• Comparing hourly rates of job shops and production shops can vary greatly. Running production is usually a larger shop with big machines that can run dozens or even hundreds of parts at a time. Efficiency is very important, and rates will often be higher. However, the orders can be started and finished in a fraction of time. Smaller job shops that do more prototype parts and small batches are usually a little cheaper. However, the cost per part can be quite a bit higher because set-up time is expensive. The more parts you run, the lower the cost-per-part will be.
• According to Patriot Manufacturing, using data from CNC, in the United States "you can find machine shops charging as little as $40-50/hour. As always, you get what you pay for. Shops like these will do most jobs on manual mills and lathes. You could save a lot of money at a shop like this if you have very wide design tolerances and quality isn’t an issue. The average machine shop in the U.S. charges $60-80/hour. Where a company lands within this range depends in part on overhead costs, including electricity costs in their state, but mostly on the quality of their work. Companies with the capability to produce high-precision, complex parts will fall into the higher end of the range. Top-quality parts suppliers charge more than $100/hour. These are large shops with state-of-the-art machines and the most experienced machinists. They need to charge more to cover their significant overhead costs. But you can expect more value in the form of high-precision parts and fast production runs."
• Review of data from Prestige Motorsports (Concord, NC), C & C Precision Machine (Kings Mountain, NC), Owens Industries (Charlotte, NC), Mecha Inc. (Raleigh, NC), Precision Machine Works (Aiken, SC), Fisk Automotive Machine Shop (Charleston, SC), Horton Machine (Heath Springs, SC), and Blue Ridge Tool & Machine Co. (Easley, SC) reveal that only Fisk lists any pricing information publicly on their websites.
• Fisk Automtive Machine Shop pricing data can be viewed in full here.

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