Bigdawg
Just Me
We do a lot of fairly high-end work. Picky customers that no one else wants to deal with... projects that require wading into the depths of sign code and bureaucracy... jobs that require time and patience. And money.
We landed a big job at a high-profile community in Tampa by referral - which is how we get a lot of our work. Another company has already produced one sign, but they aren't particularly happy, so they called us. The things we don't do (tile work, routing) we leave to the vendors we have come to trust to represent our company well. But then along came the trees...
The trees were probably hand carved 15 or so years ago. As the community developed they would have new ones done over the span of a couple years during the housing boom. Trees are not the same. They are not painted the same. They are definitely a lot of hand-done work. So we called our guy that does hand carving and he went out... looked over the trees that were there (they are crumbling from age now) and quoted a price. We expected to pay more than that and (luckily) built that number into our pricing instead. We needed 4 trees done immediately and the other communities would follow - it was kind of like a test. If these signs were good, the other individual communities would follow.
We sent off for our Gemini Letters... had the stone work done... and got a call that the trees were ready - they'd be delivered that day. When they got here I almost cried - no dimension.. half finished... looked like crap and NOTHING like we expected - not even on the same planet. After discussion we were assured he could match better - he didn't "realize" we needed what we needed and he could do it for just a little more money. We had already paid for the things so we gave him a shot to try to fix it...
Meanwhile back at the shop panic starts to set in a little... what if he can't do it??? I look at my boss and say "I know a guy..." he says do what I need to do. So I call my guy.. a guy here on the boards... who I don't think really does much wholesale or shop to shop work. And I say "Help"
He says "Nope, can't do 'em,"
I say "Pretty please - why can't you?"
He says "I can't match exactly."
I say "You don't have to. Consider it. Give me a price."
He says "Big Bucks"
I say "You only scare me a little with your big bucks talk. Let's do it - but I have to give other guy a chance. Slim chance he may produce, so hold until I know for sure."
Instead of holding... he sends me a texture composite he had an employee generate. Just an initial "yeah... you know we CAN do it but I wanted to make sure" kind of thing. I am impressed. Very impressed - and this is just the rough.
Back to the hand carving guy - he calls - says they are done... brings them down. I am the only one in the shop when he comes. I've only seen pictures of the original trees, so it is hard to judge depth. He drops them off and I say "I'm not sure about this, but thank you. They do look a lot better than last time." Dude leaves.
Boss comes in... sees trees. Looks at me and says "Well... these might work." I look at him skeptically and say "You da' boss - and you've seen the originals. Are you sure the customer will be happy?" He decides to sleep on it - we already spent a lot of money on these trees.. The next morning in our production meeting, he looks at me and says. "We have to do it don't we?" I know what he's talking about. These damn trees have consumed our shop thoughts now... I just nod and say "yeah, we really do have to."
We paid double what hand-carving guy quoted... and a little more than we had built in for that particular part of the project when doing costing. But look at what we got. And I learned a very valuable lesson. Sometimes there is a BIG reason a cost is lower... and I've come to understand my expectations should be in line with the cost. So I'll pay more and make sure I get what I need when our reputation is on the line.
I didn't mention the member's name because I'm not sure if he wants the slew of phone calls that would follow when other's find out how totally awesome he is. But I betchya Gigi and Teri know who I'm talking about. And he is more than welcome to jump in and say "Yep - I'm the awesome dude she's talking about."
We landed a big job at a high-profile community in Tampa by referral - which is how we get a lot of our work. Another company has already produced one sign, but they aren't particularly happy, so they called us. The things we don't do (tile work, routing) we leave to the vendors we have come to trust to represent our company well. But then along came the trees...
The trees were probably hand carved 15 or so years ago. As the community developed they would have new ones done over the span of a couple years during the housing boom. Trees are not the same. They are not painted the same. They are definitely a lot of hand-done work. So we called our guy that does hand carving and he went out... looked over the trees that were there (they are crumbling from age now) and quoted a price. We expected to pay more than that and (luckily) built that number into our pricing instead. We needed 4 trees done immediately and the other communities would follow - it was kind of like a test. If these signs were good, the other individual communities would follow.
We sent off for our Gemini Letters... had the stone work done... and got a call that the trees were ready - they'd be delivered that day. When they got here I almost cried - no dimension.. half finished... looked like crap and NOTHING like we expected - not even on the same planet. After discussion we were assured he could match better - he didn't "realize" we needed what we needed and he could do it for just a little more money. We had already paid for the things so we gave him a shot to try to fix it...
Meanwhile back at the shop panic starts to set in a little... what if he can't do it??? I look at my boss and say "I know a guy..." he says do what I need to do. So I call my guy.. a guy here on the boards... who I don't think really does much wholesale or shop to shop work. And I say "Help"
He says "Nope, can't do 'em,"
I say "Pretty please - why can't you?"
He says "I can't match exactly."
I say "You don't have to. Consider it. Give me a price."
He says "Big Bucks"
I say "You only scare me a little with your big bucks talk. Let's do it - but I have to give other guy a chance. Slim chance he may produce, so hold until I know for sure."
Instead of holding... he sends me a texture composite he had an employee generate. Just an initial "yeah... you know we CAN do it but I wanted to make sure" kind of thing. I am impressed. Very impressed - and this is just the rough.
Back to the hand carving guy - he calls - says they are done... brings them down. I am the only one in the shop when he comes. I've only seen pictures of the original trees, so it is hard to judge depth. He drops them off and I say "I'm not sure about this, but thank you. They do look a lot better than last time." Dude leaves.
Boss comes in... sees trees. Looks at me and says "Well... these might work." I look at him skeptically and say "You da' boss - and you've seen the originals. Are you sure the customer will be happy?" He decides to sleep on it - we already spent a lot of money on these trees.. The next morning in our production meeting, he looks at me and says. "We have to do it don't we?" I know what he's talking about. These damn trees have consumed our shop thoughts now... I just nod and say "yeah, we really do have to."
We paid double what hand-carving guy quoted... and a little more than we had built in for that particular part of the project when doing costing. But look at what we got. And I learned a very valuable lesson. Sometimes there is a BIG reason a cost is lower... and I've come to understand my expectations should be in line with the cost. So I'll pay more and make sure I get what I need when our reputation is on the line.
I didn't mention the member's name because I'm not sure if he wants the slew of phone calls that would follow when other's find out how totally awesome he is. But I betchya Gigi and Teri know who I'm talking about. And he is more than welcome to jump in and say "Yep - I'm the awesome dude she's talking about."
