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I just built these two hutches for my dining room and they have been posted under "hutches"
I wanted them painted real nice after all the work in them. I am not very good at painting. So I had one guy stop by and he bid $375 to paint them with three coats, sanding between coats.
I ended up taking them to a place where I was an employee for ten years. They said they would take care of me.
Well they did...to the tune of $1068.47
I never ever am turned loose on building a stairway for someone without giving a firm price.
I ALMOST never turn anyone else loose on one of my projects either....this time I did out of trust.
I paid the bill and bit my tongue....I have built several curved stairways for them, and am going to look at this long-term. I am not going to win the battle and lose the war. I did ask for a quart of paint so that I could finish painting them where they skipped.
Any thoughts?
*Stan, I have a full scale finishing room and do a lot of finishing. I assume you are talking about spray finishing the insides as well. The $375 seems low, the $1068 is a bit steep but considering it was done by a large shop with a lot of overhead it is most likely a fair trade commercial price. If someone were to deliver a hutch like yours to my shop I would ask for $600 plus materials since it would cut into the better part of 3 days time, so $700 bucks give or take.
*Stan- Yes, I've done similar more than once and obviously didn't learn my lesson the first time. Just goes to show us that when money changes hands it's ALWAYS business first, trust and handshakes second. Not trying to beat you up, Stan, there's always stuff for us to learn at every step down the road...........If I had been in your shoes I would have insisted, in a 'nice' way, that they fix the vacations: "It would be great if you had one of your guys fix these areas."
*StanDo you have a problem with the quality of their work?These are beautiful pieces, worthy of the best quality paint job available. I respect the quality of your work and think that quality is hard to value unless you can find similar items with equally fine details. I just hope the paint job matches your workmanship. If not, here's where I'd be dissatisfied.Terry
*I guess the $1000 plus caught me off guard. Armins figures makes it feel not so far out of line.I blame myself for not getting a set price. However, this place fed me for ten years, so that is why my exercising a little diplomacy. Terry: I was real satisfied with the work, but after I installed them, the light showed several light areas. It was already installed and caulked in before I received the bill.
*another way of looking at it...Minus say, $100 materials, the labor comes out to 24 man hours @ $40hr. Whether it's worth the price depends on the finished result. Did they fill nail holes and final sand the piece before priming, or was it ready to go? Did they pick up and deliver, or did you?At that price, I wouldn't hesitate to question the light areas you mentioned (ie can they touch it up for no additional). depends on how valuable the relationship is; and if you se more stair requests coming from them down the line... Always hard when you know the people.
*Stray: Thats my problem: I have worked for this outfit as an employee for ten years. I value the work that they throw my way. Thats why I am staying mute. I learned a lesson, and it doesnt sound like too bad of a beating.
*Stan,I agree with all. It isb amazinghow much work goes into painting furniture properly. I have been the guy that said $375 ("It's just a bit of painting! How hard can it be? How long could it take?"), and he either values his time quite poorly, or he would've deeply regretted the price. It would be difficult to do a bad job for $375 and come out all right on it.$1000 is a lot of money, but really, that's about what it takes, especially for three coats.Nice looking stuff there, BTW.Rich Beckman
*Stan,Wifes cousin is a high end painter. Ive seen his work both on his own house and customers houses. Believe me when I compare his work to mine there is no comparison. I cant come close to the quality of his work, But unless you seen the guys work for 350. before I'd go with the one you know that way your done and your clients have a quality job and they wont become gators later.
*I do a lot of finishing and that is one of the things I am known for in this small town. Im hesitant on here to mention price because we are usually so far apart. Unless you know your area, priceing is just not fair. I dont take anything away from your feelings here . I think you have done the right thing. I respect you for handleing it right. I had the same situation before with a plumber. I was smiling and joking as I wrote his check. It took me about one year , but I got him back to fair and I still have the relationship with him . I took the extra he charged right back away from him. It would be interresting to know how he feels, but to me we are square. My price would have been much lower and you could have held me to your quality. But, I dont live there. Im the guy that pays .17 for taping which was the all time low in another post. If I lived there I would have to pay more wouldnt I????? Thats why I say that priceing on here is not realitive. Unless someone is going to move to another area.
*Units like those are really hard to finish; one shop I apprenticed in, we had a couple of similar units, maybe a bit bigger.....we were 120 hours over the estimate ( firm price)before we even got to the installation, which was included. That 120 hours was construction and finishing, but the finishing took a long time.I don't really know if 1k is too high, but it sounds within the ballpark to me, as long as the job is good. What does that work out to per square foot?
*I'm in line with Armin. I had seen the hutches previously on your posts and my mouth fell open sitting here when I read that somebody thought he could hand paint that kind of detail for only 375. I would expect my guys to charge me about 800 for that work, being unsure of what prep was needed and how the drawers were handled. I worked with a painter once who would take all the hardware off, throw it in a pile, lose a third of the screws etc, get paid, and walk away - letting the owner call me to rebuild the unit! Grrrrowwwll!
*Had two guys spend about a week on this unit
*Piffin: That is a vey nice cabinet! Excellent work.Piffin/Armin/Adrian, and others.....After having read all your replies, I now realize I was wrong in being so shocked at a $1000 plus bill. I was benchmarked to that $375 guy, and had I used him, I probably would have had a post like------Look what happened to my built-ins after trying to save a buck! I feel satisfied about it now, and was glad I had the wisdom to keep my mouth shut, and consult more knowledgeable people here in this forum. Barb is REALLY happy with them, and so am I. Next time I see the people that painted them, I will tell them how I initially thought they were way high, but that I now realize I was wrong. Heres the latest shot after I touched them up yesterday. Base shoe is all thats left. Excuse the low resolution, it hides the flaws! I need to purchase a better digital camera, and I would have been able to afford one had I went with the $375 guy! ha
*Stan, Along that line, I just recieved in the mail a check for final payment on a job with a note attached - "excellent work, ridiculous price" I'd rather have that than- "Excellent price - ridiculous workmanship"Good work grows in value while junk grows in agravation
*Stan, Think about buying a good spray unit. My Fuji sprayer that comes with the compressor, two good guns and a bunch of extras ran me under a grand. I figured I've saved sooo much money with all the jobs I've done with it (like my Williams and Hussy). Depends on how intense you want the end product to be, but it sounds like they didnt do all that great a job anyway. I can dig how your rationalizing it and it may be true that they helped you out in the past so......Live and learn. BTW..I thinks thats how I've accumulated so many of the tools I have today. Just couldnt see paying someone else for what I could and wanted to learn. Oh yeh, I just sold my garbage truck....sick of going to the dump..lol
*All this just goes to show that we should not be surprised when our customers are stunned when they find out how much our work costs. And you had a working relationship with those guys. I have been in the same situation myself with our plumbers. I know they are the most trustworthy people around and yet their bills always seem so high. That's what it really costs.