Re: resoration business

Posted by Deere58 on January 21, 2005 at 13:08:31 from (24.249.52.19):

In Reply to: resoration business posted by Russell on January 20, 2005 at 05:10:28:

It can be a lot of fun to work on, or restore old tractors. I have also thought about making it my full time business. The trouble is until you have got yourself a very solid reputation, it's hard to know just how far to go with a particular tractor. Most customers will not have a clue what a restoration actually is. They will ask a price, and make sure you always give a price first, and expect it to be around $500.00 to restore the tractor they grew up on, even though it has been in a hedge row for 30+ years. You then have to determine what they actually mean by "restoration". It's easy to paint a tractor and use the term restored. However, if you have any pride, you won't want to let it leave your shop like that. So you tell them that to restore their tractor may be close to $2000 to $4000 or more. After the initial shock, they will probably tell you to do what you can for let's say $1000.00. So now you have a halfway restored machine that is being taken to tractor shows where the proud owner is telling everyone that you are the one who restored his tractor. He is probably proud of it, even though the sheetmetal is far from perfect, maybe a little growl in the rearend, etc. They guy he is beaming to is thinking that you did a pi$$ poor job of restoring the guys tractor, not knowing what you were actually told to do. In turn he starts telling everyone he knows what a poor job you are calling a restoration.
It certainly won't happen in every case, or even maybe in most cases. The trouble is it will happen, and you have to be able to deal with it either before or after to keep your business in a good name. Absoutely not trying to deter you from doing what you want, just trying to give you a look into what you can expect. I have done $1000.00 restorations for people who are certainly happy, and got more than they expected. They trouble is how all the "correct police" will critique your job. Sorry to ramble.

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