Can I still charge for labor repair on an engine that wont run?

Question

Air filter plugged with dirt. Cleaned oil filter and reoiled.
Dirt and sand in carburetor. Removed fuel tank with carb cleaned internal carburetor components. Ignition system works plugged sparks.
Ok here is the deal TEST FAIL
Reason oil pumping past worn piston rings and or valve guides.
Engine failure due to lack of maintance.

Labor @ 108 minutes $72.50
Is it ok to charge full price it still does not work. But it is labor and my time spent. I stopped at 72.50 because its a lawn mower. If I were to rebuild it that would cost as much as a new mower.

Thank you.

Thanks for the answers I will charge for 1 Hour I can live with that. Should have been useing my head a little more lack of sleep! More coffee oh well live and learn. Free lesson dont jundge a book by its cover. Busy day just wanted things done quick!

Answer 1

If you didn't check all the parts and just initiated repairs bit by bit, then they owe you only the diagnostic fee, which is no more than 1 hour of labor.

If you saw the air filter was so plugged with dirt, you should have checked the rest of engine condition first before initiating repairs (such as replacing oil filter, cleaning carburetor, and such). That should have clued you in that this baby is pretty far gone. You spent the extra effort without notifying them (assumption, may not be correct) and thus it's your own fault.

If you had asked them like "how far you want me to go before I declare it a lost cause?" then definitely charge them all it's worth since they authorized it. But if they did not give you a blanket authorization then you really did all that work for nothing.

Not exactly what you want to hear I know, but sometimes that's the way it goes.

Answer 2

Do you have a diagnostic Fee? One thing I learned early on is to always have a diagnostic fee that you can fall back on. with small engine repair, I would say $50 to 60 dollars is a fair price. Most repairs cost more then this. If you want to keep this person as a customer I would charge them a 60 dollar diagnostic fee. Or cut them as a loss and next time post or mention you have this fee. If you did not mention this fee upfront then you may just need to cut it as a loss. I know it sucks but we all need to live and learn. I have to take a loss from time to time even now when people bring me their cars and we are not sure if we can fix it. But we always have the diagnostic fee to help fill the gaps. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I would cut them a deal. Nobody is going to pay you $72.50 for a lawn mower that still doesn't work. A repair estimate should only run them like $20 on a small/medium sized engine like that.

Answer 4

Sounds a little strong. Considering that the mower doesn't run. Charge them what you feel is fair. I have to agree with most of the other answers and that is to charge them one hour labor and just write the rest off.

As the saying goes, some days you are the windshield and some days you are the bug.

good luck

Answer 5

i would expect no more than an hour labor to diagnose
is it worth it to you
yes you can bill them for all of the time
but will it cost you in terms of repeat customers and word of mouth etc
i think i would tell them the price and negotiate to a price they and you see as fair