Set up time vs project time

[jtbinvalrico]

What percentage of time do you guys spend on activities such as building tools, setting up the shop, maintenance, etc vs. actual work on projects?

Does this ratio change over time? I would assume it does....How has it changed over the years for you old pros?

Mine seems to be about 65% tooling and 35% projects.....I think I need to remedy that.

 

[rsanter]

depends on what you are doing
if you are doing machine work on a mill you can do 3 hours of setup for 30 sec of operation time
for welding
a quickie job can be 10 min setup for 10 min to 6 hours of welding

bob

 

[SPDMETL]

I can tell You that I spent 2 whole days taping off the new floors, counter, cabinets and backsplash in my new/remodeled Kitchen in preparation for painting. It's just a great big car in a Body shop! Even got the Bondo ready...

 

[Submarine_Sailor]

Generally, my projects are off the cuff, like oh hey, I could make this. Then I spend a couple hours planning, then roll into execution. I guess my ratio is about 50/50. Sometimes, no prep..... My buddies bring me their broken yard tools (I fix any and all small engines), and I might spend 5 minutes messing with it to make my decision of whats wrong, and 4 hours disassembly/re-assembly. But, if I come up with something I want to make at random, about 50/50. Of course, I'm a young guy, so I guess my patience is less than most of these seasoned vets.

 

[larry_g]

Very wide question considering all the various people, skills, trades, and areas represented here. I have to agree with RSANTER it depends on the job. Last job in the shop was turning .010" off a shoulder on a part, actually it turned out to be a 1000 parts, So a few hours tooling up for setup, the right cutting tool, a measurement system that would measure a before and after part. Once the setup was done I could average about 1 part a minute.

Before I retired I was moving equipment around the world. I could spend up to 4 months getting all the ducks in a row so that the move could happen within a couple of weeks to a month. So setup and planning can be 10% to 90% of the actual work. It also depends on whether your building birdhouses or bridges.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Karnage]

As far as workshop improvements go, I'm doing them bit by bit as time allows and when something has got under my skin enough that I just have to fix/do it or I will go postal such as the fold away wall I did recently. Tooling for projects gets done on a needs basis, and I don't consider it as down or chargeable time as I keep the tooling afterwards, if it were a fixture or jig etc for a particular job for someone that I will not have a use for then they pay, but the items leaves with them.

 

[bobadame]

My set up time includes finding the tools to do the work. Then I do the work and leave the tools scattered all over the place. Change over time? Hasn't really happened yet.

 

[Steevo]

I seem to spend more time in design than in execution on most large projects (fabrication, etc).
Many of my other projects are more about restoration of equipment or tooling, so they start slow and evolve slower.

 

[Strouty]

Measure twice cut once

 

[Kev442]

Well, I'm still making the pole building to my satisfaction, so that is 95% setup and I actually only do things not related to the building 5% so far...

 

[Provincial]

Are we counting the time spent looking for the tool/material/part that isn't were you expect it to be?

 

[Jack Olsen]

I consider them the same thing.

 

[tdkkart]

Don't forget daily setup and tear down time on long term projects.
In the past we've had a rule at our house, I could do whatever I wanted in the garage as long as there was space left for her car, especially in winter.
When working on projects that required alot of cutting, welding etc, I've often had the main portion of the project in one stall, but the welder, saw, pile of iron etc were in the other stall. So every day I had to move the tools into the empty stall, and then when I was done I had to move them back to their storage spots before closing up for the day. Pain in the ***, but it had to done.

 

[machine_punk]

With the solid riveting projects I do, I end up with a LOT of design and layout, followed by a fairly long session of 'fabrication,' like drilling holes, filing, sanding, deburring, and fitting parts, and sizing rivets, followed by 'relatively' quick session of actually riveting. The actual final fastening of pieces is fairly anticlimactic, after all the tedious prep work.

 

[ibedayank]

planning prep and clean up
always more than just the prodject

 

[williaty]

I've been "side jobbing" mechanic work for about two years (though without a "center job ). By the end of last year, I was going at it pretty much full time but still not "official". In February, I finally got all the paperwork together, and started keeping books and running the business "properly" rather than just barely half-assed enough to keep the IRS happy so I didn't go to Federal-pound-me-in-the-***-prison.

Since actually starting to keep the books right, deal with vendors, make proper bank runs, do real quotes, maintain the website, answer customer questions on the phone, by email, and participate on owner forums, I would say that I spend less than half my time actually working on cars. In other words, for every billable hour of mechanicing I do, I have about 1.2-1.5 hours of behind the scenes ******** I have to take care of.

As far as within any individual job, I'd say I spend about 15% of the total time of the job doing setup/cleanup work like getting the car off the ground, cleaning up spills, putting tools away, getting tools out, prepping parts, etc.

 

[jtbinvalrico]

What I was getting at was the amount of time spent building things like router tables or refurbishing an old saw vs. the amount of time actually spent building projects with the tools......It's gotten so bad for me that I actually put off building projects to focus on equipping the shop.

I would hope that this will change over time.....or will my "building tools to one day build projects" addiction only get worse

I've always admired those cats who just let it rip with what they've got.....a circular saw, some milk crates, a garage that looks like a bomb went off in it....and they still produce good stuff. Maybe I'm self-diagnosing my obsessive-compulsive nature.