that-guy

i couldn't agree more Markku. if you do end up shutting down shop, than i truely hope that you find something else your passionate for to get the ball rolling again and hopefully find yourself doing this in your free time to make some extra dough and to show the world that you still put out some awesome products, even though you no longer have the business to back you

if you do decide to keep this going, i would recommend maybe some publicity. get your name out there in the papers and such. local adds are pretty key. in certain states, there are little books that come out every month to promote businesses, job openings, and stuff for sale. need some cool catch phrase that lets them know that your work is far above the rest and that you stand by your product 100%

russianvr4

do what 9bells does. see if you can find a job that pays you a decent income and work out of a garage(either rent a small unit for <500/mo or possibly move into a house with garage?) and do only the fab work you WANT to do for people that are willing to pay what its worth.

that-guy

thats almost exactly what i said hahahaha

HickamHatch

That's what I do. Keeps working on cars more of something you like to do rather than a stressful job.

k24em2

Get your pressure vessel welding certs and switch to the oil industry. Same equipment, better money.

Fink29

Really sorry to hear this but this is one of the reason I won't open a shop in my area Boston, Ma. No one wants to pay for quality work and no ones wants to do anything right. I would have def got my exhaust done by your. You work is top notch. Wish you made bolt in kits to ship lol.

DelSolMarine

You should do welding for military aircraft or ships. Your good enough and they pay ridiculously.

Make the phone calls...

silly sohc

Markku,
Update your galleries on your web site so I can post your work on the Fabrication Life and Vibrant Performance FB page. IE the cage work and your manifold work.

914Racer

I have been right where you are. It is frustrating to deal with people who just want it cheap. They have no understanding of the difference in a quality cage and some bunk *** box cage that sorta fits and is goobered together. When I tell someone a basic cage starts at $1800 and they whine about the price, you know they don't get it. A good cage will cost $2500-7000, but no one wants to pay that except the professionals and they have their own fab shops. Local racers don't care about that kind of stuff.

I know its frustrating, but you are right. It is time to find something else or you will go nuts. BTDT. Take a break, take a job and cover your debt. Once that is done, find yourself and then start over.

weiRtech

my concern isn't dealing with cheap people, it is dealing with unreliable people. that drives me crazy, and it ends up losing you business because you're waiting on them. having to rely on others that can't deliver is a pita. like my website for instance. been waiting for over 2 months for a guy to do it. i'd like to move on, but unfortunately i've got $ invested already. i refuse to take a loss, so i'll either have to demand my money back or sit and wait.

it sounds like location is an issue for you marrku. if you really want to continue on your own, you'll have to either find somewhere else to do it, or find customers who are willing to pay for your work. your biggest problem is shops that undercharge do kill guys like you, but you have to know that those budget shops doing hack work are going to pop up and steal some of your business. the upside is that most of them won't be around for more than 2-3 years because by that time all their stuff will be breaking and people will realize their work is crap and stop going to them. another upside is they are really only taking the cheap *** customers you don't want to deal with anyway.

you really need to find a customer who wants to sell your product, instead of you selling it. i make a product for 1 guy and he sells it to his customers. sure, he's making $ off my work, but i only have to deal with him instead of 50 different people. and because i did the development and own the jig he is going to keep coming back to me... and also develop more products. i could probably use some help keeping up with it when he places a large order, but i don't trust anyone else to do the welding. if i had someone like you in the shop, i could charge more because the welding would be better and i could pump out more work because there would be 2 people welding. you really should consider relocating. you still need to call me when you get a chance. i'm at my shop tonight 8pm til about 2am if you want to bend my ear. aaron

5.0 Killa

We don't do car stuff but when we were starting out we kept trying to compete on price. Now we compete on lead time, quality and service. If people don't want to pay we gladly don't want them as customers. Took a while to figure this out but once we did things got a lot better.

Glen_63

It's a Shame to see that its coming to this for you. Unfortunately the only people that care about craftsmanship are craftsmen. Where I live if you have a tig and can burn a bead for an automotive piece people are all over you with positive comments and questions of can you do work for them, even if it's not that great. Moving into an at home location and selecting you clientele that will pay for quality could be a good choice and allow you to retain some passion for the craft. Best of luck in the future, and don't let the bottom feeders bring you down.

MEGAME EXHAUST

......

MEGAME EXHAUST

you really need to find a customer who wants to sell your product, instead of you selling it. i make a product for 1 guy and he sells it to his customers. sure, he's making $ off my work, but i only have to deal with him instead of 50 different people. and because i did the development and own the jig he is going to keep coming back to me... and also develop more products. i could probably use some help keeping up with it when he places a large order, but i don't trust anyone else to do the welding. if i had someone like you in the shop, i could charge more because the welding would be better and i could pump out more work because there would be 2 people welding. you really should consider relocating. you still need to call me when you get a chance. i'm at my shop tonight 8pm til about 2am if you want to bend my ear. aaron[/QUOTE]

this sounds like the way to go dude...

Agtronic

I wish I had the luxury of time. I would figure out new ideas and develop the business, but I am running in a hamster wheel just trying to make rent. And I cannot get a hold of a customer that owes me ~$4000.

I've got past 3 of 4 steps for a good job in telecom. It's a desk job doing tech support for a large company that everyone knows. The final interview is on Thursday. The pay is very good, especially considering I got in based on skills I have aquired on my own (php/MySQL/HTML etc.). If this works out, I will likely be liquidating everything and closing up. I would love for nothing more than have the shop work out, but I cannot let things get any worse. If I could win the lottery for $20 000 it would be enough to buy me some breathing time to develop products and start producing parts. I'm sad ...

russianvr4

dont sell your welder and essential fabrication equipment markku! start the job, get back on your feet and when you're able to, work out of a small garage for side jobs that you can pick and choose from!

9bells

Really sorry to hear this. It might be for the best, and it's good you had the foresight to not go down in flames, but it can't be easy at all. Good luck with the new job, and all the best. Stay in touch.

netfreak

You need to look into small claims court if a customer owes you and has not paid within the agreed terms. I think it costs a couple hundred dollars to file the papers have the person served.

CRMB

Good luck with that. Even if you get a judgement it's almost impossible to force someone to pay you unless you can impose a wage garnishment on a specific person, and even those are difficult to get because most people who don't pay their bills are already being garnished by someone else. I just send the invoices to collections after 90 days and let the collections people pester them for the next two years and atleast it goes on their credit. Then just write it off as bad debt.

Agtronic

This customer is loaded, that's the worst part. And I mean loaded. I don't know if he's busy or what ...

Part of me wants to sell everything so that I stay away from cars once and for all. It's a love/hate relationship.

ToxicFabrication

I'm sorry to hear this buddy, keep your head up and do what you need to do.

that-guy

its been my experience that you love something when you enjoy doing it when you want to, but when it comes down to something you HAVE to do, it is no longer enjoyable. i loved designing things for myself and making whatever i wanted, then i became a designer/machinist where everything is based on deadlines and has to be rushed and perfect according to somebody elses standards, now i don't care for it much at all. getting your head clear of car stuff for 9-5 throughout the day could be incredibly beneficial for you, but i don't think you should get out of the car game for good. your skills and pure love for the automotive world should never be thrown away, but taken back to the time when you truely enjoyed it

when you are put into the situation where the business is running you more than you running the business, thats when your true passion gets sucked away. i'm not trying to sway you any one way, but just make you aware of the options at hand. your gifts should not go un-noticed

CRMB

You'll probably get it then - on his terms.

I would only keep the equipment you can store for free.

5.0 Killa

Same, I've had decent results with Coface. Who has the time to chace down dead beats.

danielm3

Good luck