Knife Blanks

[beefy]

200 peices of steel that he supplies, as opposed to nesting with as little waste as possible, and using your own steel. Is the guy expecting you to dispose of those 200 peices of scrap steel, or will he take back his "unused" steel. Just another thing to consider.

Does he want a quality cut (and dross removal, etc) or can you just cut the blanks at the highest speed and with the largest nozzle that will do the job, so you can get through them faster.

I get a bad feeling about this guy when he tells you he has someone cutting them for free. Perhaps you should pay him for allowing you to do this for him. He may give a grunt of satisfaction then.

Consider payment in advance for this guy.

Keith.

[cozzie]

As a very wise & successful businessman/boss/friend once told me...."I don't want all the business, just the good business".

The person that argues the price doesn't understand what it takes to turn out a quality product & will forever be a pain in your backside.

[beefy]

As a very wise & successful businessman/boss/friend once told me...."I don't want all the business, just the good business".

The person that argues the price doesn't understand what it takes to turn out a quality product & will forever be a pain in your backside.

My tight access excavation business has always been a pain as far as getting enough work goes. We are a necessary evil when the customer can't get a big machine in. So I never want to turn work / customers away.

BUT, experience has taught me to get rid of crap customers. They drag you down, make you feel worthless, and generally make you wonder why you are in business. I don't even like doing business with someone who grudgingly and miserably accepts my price. I know they are only going to complain about me after I've done the work for them.

You'll be happier and have a greater sense of worth "sacking" crap customers, and turning away bad business. The business should serve us, not them (but don't tell them that ).

I wouldn't even want to do business with this guy and I'd give him a high price just to get rid of him once and for all.

Keith.

[HammerDownJustin]

I'm enjoying the info here. I am horrible at pricing. I'm doing a job right now. Half a sheet of 10g steel. Cutting 90 4x3 brackets with 4 3/8" holes in each for $1.40 each. That includes The material but no dross removal. Cut time 45 min

[icmplasma85]

That is

I'm enjoying the info here. I am horrible at pricing. I'm doing a job right now. Half a sheet of 10g steel. Cutting 90 4x3 brackets with 4 3/8" holes in each for $1.40 each. That includes The material but no dross removal. Cut time 45 min

That seems really cheap, although not having to clean them up I guess its not as bad. My problem with jobs like this where you are only using half of a sheet is if you don't stock a bunch of different sizes of plate, you most likely have to buy a whole sheet, and if you don't charge the customer for a whole sheet you have half sitting around that you need to get rid of. I tried to get in the habit on any gauge material of charging for a whole sheet, unless of course they only need a couple parts cut, which I normally have some drops laying around for stuff like that. Good thing about charging for a whole sheet is if they ask for the drop, you can say "hey no problem", but most of the time you make your money and get some "free" material you can use on the next job.