Jump to content

Recommended Posts

9 minutes ago, Troubleshooter said:

Well that would definately reduce the crimes - just wondering Lee, any trial? Or just a squad of travelling 5 ton tippers with machine guns mounted?:blink:

 That should suffice, Just make sure they're pneumatic midi guns ? No trial, as they don't deserve the right to have some lawyer lie their arse off with a plea bargain yo help them roam the streets again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, LeeM said:

  Just shoot them and dump them in a big hole full of lime powder

ha ha I like this one,  but I like the other post better.......We share the same thoughts on these things........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/30/2018 at 5:18 AM, AdRock said:

@LeeM A $50 quoting fee?! What the hell are these people smoking?

I get that in trades like this, these people are "old school" and prefer to either have someone drop in or call them. In that case - don't have a website or promote an email address. Simple!

OR.... include on your website the best way to get a quote... eg "we dont quote via email". 

Never worked in a machine shop or know anyone who has, but I’m guessing they get s lot of ‘how much to fix my falcon crank?’ Emails/calls.  I’d be charging the $50 to filter out the noise as well. If you give out your time for free it’s anazibg how other people don’t value it and love to waste it. 

i agree they should just put their quoting procedure on the website.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Coastr said:

Never worked in a machine shop or know anyone who has, but I’m guessing they get s lot of ‘how much to fix my falcon crank?’ Emails/calls.  I’d be charging the $50 to filter out the noise as well. If you give out your time for free it’s anazibg how other people don’t value it and love to waste it. 

i agree they should just put their quoting procedure on the website.

or maybe even put the $50.00 you paid for the quote, off the repair bill should you proceed with the work.. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Cars And Coffee Byron Bay said:

Hasn't that already been tried in a place near you ????

 Nah, they were innocent victims tortured, cut up and put in barrels of acid unfortunately. What SHOULD have happened to the inhuman gronks that did it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/30/2018 at 4:13 PM, AdRock said:

I posted this yesterday and deleted it because I was having a rant/vent... didn't realise there was an actual 'vent' thread!


I guess my point is, if you're going to have a website including a contact form or email address - REPLY TO THE EMAILS!!
 

Its a shame you've had this experience, but as a business, we basically figure if someone is serious about a job, they will call you up.

To the point that I am actually getting the contact form deleted from our website. 

In all reality, it isn't old mate on the lathe answering the phone. They likely have a receptionist or someone there to book jobs in.

I'm sure they wouldn't charge you for taking a look, and I can understand how they can't quote a job like that over the phone without seeing the parts. 

As a company, we have tonnes of people come and waste our time. When your business is selling time, you have to be picky on how you spend it. A lot of people don't understand that (I'm an engineer and people don't want to pay for travel when i go to site or meetings - it's like they expect me to be able to work on someone else's job while I drive to their meeting) 

I guess what I'm trying to nicely say is that there is a lot of businesses that don't need your job, so unfortunately you might have to put in some extra effort to get the job done.

An alternative would be to drop the parts off to a mechanic like Nick Cascone, and get him to contact the machine shop. You would likely have to pay for the mechanics time, but he probably already has a relationship with a machine shop and will get a bit more respect from them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, reddahaydn said:

Its a shame you've had this experience, but as a business, we basically figure if someone is serious about a job, they will call you up.

To the point that I am actually getting the contact form deleted from our website.  

In all reality, it isn't old mate on the lathe answering the phone. They likely have a receptionist or someone there to book jobs in.

I'm sure they wouldn't charge you for taking a look, and I can understand how they can't quote a job like that over the phone without seeing the parts. 

As a company, we have tonnes of people come and waste our time. When your business is selling time, you have to be picky on how you spend it. A lot of people don't understand that (I'm an engineer and people don't want to pay for travel when i go to site or meetings - it's like they expect me to be able to work on someone else's job while I drive to their meeting) 

I guess what I'm trying to nicely say is that there is a lot of businesses that don't need your job, so unfortunately you might have to put in some extra effort to get the job done.

An alternative would be to drop the parts off to a mechanic like Nick Cascone, and get him to contact the machine shop. You would likely have to pay for the mechanics time, but he probably already has a relationship with a machine shop and will get a bit more respect from them. 

I completely get what you're saying... but at the same time, as a customer I could take the opposite point of view.
I'm spending my money and a LOT of it for them to do this work for me.  As you said, some of them are probably so busy that they don't NEED my work.
Any by not replying to my emails, they have automatically withdrawn themselves from the running of potentially getting my money. Clearly they don't need it.

The end of my email to them actually said - "if it's easier for you, or if you prefer - I'm happy to give you a call to discuss... please let me know".
If you have an email address on your website or contact form, you should reply.  Especially if someone is potentially spending thousands of dollars with your business.

I sent 10 emails. Got 3 back. The two that said they would work on Porsche parts both asked if I could bring my parts in to assess. I get that it's an old school industry and they do things that way for a reason.  But at the same time if a machine shop was upfront about their costs and were able to publish a price list , I know that I for one would pick that place over most others, purely out of convenience and transparency.  I also understand that there are differences in each job that may affect cost - but what I dont understand is for example, if I want my crank ground to the next bearing size how much can the job differ between porsche 911 cranks? (maybe a lot....happy to be educated here). If I want my valve guides replaced on stock Porsche heads, isn't this pretty much the same for each engine? Unless there's obvious things that can't be fixed? If I want my flywheel 911 flywheel machined, wouldn't that be a standard job? What exactly would cause a flywheel machining job to cost either more or less after a visual inspection?  How about rebushing the small ends of conrods?   I personally dont see how inspecting those parts is going to change the price of the job? Surely knowing what engine it's from is enough to give an estimate. Saves me bringing my stuff in, getting quoted a ridiculous price that I'm not happy with, have also wasted their time when they were always going to be too expensive to begin with.   Happy to be educated.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One problem with getting Quotes rather than paying by the hour/job is that to cover themselves, a lot of quotes will be for the worst case scenario plus time to do the quote plus, plus, plus, and the job could end up costing a lot more than it would have.Sometimes you just have to take a punt that you won`t be ripped off, so recommendations from others are golden. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Airhead said:

And driving slowly in a Prius probably. Saving the planet.

I was thinking the same thing could be an electric car and it dosnt have the battery power to run the wipers, head lights and the demister at the same time ....................:Chuckle2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate by the hour. But.... only I don't if i trust the person or never used them before as it is a punt.

I have experienced the inexperienced charging by the hour and dragging their feet big time! I have also seen quoting go wrong due to inexperience and time gets blown out as an experienced person would know what to expect and predict etc. And in these times it can be a case where you work to a figure and you simply cannot find any more dollars for any variables based on poor quoting.

Now i try do my best to find a referral for character reference on all trades i deal with. I have seen friends who live in a wealthy spot get charged a higher price because the trade is an opportunist, sizing them up if you will- i hate that. Ihave also seen a "i don't want to do it price" for times that it can cost too much time with minimal luck/result.

Only advice is research a hell of a lot, build the relationship and work each other out. As for business skills, we all know you can kick a ball well and take instructions, but you can't do a tonne of other things well- so what i am saying is a good worker isn't necessarily a good businessman and you have to accept them for it. Same as a businessman can sometimes do a poor job!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, StevepGT3 said:

One problem with getting Quotes rather than paying by the hour/job is that to cover themselves, a lot of quotes will be for the worst case scenario plus time to do the quote plus, plus, plus, and the job could end up costing a lot more than it would have.Sometimes you just have to take a punt that you won`t be ripped off, so recommendations from others are golden. 

Agree with your comments, my explanation when giving people quotes was “you are asking me to quote you on a job with a fixed price for the work, there are unknowns/risk in any quote so you quote for the worst case scenario, risk has a price & you are asking me to cover the risk. If you would like to cover the risk then we can agree an hourly rate & I will charge you for the time it takes.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, GC9911 said:

Agree with your comments, my explanation when giving people quotes was “you are asking me to quote you on a job with a fixed price for the work, there are unknowns/risk in any quote so you quote for the worst case scenario, risk has a price & you are asking me to cover the risk. If you would like to cover the risk then we can agree an hourly rate & I will charge you for the time it takes.”

yep

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

 So I arrive onsite yesterday to install 5 wardrobes and was faced with this to carry up all the melamine board and drawers for 2 x 4 metre wide robes and 8 x 2700 x 1200 mirror doors on the first floor. How does F... off sound Mr Site Supervisor? Call us when your stairs are in place and you can help? Seriously, how do these asshats expect tradies to work like this? OH&S people would have a field day on that site 

 Oh, and yes that is a lift behind the ladder, but they won't allow trades to use it incase it gets dirty or scratch the walls

 20180920_074054.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Happens far too much, and the building supervisors get the sooks on when you refuse to work in their dangerous sites. I was very tempted to contact Safety SA about it, as they would shut it down immediately.

 Also had a supervisor for a very well known building company on another site say the company has a policy that I had to work without shoes on inside 6 homes because of the mud outside, as they had already laid carpet. Till I pointed out on their website about minimal personal protection on their sites and that they are responsible for covering any new flooring. 

 It's no wonder this industry is rife with accidents that can be avoided, and I know there are members here who own building companies, yet it's all about schedules and profits ahead of workers safety. Want it done in an environment like that? Do it yourself 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Niko said:

Unmarked SA police car Lee?   looks like one when you zoom in on it...maybe he has his own rules.:angry:

Yep.

 He was on radar duty just before in the centre of the expressway (not the smartest place to park!) and wasn't in a hurry at all. Just a bit annoying when anyone else would get pulled for that. If he saw me take the pic, guess who would have got a fine? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JV911 said:

If I hear, "it is what it is" one more time I'm going to stab someone.

Yep same, it's been thrown around for the last few years and it's getting tired.

 

I am getting a new bathroom and laundry and i have been keeping an eye on the build and trying to make sure everything is done the way i want, (i am fussy when it comes to the detail) someone has dropped the ball on the height of the vanity waste. Anyway my missus kept telling me to just let them do their job, we have a hanging vanity not a full length so now the vanity needs to be dropped 60mm, i know, doesn't sound like much but this then changes the gap to the mirror which now won't look as good. Not happy and with a couple of other little niggly things that have got up my nose this just tops it off, grrrr. I did my last bathroom and didn't have a problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...