Overcharging side work?

[prophiseer]

Just curious what y'all think . . . one of my boys thinks I'd be over charging him for doing some work on his '98 Century 3100 w/ ~105k miles on it.

Dealer's 'round here charge about $600 for parts and labor to replace the LIM gasket, and that's that. Included is new valve cover gaskets and UIM gaskets.

I quoted my friend about $700 for parts and labor for me to replace the LIM gasket, UIM gasket, valve cover gaskets, clean out the runners of both manifolds, clean the throttle bore in the UIM and clean the TB, sublet the injectors for cleaning, clean out the EGR ports, new PCV, new plug wires, new plugs, new water pump, new drivebelt, clean MAF and IAT, service existing K&N filter, new thermostat, flush the cooling system and re-install Dex-cool, change the oil and filter.

I also quoted him an extra $400 in labor to port & match the manifolds, match the UIM to the TB, and sublet the TB to be bored to 60mm.

He claims the port work and all is reasonable, but thinks I'd be overcharging him for the upper end R&R work.

I think he's gotta be outta his mind.

[sil]

700 if you could do it in an afternoon would be fair

[robby1870]

depends on how good of a friend he is.

[prophiseer]

700 if you could do it in an afternoon would be fair

at home with air tools and all . . . defi done in an afternoon, hell, in the shop I can pull it off in about 5 hours between teardown cleanup and parts prep and installation.

depends on how good of a friend he is.

known him for years, in which case I really don't want to get involved with the job, but loot is tight for him right now

[SappySE107]

400 to port manifolds? Damn.

[prophiseer]

3400 LIM, most of the work has already been done by the factory. Most of that work is just for the UIM - and it'd all be just port match work, not going over the gasket runner size, so . . .

[Guest]

Then don't do it.

Any time someone asked me to do work on the side, I would tell them a price and if they didn't like it, then I didn't do the work, simple as that.

All anybody cares about any more is price, not value and there is a huge difference between the two.

He's probably trying to cash in on that fact that "you've known each other for years", and playing the sympathy card. At that point the price always goes up, no matter how long I've known them or how well I know them, if I tell you a price, that's the price.

This also comes from working in a retail/service oriented industry, where EVERYONE asks for a better price, translation, cheaper price, I've gotten to the point where I say a flat out "no" if somebody asks, I'm not saying these prices to barter, I'm saying these prices because that's what it's worth.

[97cutlas$upreme]

i had the same job done for 360$ with out port matching but it took two days to get it back that was the only down side

[Joseph Upson]

It's your back and knuckles so whatever price you charge should be with that in mind. Friends and family are usually bad business because there is always the risk of injury to your relationship with them. As for comments by another member on the subject seeking, a cheaper price in an industry that is seldom noted for it's tendency to under price is not a bad thing, given that quality of work should be consistant for character and reputation purposes and never dictated by price.

As suggested, if they don't like your price especially when it's below industry standard pricing, recommend the yellow pages or other.