Spring is here and now the phone calls...HAHA

[Highvelocity]

It's  funny, I went to a big canvas shop yesterday to pick up some webbing.  Started talking with the owner, she said they are 6 weeks from starting any new work...!!  In the last week I have gotten emails and calls from friends of friends and family, "Hey, can you help me out, everyone is busy, I need this done".  

I do all my work as side jobs from my primary job in the healthcare field.  Maybe thats why I still love to upholster, but here is the thing, like most people, I want to enjoy the summer.  So if I take on a side job now,,, it needs to be worth my time.  

I am sure many you have gotten much busier now that the season has arrived.  Do you get a lot of unhappy people who have waited too long...and now have to wait even longer because you can't get to it...?

Ed



 

[scarab29]

I haven't even unwrapped my boat yet ! About a month out tight now

[Mike]

I used to get guys who waited all winter then they wanted it asap up north
I have a repete. Ustoner here. Aho want me to make console
Leaning post and motor co er on a small
Skiff. He like them done before he leave for cape
Cod on. The 25 this month.   Theres no way.

[Highvelocity]

Mike,
     I have been helping rebuild my parents house after hurricane Sandy, so my time to myself has been non-existant.  So 2 weeks ago one of my friends asks me if I can do a speedboat sunpad, seats, and fix his mooring cover.  I said, why in the world, would you wait till now...I had to tell him there was no way I could get it done till the end of June.  You want to get these projects done, you want to make everyone happy, but there is only so much time...

[fragged8]

hiya
The weather has been pretty cold here this week in the UK, we had a warm spell and it seems to have turned back to winter :-(

as a result boaters just aren't coming out to play. On the up side I have just installed an ice cream freezer in the shop so you can

guarantee the weather will be crappy all summer now :'(

[Mike]

I got a call the other day ed while driving a guy asked if i could recover a masage table. First time in 25 year i was ever asked. I said i do boats. Ut bring ne the table annd im sure i could   I think you did one reciently did t you  ?   Or was it a cyropratic table?

[timtheboatguy]

Yeah, my favorite is "My boat was running poor last year when I put it away" and now he needs it by the week end because company is coming in from out of town! Well, I need hair to grow on my head and a million bucks in my checking account too!

I am currently working 60-70 hours a week trying to catch up. Not complaining though, better than the alternative.

[Mike]

I was called once a guy had a nice chris craft in rack storage for a few years  
A coon made a nest in it and   Chewed  all the vinyl and foam off
(all). There was. NOthing left but plywood. Said they needed it in a Week for the 4th of july weekend.

Hahahaha

[Highvelocity]

I got a call the other day ed while driving a guy asked if i could recover a masage table. First time in 25 year i was ever asked. I said i do boats. Ut bring ne the table annd im sure i could   I think you did one reciently did t you  ?   Or was it a cyropratic table?

I did 2 chiro tables... A lot more pieces then massage table, let me tell you...haha   But hey, money is money, I made $300 a table.

But, it's funny to hear about people and their time frames...haha

[byhammerandhand]

In my prior career, we had a saying,

"Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

[Darren Henry]

Too funny Keith ROFL. I actually have a small wooden sign with that on it  hanging in the shop.I wish my boss would stop and read it once in awhile.He's famous for dropping another project on our laps and telling the customer it will be done right away.Monday morning I came in to find a set of sleeper seats on top of my 2 days work (promised for end of the week early next week---vinyl arrived Thurs. afternoon), tuesday he added a chair and hide a bed (semi attached backs from an RV) and the very involved dinette.
four of the local furniture retailers have had stuff in for repair and Thursday the vinyl for the seventeen chairs for the hospital (major client) finally arrived so those have to be done last week. He hasn't wedged his fat arse behind a machine or driven a staple in anyone's collective memory but the answer is always that I'm just slow and he would have had them done in 1/2 the time, ergo ---it's my fault, again .

It's the May long weekend up here [Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday---the un-official beginning of summer] and instead of working on my motorhome that I have to have re-built so that I can work through the Canada day long weekend at (but unable to participate in)a country music festival I'll be working on his stuff on my time because we are way over his quote on the RV. That could be because he is billing the new guy (3 weeks with us/no upholstery experience) at the same rate as me. No thought about time spent explaining things to him,showing him where the tools are,his inexperience. Nadda--just $$$ in his eyes.

Speaking of the May long: Back when I worked for Image one we had a guy come in the Thursday before the long weekend and wanted a new top for Saturday morning as he was having company. Let me set the scene for you;

>The three of us who did marine were already coming in early and leaving late to finish the 5 boats that were in the yard.

>It's 3:30-4:00 o'clock.

>He has no trailer for his boat just copy the old top (bent 3/4" tubing) and add a little because it doesn't "do up right".

>There are about 5.6 boats per trailer in Kenora and every mother's son wants to use their boat to go open camp on Lake of the Woods. there were 3 marinas that would move boats. Book one

Now swallow your coffee before it comes out your nose

His argument was that since his top had been in his basement since October and he had meant to have this done since then----HE DESERVED TO BE FIRST IN LINE !!

It didna happen thata way.

[Mike]

not even to offer a considerable amount of cash to be first? lol just deserves it oh ya