A client who gets it!

[feinddj]

I received this email after I had sent some modified drawings to a client. For all the ones who give you a hard time, then there's this:

Thank you David for the quick turnaround.
The 8" version looks perfect. With the 9" version, I see two drawings, one with the speaker pocket and another with the electronics pocket. I'm not sure what that is about but if both pockets were on the same drawing like the 8" version, that would be perfect.
Honestly, I have not used any of these drawings to cut any boxes myself. If I did, here's what I would have to do:
1. Drive to Home Depot.
2. Rent a van for $19.99.
3. Purchase a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4 MDF for almost $40.
4. Load it into the van.
5. Drive the van to the tech shop.
6. Unload the wood and drag it into the wood shop.
7. Reserve a time on the Shop Bot.
8. Drive the van to the gas station and top it off.
9. Drive the van to Home Depot.
10. Drive my car back to the Tech Shop that day (or whatever day I could get a reservation).
11. Load the wood onto the Shop Bot, secure it.
12. Sit there and babysit the thing for at least an hour while it cuts the pieces.
13. Unsecure the wood piece and drag it over to a bench.
14. Hand cut every tab from every piece (at least 4 tabs per piece) to remove them from the large piece.
15. Check out the router table, router kit and router bits kit.
16. Set up the router with a flush trim bit.
17. Grind off all of the tabs.
18. Clean up all that mess.
19. Check back all of the tools.
20. Drive home.

OR... I could
1. Call you.
2. Drive to your shop.
3. Hand you 80 bucks, pick up the pieces.
4. Drive home.

WAY better option. file:///C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\ clip_image001.png

[Red F]

That is beautiful.

[Ajcoholic]

Im pretty lucky - most of my customers really do appreciate where my costs come from, even the ones who decide not to get something made due to the expense. I try and educate them, though, why things cost what they do. And when they see my shop and all I have invested in terms of costs they do "get it".

That being said, some people are just plain "dense". One guy in particular I had done some work for, and he was a loud, in your face type of guy who thought he could do everything we could... but he didnt have "the time". So one day he comes in, and his wife wants a corner hutch/china cabinet to match an existing set she has. I priced it out at somewhere in the mid teens, and he started to shout and balk at my estimate and tell me he could make it - but of course he didnt have any tools. So he came back about 5 times. First I made him the base and crown to match (unfinished, lengths). Then I made him the raised panel doors to match. Then the framing for the case, and on and on.

I basically made him all the components for the unit - except the ply/veneer for the case itself. Every time he was in, I charged him what it took for that part of the job - say a few hundred or so. By the end of the job (which I did not get to see) he had actually paid me MORE than I had quoted him to build it and finish it, and deliver it to his home. By a few hundred dollars. Plus, he had to pay for the plywood, and assemble everything and brush on a urethane instead of getting a professional sprayed on commercial finish from me.

Call that one "pride" getting the better of common sense I think. But at least he got to tell his wife "he" made the thing I guess... ;)

A while after that, he called me back to quote a set of stairs. I declined to even price the job, saying I was too busy.

Some people DO "get it" and some never will!