Episode 79: Should I Take On A Job Like This?
What would you do if a potential customer wanted to not only buy out your shop’s whole capacity for a period of time, but also wanted to work alongside you on the floor?
We’ve all heard it – shop rate is a hundred an hour standard, and two hundred an hour if you watch – but when it comes to a potentially lucrative contract – what would the correct course of action be? On this episode of Machine Shop Talk, Ian Sandusky from Lakewood Machine is back to dive into the forums to tackle a poster who came on with exactly this scenario on their hands. When considering a deal that would eat up all of your capacity, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Doing some homework on your potential customer in advance is critical, as is negotiating terms – and more importantly, hard boundaries with what is and isn’t within the realm of the contract. Have you ever encountered a scenario like this? What did you do?
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In the 1980’s I met a shop owner who was starting over after a bad experience with Ford motor company.They gave him work if he would buy a machine tool for their project.He borrowed the money and bought it.This was repeated several times until they were his only customer.When he could no longer borrow for the next big project they dropped him.He had to go looking for work for some very expensive tooling.