sharpening chain prices

[justintimemoto]

i got a few chains to sharpen for a guy w the grinder just wondering what a good price is to charge him there 16 and 20"

[LeeB]

I think the local saw shop gets 5 bucks.

[treefarmer87]

there are two saw shops in our area the guy i deal with charges $6 for any length chain, the other man $10 for a 16 in and the price goes up if the chain is bigger.

[Tom]

Most smaller chains 14 to 18" have been $2.00 and 20" 28" have been $3.00 unless you go to town and the yuppy shops really get into your pocket.

[Bobus2003]

Local shop does all chains (Chain saw and Harvester) and all lengths for $5 a chain

[justintimemoto]

thanks guys i was thinking of just charging 3 or 4 dollars a chain   there mostly 16 and 20 inch chains

[maple flats]

I've never sharpened for hire before, but with my new grinder I might. I did offer to sharpen for my boss at $3 ea but said he would need to have 4 at a time to get that price. I have no idea what others in my area charge, I have never taken one in to be sharpened. As far as one post above I think $10 is way too much, where I buy my chains I can get new 10 chains (up to 20") for $109/10.

[John Bartley]

If you guys would stop to think about how much work is involved in sharpening a chain, you might think differently about the pricing. It's not rocket science, but it does take a few minutes to do it correctly. In my shop, if we received the chains off the saw, we'd wash them to remove wood dust and bar lube, then we'd check them for wear (also incorrectly called "stretch"), as well as broken teeth or straps, sharpen the teeth, then grind the rakers, That process ensured that the customer got back a safe, properly set chain so that they could cut safely and quickly without either over or under-working the saw and chain. You can figure that this takes about 10 minutes minimum, and depending on the chain it might be 15 minutes. At $10/chain, and one every 10 minutes, you can do 6 per hour. I don't think $60/hour is an unfair labour rate for a properly equipped shop with properly paid, properly trained staff. At $5 per chain they're charging $30/hr, and that's barely a living wage for an indivdual these days, never mind enough to support a proper business with, "yuppie" or not. I don't know about you guys, but my goal was to retire with a decent income sometime "before" I died, and even $60/hr is barely enough to achieve that goal. I reached my goal at 49 years of age. Y'all can do the math yourself and decide how far into your old age you want to get while you still "have" to work to live.

Remember ..... every discount you give simply subsidises someone else's retirement.....

cheers

John

[maple flats]

John, you're likely right. I retired at 51 and couldn't stand being idle. That is why I make maple syrup, have a sawmill and do some light logging along with thinking about sharpening chains. Your reasoning is sound but my question is, why would someone pay $10 to sharpen a chain if they could get new for $11 (buying in lots of 10). Seems like there needs to be a bigger savings to justify taking the time to take a chain to someone to sharpen.

[John Bartley]

John, you're likely right. I retired at 51 and couldn't stand being idle. That is why I make maple syrup, have a sawmill and do some light logging along with thinking about sharpening chains. Your reasoning is sound but my question is, why would someone pay $10 to sharpen a chain if they could get new for $11 (buying in lots of 10). Seems like there needs to be a bigger savings to justify taking the time to take a chain to someone to sharpen.

I agree that there has to be a justification, but the justification has to be on the supplier end, as well as on the customer end. Just because new chains are available for $11, even in lots of ten (and yes, we also sold the 10-pack at my store) doesn't mean that the guy doing the sharpening should suck up a less than quality price for doing quality work. If the work we're doing isn't paying its own freight, then the logical choice has to be to stop doing it until the market recovers. When we're digging ourselves into a hole, we should sell the shovel and buy some other kind of tool to use......

cheers

John

ps: yup.....I also got bored real fast.....so I sawmill, work part time in a cabinet shop, cut some grass, etc.etc...

[Frickman]

The local saw shop charges based on the length, I think a 20" chain is around $6.00. When you consider the skill, time, and equipment that goes into it that is a very fair price.

Any time I subcontract to other people or do custom work I figure that my time, my skills, and my machine are worth no less than $60.00 / hour. That's a base price or course, most of the time it is higher. So $6.00 for a chain is very fair.

[metalspinner]

$5 at the Stihl dealer here.  It doesn't matter if it's 16" or 36".

[TeaW]

I have never payed to get a chain sharpened, but I see a sign at the local saw shop that they charge $8.00. They are welcome to it as far as I'm concerned, I touch mine up when they need it but what they get are really dull and  need a grinder to bring them back to usable condition.

[JDeere]

I wouldn't pay $10.00 to have a chain sharpened when I could buy new for $11.00. If I had a shop that sold saws, chains, etc. I still wouldn't charge that much but would do it for $5.00-$6.00/chain regardless of the actual cost/profit. Sometimes in business you give a little and get a lot more back in return. That guy that will come into your store for a $5.00 sharpening might just be the guy to walk out with a $700.00 saw. At $10.00/sharpening he may have never come in at all.

[John Bartley]

I wouldn't pay $10.00 to have a chain sharpened when I could buy new for $11.00.

Neither would I.

If I had a shop that sold saws, chains, etc. I still wouldn't charge that much but would do it for $5.00-$6.00/chain regardless of the actual cost/profit. Sometimes in business you give a little and get a lot more back in return. That guy that will come into your store for a $5.00 sharpening might just be the guy to walk out with a $700.00 saw. At $10.00/sharpening he may have never come in at all.

This (above) is the "common thinking" among the public. Unfortunately it doesn't pan out in real business life. The real truth is that customers who come into a store because they can get something cheap or free tend to come back because............they can get something cheap or free. They also tend to be the customers who will "nickle and dime" a business to death. A customer who shops at a store because they get a quality product or service at a "real world" price are customers who will not only return for that quality, but they are the ones who will be profitable to deal with on an ongoing basis.

Business ain't charity............

cheers

John

[maple flats]

I'm also thinking that chain sharpening should be a time filler for a saw shop. In other words, sharpen to fill in voids. Like when you finish a big job 30 minutes before lunch or the end of the day, sharpen a few chains until the break and start the next big job after the break. As such the sharpening time would be a filler that was worth it even at a lower rate. Now if someone brought in some chains that just had to be done NOW the price might reflect that, rather than doing at your convenience (within reason).
Before I sold my business and retired at 51, I had such time fillers that were well worth the effort just because they were "fillers".

[John Bartley]

I'm also thinking that chain sharpening should be a time filler for a saw shop. In other words, sharpen to fill in voids. Like when you finish a big job 30 minutes before lunch or the end of the day, sharpen a few chains until the break and start the next big job after the break. As such the sharpening time would be a filler that was worth it even at a lower rate. Now if someone brought in some chains that just had to be done NOW the price might reflect that, rather than doing at your convenience (within reason).
Before I sold my business and retired at 51, I had such time fillers that were well worth the effort just because they were "fillers".

Very true and well said!

cheers

John

[thecfarm]

I think it use to be $8 here.A new chain at the same place use to be $14.Something like that.There are are lot of homeowners out there that have no idea how to keep a saw sharp.We all know it takes some practice to get it right.Some homeowners will never learn because they will never saw enough to learn and some just won't learn no matter what. If someone could show them what to do they would be all set and could do it themselves.

[JDeere]

If I had a shop that sold saws, chains, etc. I still wouldn't charge that much but would do it for $5.00-$6.00/chain regardless of the actual cost/profit. Sometimes in business you give a little and get a lot more back in return. That guy that will come into your store for a $5.00 sharpening might just be the guy to walk out with a $700.00 saw. At $10.00/sharpening he may have never come in at all.

This (above) is the "common thinking" among the public. Unfortunately it doesn't pan out in real business life. The real truth is that customers who come into a store because they can get something cheap or free tend to come back because............they can get something cheap or free. They also tend to be the customers who will "nickle and dime" a business to death. A customer who shops at a store because they get a quality product or service at a "real world" price are customers who will not only return for that quality, but they are the ones who will be profitable to deal with on an ongoing basis.

Business ain't charity............

  The above is also "common thinking" in the businesses that have survived for years in my area. A Cat dealer once helped me out years ago with the loan of a machine at no cost when mine was down. I had never bought a machine from him but it was clearly a good will gesture. Since that time 20+ years ago I guess I have nickeled and dimed him to the tune of about a million dollars for machines I have purchased. Somehow they have managed to become one of the biggest heavy equipment dealers in the US despite customers like me. In my real business life I have done countless jobs for cost and seen a return many times over. Some of these small jobs have turned into good regular customers. Certainly not all the time, but enough to make it well worth my while. If I could get my full rate for my equipment or labor for every single working minute obviously I wouldn't do it for less. But if I can take a filler job and at least cover my costs I am not going to sit on my butt and whine about no work. The attitude of pay me $xxx.oo or I am not going to work kind of reminds me of my unemployed neighbor. He has been out of work for a year and a half and refuses to take a job for less than $12.00/hr, collecting unemployment and having his wife work 90 hours a week.

[John Bartley]

  The above is also "common thinking" in the businesses that have survived for years in my area. A Cat dealer once helped me out years ago with the loan of a machine at no cost when mine was down. I had never bought a machine from him but it was clearly a good will gesture. Since that time 20+ years ago I guess I have nickeled and dimed him to the tune of about a million dollars for machines I have purchased.

There's a huge difference between lending a machine "once" to a potential customer, and setting a regular price that creates a loss. I'll bet the Cat dealer doesn't have a sign in his yard that says "anyone can come and borrow our machines for free". He identified a potential in you and followed that "future sale" by giving you a demo, dressed up as a favour. That was my favourite sales tactic for riding mowers....identify a potential good customer....drop a riding mower in their yard........show them how to use it...........tell them that if they don't like it I'd pick it up in a few days.........never picked one up, just the cheques.

If I could get my full rate for my equipment or labor for every single working minute obviously I wouldn't do it for less. But if I can take a filler job and at least cover my costs I am not going to sit on my butt and whine about no work..........

Exactly my point....so why start by creating a loss? Why not "start" by identifying your actual cost to do the job, price it at a profit, and then see where it goes? If you need to lower the price on occasion for either a good existing customer, or someone who may become one, then do so, but why set your self up to "always" do that job at a loss? If the job is always going to be a filler, then identify it and prioritize it us such, but don't give away what you don't have to.

that's my hard learned experience.

cheers

John