Expert Advice

[PTmowerMech]

I charge $ 20 Aus to replace any part the customer supplies, I call it a fitting fee and it is listed as a separate line item on the invoice.
No one ever challenges this as it makes sense to them .

$20 plus labor?

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yes
So say for a full service where they bought "bargan blades" from ebay the bill will show
Full service tractor style mower $ 240
Fitting fee for supplied blades $ 20
And if they supplied a transmission belt then I would add another $ 20
Fitting fee for supplied transmission belt $ 20

Some will ask what the total would be if I supplied all of the parts & they get an honest answer which is always lower because the ebay parts are usually the same part I use and they have the ebay vendors profit + ebay cost + freight included.
Generally they don't bother trying to do it again.
Now you have your Stens account you should see roughly what the mark ups the on line vendors are running at.
Not hard to at least match those prices or in my case go $ 1 under .

And I frgot to add thatis just the labout part of the bill ( 4 hrs @ $ 60 /hr ) the parts fitted would be on top of that
A full service usually runs around $ 400 ( Aust ) when you include the parts.

The yardman that just finally left the shop went out at $ 999.65 of which $ 300 was labour and remember these are $ AUS not greenbacks.
Yardman

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I have no problem fitting customer supplied parts but i charge $40 an hour to do it. Usually it is a belt they bought but decided it was too much for them. You would be suprised how many times they get the wrong belt too. What i won't install is a used K46 diff off ebay.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Yes
So say for a full service where they bought "bargan blades" from ebay the bill will show
Full service tractor style mower $ 240
Fitting fee for supplied blades $ 20
And if they supplied a transmission belt then I would add another $ 20
Fitting fee for supplied transmission belt $ 20

Some will ask what the total would be if I supplied all of the parts & they get an honest answer which is always lower because the ebay parts are usually the same part I use and they have the ebay vendors profit + ebay cost + freight included.
Generally they don't bother trying to do it again.
Now you have your Stens account you should see roughly what the mark ups the on line vendors are running at.
Not hard to at least match those prices or in my case go $ 1 under .

Yeah, usually my cost for a part even with my small markup is cheaper than the customer gets off Amazon or the like.

 

[gsim]

PTO sheave attached to crank via square key. If key not sheared, no such proelem. My 930 D Hopper has removable stub shaft that bolts to back of flywheel. 4 bolts thru flange that attacnes to center of flywheel. If your mower has that, then you are either being scammed, or mechanic ignorant of your layout.