Dick Twitchen Posted January 13, 2021 Report Share Posted January 13, 2021 Do not know what he charges but a weeks work at £40 per hour comes to ....., and some of those jobs mentioned take more time than first appear eg removing dash panels & clocks, brake issues etc as some of us well know. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Dale is norf London, so I expect more than £40/hr. Audi garages are WELL over £100p/h, probably most of the big places are. A good friend ran a garage not that far away, and a few years ago was charging £75/hr, and reckoned he was not making a fortune on that. What people forget is that to employ somebody costs up to double what they get paid (holidays/sick pay/NI contributions and more recently pensions) not to mention training courses, rent, bills, equipment and the ever increasing paperwork that needs to be completed. It all has to be paid for, and is why so many who think it is a great idea to go self employed fail and return to employment. (2 tradesmen I used to use, a sparky and gasman, have gone back to employed work, having spoken to them they reckon they are probably a little less well off, but loads less hours, paperwork and grief, plus sick pay and pension) And yes, garages are wary of fiddly jobs, fault finding and so on. The customer often feels not much has been done. I have had that with electrical work. The fault was a "DIY fitted" double socket, but it took 2 hours to find the problem. 2 minutes to fix when found. Distressingly the offending socket was next to the bed, and the lady of the house had left her "massager" on the floor. Glad it wasn't plugged in..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Twitchen Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 7 minutes ago, clive said: so I expect more than £40/hr Clive, reinforcing my point that at say £80 per hour then 2.5 days labour, fair looking at the workload, seems about right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Having spoken to another North London Triumph Specialist who recently closed up shop, his weekly rent was £1000, and the landlord kindly suggested he was about to double it. a friend who runs a restoration company's near me was paying £100 a week rent for a unit on a farm. In the middle of of nowhere, his hourly rate is much lower. Anyway, I don't think that you will have any issues with the work Dale has done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 2 hours ago, thescrapman said: Anyway, I don't think that you will have any issues with the work Dale has done. +1, I don't know the guy personally, but sometimes you're better paying a little bit extra for work that's done well, and right. The peace of mind is worth the additional outlay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said: +1, I don't know the guy personally, but sometimes you're better paying a little bit extra for work that's done well, and right. The peace of mind is worth the additional outlay. Somebody who knows many Triumphists made a comment a while ago. Along the lines that he has NEVER heard a bad thing said about Dales work. And about the only specialist he could say that about. One reason I am happy to point people in his direction. Cost is then up to the punter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avivalasvegas Posted January 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Dale charges £54 an hour if you're a member of the "other" club. Otherwise £60. It's not the highest or lowest I've paid for Classic cars. And yes, expertise deserves a premium. The only open question in my mind is whether the 30 hours charged is proportionate to the work done. Seemed 5 hours more than most would suggest but I suppose I'll find out soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 10 minutes ago, avivalasvegas said: Dale charges £54 an hour if you're a member of the "other" club. Otherwise £60. Thats discrimination! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve P Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 I wanted 2 roto hubs shimmed and built up for a CV conversion for my Herald,Dale thought 4 hours @ £60 per hour would cover it.Had i been earning normally pre lockdown i would have done it. I am a member of CT as well.Did not know about the 10% off. They are still in the shed waiting. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 3 hours ago, avivalasvegas said: Dale charges £54 an hour if you're a member of the "other" club. Otherwise £60. It's not the highest or lowest I've paid for Classic cars. And yes, expertise deserves a premium. The only open question in my mind is whether the 30 hours charged is proportionate to the work done. Seemed 5 hours more than most would suggest but I suppose I'll find out soon! Not sure how anybody can give a time estimate when investigation is involved. As my post above, it can be an hour, can be much longer. Stuff like the filters not fitting etc all takes a chunk of extra time. As does rebuilding a delco dizzy. I have a serious dislike for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avivalasvegas Posted January 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 30 minutes ago, clive said: Not sure how anybody can give a time estimate when investigation is involved. As my post above, it can be an hour, can be much longer. Stuff like the filters not fitting etc all takes a chunk of extra time. As does rebuilding a delco dizzy. I have a serious dislike for them. Sounds like what you're suggesting in that case is "trust" the mechanic and forget about estimation? I'm not sure if all the work done on the car was ambiguous. Then again, I haven't worked on these cars so do not know if working on a dizzy takes more time vs. say a Classic Mini which takes 30 mins tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 2 hours ago, avivalasvegas said: Sounds like what you're suggesting in that case is "trust" the mechanic and forget about estimation? I'm not sure if all the work done on the car was ambiguous. Then again, I haven't worked on these cars so do not know if working on a dizzy takes more time vs. say a Classic Mini which takes 30 mins tops. Just saying. Anything that is not a simple pull/replace is so difficult to estimate. So yes, you have to trust the person doing the job. If you don't trust them, then go elsewhere. Most important thing is that you have somebody who does a proper job first time. Otherwise you end up having to pay to get it done again, and hope the first place hasn't damaged anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Horner Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 A lot of the stuff on our cars is time consuming but straightforward. That’s why these days I do most of it myself. I’ve had some eye watering bills from Triumph specialists. Sometimes they make cock ups and take too long - just like I do. However, I think the motor trade generally doesn’t accept that issue and charges for time anyway! I charge for my time too but in a different sphere. I know that sometimes a job takes a certain amount of time and I can’t really charge for it because it exceeds a realistic market price so I don’t. There is a lot of money about in the classic car world these days and they are a luxury. Rates have gone up reflecting cars values and their ‘luxury” status. Ask how a garage works out it’s rate and generally there will be blank looks - just like if you ask a private dentist to tell you how he gets his figure. I regularly see small well run independent garages servicing moderns making in well excess of £100k per annum for the proprietor. It is not a low paid industry. However, don’t begrudge them that if they can get it, why not! Just random thoughts and no reflection on Dale’s business or the price/ value of this job. As a member of CT I don’t doubt his considerable expertise. As an accountant who sees what a lot of different business and professions make, I always find it amusing to note what other people think other people earn - generally they are clueless about anything other than their own wage or profits and often think they themselves are great value when someone else trying to make a living isn’t! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 16 hours ago, Bob Horner said: As an accountant who sees what a lot of different business and professions make, I always find it amusing to note what other people think other people earn - generally they are clueless about anything other than their own wage or profits and often think they themselves are great value when someone else trying to make a living isn’t! Bob A long time ago I was good friends with an Assistant Bank Manager; he told me that I'd be very surprised to know which families round the town were in fear of the Postman, and losing sleep over their debts. It was always the ones with the big cars, the personalised plates, and the flashy lifestyle. However it seems to be that certain businesses think classic owners are a great cash cow; they'll charge far more for repairs to a Triumph than for, say, an accident damaged Audi. In 2018 one gentleman quoted me 400 hours to replace a boot floor and rear valence; based on the experience he'd had with an Austin A35 that he'd worked on a while before. Needless to say, he didn't get the work; the one that did took 56 hours @ £20 per hour. Businesses that repair accident damage for Insurance Companies can literally write their own ticket as regards cost per hour, and frequently do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 10 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: However it seems to be that certain businesses think classic owners are a great cash cow; they'll charge far more for repairs to a Triumph than for, say, an accident damaged Audi. In 2018 one gentleman quoted me 400 hours to replace a boot floor and rear valence; based on the experience he'd had with an Austin A35 that he'd worked on a while before. Needless to say, he didn't get the work. Businesses that repair accident damage for Insurance Companies can literally write their own ticket as regards cost per hour, and frequently do. I had a friends big saloon left with me for awhile it came with a history folder showing a previous owner had spent £40k on it over a couple of years at a body shop. £20k to fit 2 front wings and repair the sills. They then filled over the rest of the rot and gave it a £15k respray. And the windscreen still leaked (something he specifically mentioned needed fixing) so they charged him another couple of grand to fix that ( they didn't), clearly a £15 respray doesn't involve taking the screen out. I must assume the guy was loaded and they milked him at couple hundred per hour. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 we had a local lass took her vitesse failed head gasket to MD and that came to £1200 which included wait for it 29 litres of engine oil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 ....and THEN they charged extra for refitting the sump plug.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 A lot of garages (me included) used to quote horrendous prices for job's that we didn't want to do.....sometimes it would be ten times what it should be. If you got the job you would have to grin and bear it Tony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 3 hours ago, Pete Lewis said: took her vitesse failed head gasket to MD and that came to £1200 First time my Vitesse's head gasket failed, I was near Brighton for the week. I didn't want to drive it home on four cylinders (it had failed between two) but knew not to take it to a modern car garage. The best I could find in that area was an MG specialist, who did a compression test and confirmed the fault but declined to do the work because they were afraid of the unknown. In the end I did drive it home like that, then replaced the gasket myself in an afternoon, under the carport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 12 minutes ago, NonMember said: First time my Vitesse's head gasket failed, I was near Brighton for the week. I didn't want to drive it home on four cylinders (it had failed between two) but knew not to take it to a modern car garage. The best I could find in that area was an MG specialist, who did a compression test and confirmed the fault but declined to do the work because they were afraid of the unknown. In the end I did drive it home like that, then replaced the gasket myself in an afternoon, under the carport. You could have dropped into me. Guessing it was when I ran a vitesse as my everyday car. I would have had a gasket on the shelf.... Were you at Ricardo? An ex pupil works there, he was building an engine for Guy Martin last time I saw him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 yes i had offered to fix it but she took the car to MD on another front ...had a local mk1 expire on the drive , 10am so head off, dropped it to a local machine shop had it refaced ,seats cut ,valves re ground and including a dash of 35 miles to TRGB for a gasket he was back on the road that afternoon at 4pm almost a record Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 1 hour ago, clive said: You could have dropped into me. Guessing it was when I ran a vitesse as my everyday car. I would have had a gasket on the shelf.... Were you at Ricardo? An ex pupil works there, he was building an engine for Guy Martin last time I saw him! It was August 2004 and I didn't have this forum, otherwise I might have put a call out. I wasn't at Ricardo on that occasion, I was in Ovingdean doing my annual Scripture Union summer tech camp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Nice little place. An old school friends father was head of the deaf school in Ovingdean. Possibly where you were. You would have almost driven past out front door.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 We were, indeed, at the deaf school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avivalasvegas Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Got the GT6 back today. My word...what a difference! A few observations: 1) The Mintex pads are squealing loudly from 10mph down to stop. I called Dale to ask if this was expected and he didn't hesitate to say "Aha! I told you so! Mintex are noisy and Greenstuff are quiet". I did do a few 70-40mph hard braking runs to bed them in on the way home. 2) I thought the motor was powerful before but now that it is correctly tuned, power is through the roof, the oil leaks are gone and it idles at 900 rpm when cool. I couldn't contain the widest smile on my drive home and am genuinely worried I may have too much fun for my own good in this thing! 3) The steering and gear assembly is the biggest area of change, by far. It feels very tight and nimble and the lateral and vertical shudder/ shake is gone. Almost. The steering wheel still vibrates from side to side at motorway speeds. Really looking forward to enjoying this car! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now