Owners
The average owner of a dealership does $1.9 million in sales annually and has 8 employees. The company has been in business 15 years, and he or she has been in the industry an average of 17 years.
Some 65% report that they pay themselves a straight salary with some perks; 17% pay themselves salary or draw plus commission; and 18% take from their business as needed.
For those taking salary plus commission, 59.5% of their before-tax earnings is salary, and 40.5% is commission.
Just over 47% figure the commission they pay on net profit; 32% on gross profit; about 10% on price, and the remainder uses another method (usually a sliding scale). Average commission paid on net is 20.6%; on gross, 27.9%; and on price 9.8%.
Size matters when comparing owners' salaries. Owners of companies with less than $2 million in annual sales average $104,016 with perks per year. Owners of dealerships with $2 million or more in sales average $181,874 per year with perks.
Owners of dealerships that have been in business less than 15 years report an average annual salary of $129,091 with perks. Owners of dealerships that have been in business 15 years or more average $138,747 per year with perks.
Some 36.5% of owners gave themselves a pay raise in 2006. Another 19.5% gave themselves a raise last year. About 20% last gave themselves a raise in 2004, 7.4% in 2003, 3.7% in 2002, and 13.8% haven't given themselves a raise since 2001 or before. The average raise owners gave themselves was $11,824 per year.
Owners gave themselves an average of 10 vacation days in 2005, but 16.2% took no vacation at all. Owners averaged one sick day in 2006, and more than two thirds said they took no sick days last year. Owners also reported an average of just five paid holidays (Thanksgiving, July 4th, etc.) for themselves last year.
Some 64% of owners gave out a Christmas or year-end bonus last year; the average amount given was $1.987. Almost 29% paid out performance bonuses in 2005, and the average bonus paid was $4,376.
Seventy percent of owners reported having a company car.
Some 86% of owners sell and design, while 14% do neither. Owners that sell accounted for an average of $621,710 last year, representing an average of 39 individual kitchen or bath sales.