How much for a new impeller?

[ShafferNY]

Hi people, I have situation that just came up. This guy dropped off his boat and said it was overheating and wouldn't get much throttle, only about 1/3. It's a mis '90s, 50hp Merc. <br /><br />I sprayed carb and choke through the jets on the carb, and I replace the water pump impeller and gasket. After that the engine seemed to run fine. <br /><br />He gave me $60 for parts when he dropped it off. The impeller and gasket came to $41.25. So that leaves me $18.75 towards labor. <br /><br />Before this guy came to pick up his boat I told him how much the parts where and I told him it would be $75 for labor(which I thought was pretty cheap). Well, I come home today and the guy had picked up his boat and left me $15, he said he owed me. WTF?<br /><br />So here's my question. How much would a marina charge for the work I've done for him? Just a ballpark figure. $33.75 Isn't gonna cut it. <br /><br />Thanks.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

Most impellers are under $22.00,gaskets are cheap.<br />Labor is 1 to 1.5 hours,average.good is 45 minutes.Bad salt engine ? ? ?<br />We get $65.00/hour.<br />DHP

 

[funpilot]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

Only you can let 'customers' treat you unfairly. If you do good work, and present yourself professionally, then you might bolster your argument for decent shop rates. Perhaps you might visit your local printer and have some two part carbonless forms made up. You could have a section for parts, and a section for labor, and add it all up and present a real bill. Hard to argue or 'owe you' if you go that route.

 

[achris]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

When I ran my boatshop rule #1 was : No money, no boat. Clocks tick, we don't. <br /><br />I don't know what the law is over there, but in Oz we have a thing call 'mechanic lien'. It means a mechanic can hold the goods in lieu of payment.<br /><br />Chris............

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

every mechanic I've dealt with went stricktly by<br />the book... like a car dealer service dept. the<br />book tells them exactly how much labor to charge<br />for each job in advance. what u charge per hour<br />is up to you, but at least you and customer will<br />know exact labor cost in advance. of course it<br />doesn't account for unforseen problems like a<br />frozen/busted bolts etc. that is extra labor.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

I got a price of $85 for parts and labor on a 150 Mariner.

 

[ShafferNY]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

Thanks everyone. Lesson learned. Next time I'll make it VERY clear before I do any work. I really didn't think I had anything to worry about since it was a friend of a family member. <br /><br />P.S. I forgot to mention before. The reason this guy brought his boat to me was because all the local marinas were backed up for 3 months with work. I don't think they wanted to be bothered with a small job like that where they weren't going to make a lot of money. This guy was kinda in a pinch. Get his boat fixed, or watch the summer go by.

 

[DJ]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

"since it was a friend of a family member."<br /><br />That is precisely the reason the guy pinched you on the money.

 

[Ben Konopacky]

Re: How much for a new impeller?

and now "shaf" when that eng. does't start who do you think he is going to be the "culprit" and he will say he got the "shaft" LOL sorry man