Custom

[joelrf600r]

This is going to be a rant/vent, but hopefully a valuable one.

In the last month, I've taken in three projects that have been... challenging to say the least. One of them was challenging because of my fault in not setting expectations, two because of someone elses. Only one of them was from an MCB'r, and we worked it out fast.

When dealing with a customizer/airsmith/etc. PLEASE try and observe some of the following etiquette:

1) Try and realize the limits of what you want to do, and whether it's practical.
Example: After talking about a project to custom mill a B2k Bushmaster, I recieve the gun, do some milling, send a photo back, and now the owner wants the reciever milled so much that the bolt has no support in the bore, and will most likely flex out of the striker if shot fast. He was absolutely insistent on doing it. And i don't know whether to do it (and have him dissapointed when it doesn't work) or not do it (and have him pissed off at me for not "finishing the job"). Talk with your customizer to see what works best! He may occasionally have a lot of experience in this area if you listen!

2) Do not try and re-negotiate pricing! People see cool stuff and they want it. Then they look closer and somehow get blinders to how much time it takes to do something. "Converting a pump to stock class feed is only cutting off/removing a feed neck and putting a couple screws in: that should only take an hour! why are you charging me $$$ plus parts?" Why? because doing it cleanly and making sure it all works right takes time! If we didn't take all the extra steps like taping the body to prevent scratching, setting exact angles for the drilling, deburring/honing the breech so you don't have burrs inside the gun ruining your bolt, you'd be yelling at us that it was bad workmanship! If you could do it yourself in an hour, you wouldn't have sent it to us in the first place.

3) Please don't have a problem and then work on it yourself without prior experience...
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb015.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb016.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb017.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb021.html

The last link is very relevant. I had a sniper I milled for a Pneumatic assist about a year ago. it was simple, clean and worked. I just got it back from a guy who gave it to his brother "the machinist" to do even more work to it. The design looked alright and I'll give an A for effort, but it has monster swirl marks, miscuts, an Automag ASA that was adapted by milling into the *body* (poorly, i might add)for an oring, and dremel marks all over it from trying to clean up the swirlys. And I swear, I think there was a grinder used at one point. In otherwords, if you're not sure what you're doing, you may cause more expense when we have to clean it up. After quoting what it would cost to repair/cleanup in a reasonable manner, the guy just sold the gun to me for less than what the original conversion labor was. please talk to someone before working on something!


The best thing I can say is to talk to your customizer first and have a good feel for what you want to do. Be flexible on listening to new ideas for how to get something done, and don't be shocked at the cost. There's a lot more to doing some of these requests than you'd think.

Sorry for the rant on this, but I got hit with all three in one month. It really puts a knot in my stomach more than anything, because I want to give good value,do a good job, and make sure that I deliver what was expected on time. Unfortunately the example in #1 has happened a couple of times, and the example in #2 happens almost EVERY time.

Okay. I'm done. I'm in my happy place now.
--Joel

[Rayodder]

Best of luck on your ventures, now you know exactly what Doc, Brad and Punisher all had gone thru

keep on top of things and limit the amount of project you take on and anyone ask you to do it for cheap? flage thier email address as spam

[joelrf600r]

Yeah, It just built up and I had to vent somewhere. Figured the MCB gang is pretty good at listening. I only take in a very limited number of projects as this is not a business for me, but more of a side thing while I work on my stuff. If I made this a business, i'd probably go insane. I already have a job which burns 60+ hours a week for me but pays the mortgage.

--J

[Eli]

What kind of custom work do you perform Joel?

[ScrapIron]

The way I look at it is...

I wouldn't complain about something taking longer than I thought if I wasn't capable of doing it myself.
I wouldn't complain about something costing more than I thought if I wasn't capable of doing it myself.
and
I wouldn't have a problem with the (customizer/metalsmith/airsmith) comming back to me with different recomendations, because they wouldn't have my business in the first place if I was capable of doing it myself.

On that note, I just don't want to be made fun of just because the concept design that I give them is done in crayon.

I think the problem that lots of the Customizers/metalsmiths/airsmiths, etc... have is that in the paintball market we tend to get alot of customers who think they're the "expert"

[respiegel]

Funny Joel, you also complain when i send money and a marker with instructions to "surprise me"
which is it? do you want customers to be really exact or not??


just teasing... you do great work and have fast turn arounds

[DarkNinja]

Originally Posted by joelrf600r

3) Please don't have a problem and then work on it yourself without prior experience...
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb015.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb016.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb017.html
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb021.html

I 100% disagree with that statement. I tinker and accept my fate if I happen to screw something up, without people tinkering with things and playing with it no one would know how to fix anything. If you can't accept the consequences of your fooling with it then yes, don't touch it.

Alright so I don't 100% disagree with that, you just need to be responsible for your actions and then you can play with it till it explodes or it works.

[Rainman229]

Joel

I feel you brother. Just things we need to look forward to while doing this work for others.

And with the guy with the b2k. Explain it to him. Then leave it up to him and Tell him your not responsible to what happens down the road due to you telling that it would weak the structure of the body. Most likely he will say scratch it. Or ask you if you had any ideas of your own you would like to try.

I love when i get people like that and then just turn around and say do what ever you feel would work best. Mostly the Mcb crowd is like that.

All and all it's not to bad doing what we do.

Quoting work suxs. Thats all i have to say about that.

[kidneythief]

All you can do is make your recomendations...if he still insists on the work, mill the piss out of it and take your cash.

-Jake

[Rainman229]

Originally Posted by DarkNinja

I 100% disagree with that statement. I tinker and accept my fate if I happen to screw something up, without people tinkering with things and playing with it no one would know how to fix anything. If you can't accept the consequences of your fooling with it then yes, don't touch it.

Alright so I don't 100% disagree with that, you just need to be responsible for your actions and then you can play with it till it explodes or it works.

But you do agree with it you just don't realize it. Those comments are for those that don't accept there fate and always point there fingers at the last one they paid to work on it. When they know there tinkering with it messed it up after the fact. There seems to more of these people that don't accept it. And these are the ones that make things bad for others.