Looking for a consensus on the average wages for a Certified Mercruiser Tech, basic level, across the country, and labor rates. I have two shops I want to run an experiment on finding good techs and need this info to get the experiment off the ground. Thanks...

with little to no exp 10- 15 hr

20 + yrs exp 45-50 % billable hr .... was what I was making before going out again on my own,

I will not work on straight hr I have too much invested in the tools to save me time and too much exp to be paid straight time

The marina's and shops here are charging $85 to $95 per hour and think they are really paying top wages to techs at $15 to $20 per hour.

The shops want to bill like attorneys---by elapsed hours--and they don't even put down any protective coverings on white upholstery or clean up at end of job.

Come on now, you're going to give attorneys a bad name.

interesting, it is the same as here, and we are supposed to be the "low cost living area".... thanks....

A reputable, reliable tech should make 75 - 100K a year.

That is what I am thinking, or $50K MINIMUM, even in a low cost of living area.

Generally labor billed is a 50/50 split between the shop and the tech. Unless the shop is greedy - then usually they are the ones with a higher turnover rate - and no one takes pride in their work - just flag it and tag it. Now that I'm own my own and pick and choose as I have a full time job - it's much better and my clients will wait weeks for me to do the job vs. the other guys. Always clean - always professional - and I always stand behind my work.

around here very few techs work on billable hour because they dont understand how it works and most shops are afraid that the tech will make too much where as I wont work for someone unless im paid billable hour............

also many techs here are afraid of the winter when work is slim so most dont fight it