Have customer that I've been doing field repair work for which I've been charging time and material for work done. They have a JD 750C That undercarriage is beyond needing replaced. Someone has previously extended the track tensioners out and welded to the rod to keep from retracting. What is fair hours to charge to replace,all rollers,idler,sprockets,reseal tensioner s,and replace chain. The chain is bolt together and not pressed pin style. We all know sometimes this is easy repair and sometimes they aren't. I've already told him anything out of normal repair guidelines(as in getting sprocket bolts out that have all been tack welded on one side of hex on each bolt will be time and material) Just need a hour estimate to hand him.
Undercarriage is hard to quote, as quite often you will end up with additional costs, such as broken bolts. I just did a D6, with similar condition, welded sprockets, many broken bolts, ect. Took about a week to do (40hrs). Pads were already installed on rails, and had a excavator I used to help me. If you are installing pads, remember you will have to grind all the paint and dirt off the rails and pads. You can get paint stripper, and that will speed up the process on the rails. Hard to give a exact quote without seeing it. Its always easier to tell the customer your under quote than over. There is 2 ways to do this. Tell him aprox 50hrs, or tell him 40hrs with each broken bolt and additional 30-45min. You could also call your local John deer dealer for a quote, and go off of that.
Time and materials until they are torn down. You can quote the install once the prep work is done. The only other way is a not to exceed price. Does the machine have rock guards? Do you get to replace the welded tensioner or do you have to try to fix it? Can you remove the track frames or do you have to work from underneath? Are the sprockets bolt on or have pressed on rings? I suppose a C model has free floating ends on the equalizer bar. If not how are the ball bushings? What if the track frames are cracked up? What do the pivot shafts look like and what if there are problems there? Will the idler pockets have to be built up? What do you have to do to check alignment of the track frames to the machine? Does this machine have a standard blade with push beams or is it a PAT blade? If you have the track frames off it's easy to check the blade C frame trunnions and pull shims or do repairs if necessary. You could go on for a long time running different quote scenarios.
I agree. It would be impossible to accurately quote such a job. The best anyone could do would be an estimate, and make sure it's on the high side....
This an unknown material and time job. there are only 2 quotes to give him. 1.Materials and time component,(which you don't know yet),that would require a large mark up on both labour hours and materials. this will cover your butt(ass). Then 2, explain to him the likely costs of materials which can go ball park with whatever you find, tell him an hourly rate YOU are happy with,tell him a fixed price quote is always going to be super high, see what he says.
T0750cx897807
Is the serial number to the machine. I tried explaining all the scenarios to the customer and all he has said is I've always had a quote on undercarriage replacement. I called local shops yesterday and all have said minimum hours and anything out of ordinary is time and material. Something tells me there will be a lot of extra work on this one. I also found yesterday if he goes to JD he will get 4000 hours warranty compared to 1500 if I install the same aftermarket parts. So I'm going to push him towards the dealer,honestly don't think machine has 4000 hours left in it without major overhaul. I wrote up a very high quote,if we get it it will cover unseen problems. But something is telling me to bow out. Thank you for all the replies.
Excellent call, I'd say he knows damn well what it will cost, anyone who would weld a tensioner out either knows, or needs to learn the cost of fixing heavy equipment. People like smaller independant mechanics, some for the good workmanship at reasonable rates, others for the fact that they can (or think they can) pull a fast one. I've always said I'd rather go broke watching tv than working. My gut says the guy is the kind who will always think he paid too much, no matter how much the tally is, and not see the quality. Remember the crap repairs he thought were ok in the first place, but the cost was reasonable.....
I agree Komatkatze, when I told him the price he bitched and said he doesn't have a open check book, I quickly replied " I don't do this for practice,I do it to make a living" This guy buys cheap at auctions and expects them to work like new. One of the main reasons I quit working for fleets as an employee and went full time at my shop was I was tired of the mentality of most of the employers I've worked for.
IMHO you've done the right thing. If there are so many obvious problems such as the tensioner, what else is there that you aren't seeing at first glance and which could become the proverbial can of worms once opened..?
A can of worms indeed. He probably needs to put some sweat equity into that machine if he wants to save it.
I sometimes get the "Skin-Flint"land on my patch asking for all sorts of work to be done for Shirt Buttons with under cart jobs being at the top of the list, anyhow I never give a price other than a ball park dream of how things might end up, I don't dwell on welded on things or snapped off fasteners, I just rip it all to bits then tell the owners that their tractor is a bit of a Dog needing what ever done to it so it can be used again, Mr Skin-Flint then has the option to pay me for what I have done (machine in loads of bits) and fire me off, or he can Cop on that he has to bring a few more "tanners" (old U.K. Coins) to get things sorted, but the thing is at the start of the price debate Mr Skin-Flint thinks he is getting a sucker to do a lot for near nothing, but once its all scattered around the dirt I tend to be able to talk with more effect, with the No coins No tractor Golden Rule for these more demanding type Customers, make no mistake I have had some right Ruff Buggers to deal with but I stand my spot, so the end result is I would have whipped that J.D. all to bits and argued about the extras when the extras are plain to see "In Bits", trying to get extra costings before you have even broken the first bolt is not worth the Verbs. this is how things are in the U.K. plus we don't have any J.Deere iron here?? tctractors
tctractors: Never a truer word spoken, these tight ass bastards usually have the first dollar they have ever poached,because they made money from scamming other people,mechanicks,plumbers, electricians,builders,you name it they will rip your dot out if you let them. I gat calls from these d-heads all the time and believe me,after 40 years in this business,Plumbig/Gasfitting) I can sum up a person wanting a job done over the phone. They usually fall into 2 catergories. Cat 1:The genuie person who is looking for an affordable price,thats fine we all fall into that cat, they will listen to your answer ,possible price job unseen and best outcome. then we have Cat 2 D-Head, He rings up and says straight up it not a big job,shouldn't take long,a mate said it was an easy fix the other bloke I rang said hed do it for this,WELL guess what why waste your money on the phone call to me ? Get your mate &other bloke you rang together and you have it sorted.:drinkup
Garrie, I am so happy that you liked my post, some people are so hard work that I just stuff it to them as I am so not like they are. tctractors
After being stung hard for big dollars by these white ants , over the years on a number of occasions, At the end of the day, you have to take people at face value you get to know a good 1 from a Dingo. I:tongloved your post.