then really it took you 5.5 or closer to 6 days to generate that revenue. It’s not “free” labor just because someone chooses to not recognize the value of their time.

Will I spend a few minutes mounting my ELD? Yes. Will I mount and wire my cab and sleeper panels when they show up in June? Nope. Will I sit on the end of a buffer polishing aluminum for a few hours? Nope. Will I take 30 minutes and hand polish to maintain the shine? Yep. So I guess my limit is about an hour. Anything over that and I have other things I could be spending my time on. When my time is up I doubt I’m going to look back and wish I had spent more time working on a truck.