I have been a mechanic for hire for the last 10 years. I have never worked flat rate, hope I never do. It seems to me to many things can go wrong on a job. What about broken bolts or defective parts, who pays for that time?
I just put a water pump on a 6.2L GM van. Got it all together put in the coolant and it ran right out the front of the new water pump. There went a hour and a half. Joe