Price Check

[Shane Warnick]

Have a customer beating me up on pricing on this part, I think I am good but I am curious what you guys would charge to cut this. He wants 20 of them, swears he can get them for 1/2 the price I quoted him, but the caveat is the "other guy" took his order a month ago and promised delivery in 2-3 weeks. He goes by today and the guys says his table broke about 3 weeks ago and it will be a month before he can get parts, then he has to get caught up. Didn't even bother to call the customer.

Anyways, before I even begin to think about beating myself up on pricing, I was going to ask what you would charge.

1/2" mild steel, my material, I will knock the dross off he will clean up the holes if needed (they will be good but apparently the other shop not so much as he just offered that up front).

He immediately started dangling a lot of "future" business that could be mine if I was competitive. I think I am competitive and think he is lying but wanna do some market research. Thanks in advance for your time on this.

Shane

[Larry83301]

When I was running a shop I had several jobs where the they told me that another shop had been making their parts for HALF the price I quoted. They came to me for a quote because either the old shop was making crap or couldn't deliver on time, sounds like you are in the same situation Don't cut your self short, stay firm and tell them that it costs to get GOOD parts delivered on time, then if you get the job and deliver a good clean part on time you will get the other parts also!

Larry

[CNCCAJUN]

When I was running a shop I had several jobs where the they told me that another shop had been making their parts for HALF the price I quoted. They came to me for a quote because either the old shop was making crap or couldn't deliver on time, sounds like you are in the same situation Don't cut your self short, stay firm and tell them that it costs to get GOOD parts delivered on time, then if you get the job and deliver a good clean part on time you will get the other parts also!

Larry

What Larry said . . . my only other comment I would have for that customer is one that I can not post . . . .

Steve

[rikduk]

NEVER cut your price for "future business"
I had a lot of promises...rarely did it come true.
Charge an honest price.
You can always charge a bulk price if he comes back with lots of jobs.
I would charge 305$ for cutting (14$ each + 5$ drawing + 20$ load/unload)
And markup steel 1.3x
And if my table was broke, i would find a way to get pieces before 3 weeks!!

[JEd]

If I had to get a quote right now off the cuff I'd be around $1100.

[Shane Warnick]

I appreciate the feedback guys. I think he is full of baloney. He is in a bind and I have already told him the price is the price, it will be my normal price I am not gouging him, I was just wondering if I was losing my mind or if he really was getting them cut for $25-30 a piece. I am at $50 each right now, and that is where I will stay. I feel like that is a fair price, and he can take it or leave it. As far as cutting / pricing for future business, I always offer to give a rebate on a quarterly basis (kind of a market share game) if they do a certain amount of business with me. Now, that can be a straight up I will cut you a check for 5% etc, I have gone as high as 15% but that dude was sure they were going to do 75K worth of business in one quarter with me. I said bring it. He didn't . Anyways, I will cut them a rebate check, or make the dude in charge of bringing the business some stuff. Who doesn't need a 60" 3/8" thick mild steel powder coated table for the yard? I usually throw in a jalapeno cooker or some such when they show up with $1000 worth of cutting etc anyways. Gotta keep the wheels greased. I do not discount on promises. Ever.

Thanks for looking and letting me bounce this off the wall. Stay safe
Shane

[SeanP]

Nice little exercise there Shane, I came up with 35euro ea ($45)
Good luck with the job.

[Largemouthlou]

If ya get the job ya need to nest some gussets or tabs inside the circle cut out if you have a market for them. That is why you see them so cheap on ebay. I believe most are from operators working for the man and using their material, and cut time.

I do have to restructure my pricing for sure..

[tnbndr]

Sounds like you got this guy pegged. Stick to your price and never discount based on future promises. I made that mistake once and never again. I will do as you say and offer a discount when I get the work or if you send me work from someone else I will send you a check or ?????
He's just digging for cheap parts so he can make more money on his end.!!!

[beefy]

Promises promises promises let's think if I can remember one coming true As soon as they start that I'm backing away.

A sheet of 3mm steel here costs about $120 so I'm wondering if a sheet of half inch costs about $480. The cut would need a whole sheet for 18 pieces then I need an extra offcut for the remaining 2. Woopee, at $25 each the $500 I'd get from him would only just cover the cost of the steel.

I know there'd be 20 discs left from the cut but it's more of a bonus if you happen to have some cuts you can nest in with that. I'd base the price just on the square footage of steel outside the cut.

I'd buy a rabid guard dog to chase these type of "customers" away.

Keith.

[Shane Warnick]

1/2" mild steel runs $325 for a 4x8' sheet, I like to cut 5'x10' and those are right at $500. There is good money in it at $50 each, but not so much at $25-30. He just picked them up and raved about the quality and the fact that his 1/2" bolts actually fit in the 9/16" holes I cut. I told him you get what you pay for. I will give him the doubt and say he was just burned and was being cautious and didn't wanna pay for crap. He said he was happy and would return. We shall see.

Shane