Posted by Wade on December 15, 2003 at 22:17:04:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Photo Test posted by quite puzzled on December 15, 2003 at 21:46:43:
I am not sure just where you live that would give you the notion that there is "plenty" of work, but we have five folks to feed, clothe, and house, with two of them having stuck around here for over fifteen years.
Bidding is the way this business really works at that level.
A local University Band program wants to send 500 woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments through the shop in June. Not only do they want an iron-clad promise that the stuff will get done on time, but the work must be good and at a price that they can afford. When they say that it must cost $xx,xxx.xx they mean it. If you go over time on a bid, there is no more money and you start to lose money. Remember that this could include 5 or 10 bassoons with cracks or broken tone-holes, 30 sousaphones that must be totally de-dented, and 50 bent trombone slides.
With five shops in the area that do highly suspect work but can do it really cheaply, it takes a commitment by all of the repair techs to come in early and stay late six days each week. (This shows up later in the bonus checks!) If we can win the bid based on the fact that we do the best work but are willing to give a bulk discount to the school then we end up with a huge chunk of money coming through the shop in 30 days. keep in mind that all of the regular work must still be done, and that we might be bidding on as many as 25 colleges and high schools at one time. Since we do very decent and consistent work on all instruments, if we can win a bunch of bids we make a pot of money. And if we lose the bids we sit around a lot now making anything but our hourly rate.
Bidding on large accounts keeps us busy all year making money.
Wade