PP4620AVX

[Rivets]

PT, when you learn that your time is money, no matter what you are doing for the customer, you will have far fewer headaches. People thought because I taught engine repair I knew about how to fix every engine. i always charged for the time I spent troubleshooting, which might have included, phone calls, reading manuals, plus trial and error. If I think that a customer is going to raise a fit because I’m having a problem, I call them first with an updated estimate. Some say stop and others say do what you have to do. People who don’t realize that we don’t know everything and our time is just as valuable as their money, don’t come back. Because I’m proactive in dealing with customers, I’m normally busy throughout the year and have lots of customers who date back 30 years. I’ve also learned that money from labor puts food on the table, parts and equipment buy the the table.

 

[PTmowerMech]

PT, when you learn that your time is money, no matter what you are doing for the customer, you will have far fewer headaches. People thought because I taught engine repair I knew about how to fix every engine. i always charged for the time I spent troubleshooting, which might have included, phone calls, reading manuals, plus trial and error. If I think that a customer is going to raise a fit because I’m having a problem, I call them first with an updated estimate. Some say stop and others say do what you have to do. People who don’t realize that we don’t know everything and our time is just as valuable as their money, don’t come back. Because I’m proactive in dealing with customers, I’m normally busy throughout the year and have lots of customers who date back 30 years. I’ve also learned that money from labor puts food on the table, parts and equipment buy the the table.

I completely understand. And when I get even close to your skill and experience level, I'll do just the same. But things like not knowing how a throttle cable is routed, I just consider my lack of experience.
I had morons at the dealership fix my dodge once. I'm guessing the head gasket was leaking. The bill was about $2300. $300 more than the extended warranty company would pay. They took a month fixing this thing. Luckily, I was a truck driver and wasn't home but a couple of times out of that month.
When I went to pick up the truck and see the situation, I was pissed.
The bill showed two heads R&R's, plus the machine work. Also two intake gaskets, two head gaskets, two oil changes and way too much labor.
I'm not a mechanic, but I could tell they were just guessing at which head gasket was leaking. Why else would their be two oil changes?
Well, the bill got paid, and within a couple of weeks, the truck started doing the same exact thing. So I took it to a shade tree mechanic who fixed it right the first time. All he did was replace the intake gasket.
Long story short, I called the shop manager at the dealership and told him what was going on and that the bill was under $300. He asked "Why didn't you bring it back?" LMAO.. I told the guy "You had it for a friggin month. Guessing at the problem at every turn. You and your mechanics are stupid if you think I'm gonna bring another vehicle to you."
So ever since then, I'm been this way. On things that I know about, that take me longer, I'll charge every minutes I can. But I just don't think it's right to charge someone $50hr for guessing.
I'll get there. Just wanna do it without feeling like a crook.

 

[Rivets]

I understand what you are saying and I would have reacted the same way. But you have to get paid for your time, and the best way to do that is to communicate with the customer, when you feel it may get pricy, when you run into a problem. Your communication skills before you take a job in, until the job is completed, will build your business faster and better, than just being a good mechanic who charges less. Ex. This morning I had a call about fixing a Simplicity Legacy tractor with a hydraulic problem and a Cub Cadet tractor which has an electrical problem. Both units may end up being cheap fixes or expensive repairs. After I gave him an estimate on both units, with the Legacy being cheap than the Cub, I told him he might be better off taking the Legacy to the dealer because hydraulics are not my strong suit and it could get very expensive if I did it, because of the extra time I might have to put into troubleshooting. He stopped over to drop both units off, bet just left the Cub because he respected my honesty and was taking the other to the dealer. Did I lose some money today, YES. Will it cost me money down the road, NO. Because I communicated my knowledge to him and he understood why I suggested this, my reputation is still intacted. Finally read my signature.

 

[StarTech]

Mentioning dealer mechanics not knowing what they are doing. I have ran into two here with Tri-Green John Deere and Stihl dealer.

One case was when I taking of my mother with dementia which I was needing to provide 24/7 care. My customer was needing a hydrostatic fan replaced. The dealer charged him for over 8 hrs of work because they had a trainee working on the mower. Since I knew the local manager I called him to fight for my customer about the over charge for a 30 minutes job. I was able to get the customer nearly a full credit for the repair.

The second time was when I was dealing with them on Stihl warrantied hedger repair. The tech didnt even know what a pressure/ vac test or even know how to preform it. Well long story short they keep the hedger for three weeks and returned it with no problem found. Since I knew how it was acting when I carried it in I took it out for a test run. Right off the bat it hit one time only mainly they didn't reconnect the spark plug. Second the original problem of run away acceleration was still there.

So I returned to my shop and connected a tach to it. When it was in run away mode there was no spark. It turned out to be a defective spark plug cause the hedger to diesel. Replaced the spark plug and problem was resolved.

Anyway no wonder why my customer with the new Z950M will not let them touch his mower. The same dealer told him that his engine on the Z925A had no oil pump and to just ignore the flashing oil pressure light. If the tech had only looked up the engine he would have seen the oil pump shown.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Like the others I alway add a couple of hours to a "box of bits " repair
In many cases the customer either takes their box of junk & walks away or tells me I can have it & walks away .
This is fine by me, I don't need headaches and the nearest other shop will not take in a box of bits repair.

When people complain I take them into the back of he workshop and show them the camera on a tripod.
Now I use this or making videos, but I tell them I use this when disassembling unknown equipment as the ORDER of replacement is very important & I have no idea about their box of bits till I start putting it back together.
Double posative on this one.
Customer realizes I am not God and can have just as much trouble rebuilding his stuff that he did
And second I don't end up wasting time & money fixing a throw away only to find the customer refuses to pay for it or pick it up.
Stuff in the latter catagory ends up in the loaning pool .

 

[PTmowerMech]

I understand what you are saying and I would have reacted the same way. But you have to get paid for your time, and the best way to do that is to communicate with the customer, when you feel it may get pricy, when you run into a problem. Your communication skills before you take a job in, until the job is completed, will build your business faster and better, than just being a good mechanic who charges less. Ex. This morning I had a call about fixing a Simplicity Legacy tractor with a hydraulic problem and a Cub Cadet tractor which has an electrical problem. Both units may end up being cheap fixes or expensive repairs. After I gave him an estimate on both units, with the Legacy being cheap than the Cub, I told him he might be better off taking the Legacy to the dealer because hydraulics are not my strong suit and it could get very expensive if I did it, because of the extra time I might have to put into troubleshooting. He stopped over to drop both units off, bet just left the Cub because he respected my honesty and was taking the other to the dealer. Did I lose some money today, YES. Will it cost me money down the road, NO. Because I communicated my knowledge to him and he understood why I suggested this, my reputation is still intacted. Finally read my signature.

I've turned down a few jobs that I knew right off the bat were going to be extremely time consuming. One that sticks out was this passed summer. I even made a thread about it, and some of you guru's advised to just turn down the job or price it accordingly. And that's why I did. Customer wanted me to do a rigger nig on an existing electrical nightmare.
I still slip now and then. As in the Raven I took in a few months ago.

I suppose, some of you fella's who've been in this business for 15+ years still run into stuff you don't know for sure about. I was amazed last year when @bertsmobile1 posted a question.

 

[StarTech]

PT, there will always be some piece that either haven't seen before or in a long time especially if you are independent small shop. Electrical is always a nightmare after someone hack the system. I have over 40 yrs in electronics so electrical is not a problem as long as I can find the schematic. I do tell it is a lot easier for me to repair electrical or mechanical problems if they don't let an inexperience person work on it before they bring the equipment to me. They are also are informed on those jobs that someone else have already messed with will cost more as I got the induced mess first before I find the original problem. See I got a lot of DIYers here that tends to screw things up quite regularly.

I had one customer to spend over $300 trying to fix his mower when it was only a fifty cent wire terminal. Still ended up costing another $50 but now he brings all his equipment to me when it break down with trying to fix it himself.

 

[PTmowerMech]

PT, there will always be some piece that either haven't seen before or in a long time especially if you are independent small shop. Electrical is always a nightmare after someone hack the system. I have over 40 yrs in electronics so electrical is not a problem as long as I can find the schematic. I do tell it is a lot easier for me to repair electrical or mechanical problems if they don't let an inexperience person work on it before they bring the equipment to me. They are also are informed on those jobs that someone else have already messed with will cost more as I got the induced mess first before I find the original problem. See I got a lot of DIYers here that tends to screw things up quite regularly.

I had one customer to spend over $300 trying to fix his mower when it was only a fifty cent wire terminal. Still ended up costing another $50 but now he brings all his equipment to me when it break down with trying to fix it himself.

When it comes to electrical, I explain right off the bat, that if I check the right bad part or wire first, then the cost will be a lot less expensive, than if it's the last out of several things I check first. No one knows exactly where to start, unless it happens to be obvious.
In a perfect world, people who do their own maintenance would just replace parts, instead of trying to find another way.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I've turned down a few jobs that I knew right off the bat were going to be extremely time consuming. One that sticks out was this passed summer. I even made a thread about it, and some of you guru's advised to just turn down the job or price it accordingly. And that's why I did. Customer wanted me to do a rigger nig on an existing electrical nightmare.
I still slip now and then. As in the Raven I took in a few months ago.

I suppose, some of you fella's who've been in this business for 15+ years still run into stuff you don't know for sure about. I was amazed last year when @bertsmobile1 posted a question.

PT,
Much like you I came here to LEARN about the stuff I have no idea about.
Initally it was just to acquire as many manuals & parts books as I could get.
Down here there are no hand held factories & only one ride on factory so everything here that has an old Aussie factory name is rebadged.
Ergo the Parklander which was a rebadged Swisher, never would have found out which one without the help of this forum.
I only do about 300 jobs a year so it will take a very long time before I see one of every mower / chainsaw / blower / trimmer that was made & then I have to remember what I have done which is a problem when you can not remember what you had for breakfast.
Add to that like you I am independent so no access to dealers web sites , the local web pages are nothing more than a collection of sales brochures & most US sites now geo lock.
There is a McCulloch ZM4619BF in the yard right now . I go to McCulloch.com and it sends me to McCulloch.com.au and that site has no support . Use the URL spoofer to pretend I am in the US and all I can get is the owners manual.
Trace the equivalent Husqvarna manual and I can get service manuals, owners manuals & parts manuals for all years of manufacture from the USA site.
Without the URL spoofing happening Husqvarna USA automatically send me back to Husqvarna AUS where RZ 4619BC ( which is what the mower is ) does not exist because that model was not imported here.
The person I bought the run from was a bodger of the first order so most of his repairs had more wrong parts on them than right ones.
Prior to fixing mowers, he ran a auto wreckers and he treated the mower repairs the same way.
Now the work he did was good & everything worked properly but it was a nightmare for me as 1/2 of them were Fraken mowers & I did not know what actually should have been there and what was a substitute part.
FWIW I am still on about 30 forums , but only post to 5 of them and spend most time on this one.
The others + motorcycle forums + the engineering forums + the foundry forums are what I do in the evening because I only turn the TV on for 3 hours a week to watch some gardening shows .

The information & tips I give to you are particulary good for you because we are substantially in the same boat and everything I have learned, you will have to learn & hopefully pass on to others in good time.

 

[PTmowerMech]

PT,
Much like you I came here to LEARN about the stuff I have no idea about.
Initally it was just to acquire as many manuals & parts books as I could get.
Down here there are no hand held factories & only one ride on factory so everything here that has an old Aussie factory name is rebadged.
Ergo the Parklander which was a rebadged Swisher, never would have found out which one without the help of this forum.
I only do about 300 jobs a year so it will take a very long time before I see one of every mower / chainsaw / blower / trimmer that was made & then I have to remember what I have done which is a problem when you can not remember what you had for breakfast.
Add to that like you I am independent so no access to dealers web sites , the local web pages are nothing more than a collection of sales brochures & most US sites now geo lock.
There is a McCulloch ZM4619BF in the yard right now . I go to McCulloch.com and it sends me to McCulloch.com.au and that site has no support . Use the URL spoofer to pretend I am in the US and all I can get is the owners manual.
Trace the equivalent Husqvarna manual and I can get service manuals, owners manuals & parts manuals for all years of manufacture from the USA site.
Without the URL spoofing happening Husqvarna USA automatically send me back to Husqvarna AUS where RZ 4619BC ( which is what the mower is ) does not exist because that model was not imported here.
The person I bought the run from was a bodger of the first order so most of his repairs had more wrong parts on them than right ones.
Prior to fixing mowers, he ran a auto wreckers and he treated the mower repairs the same way.
Now the work he did was good & everything worked properly but it was a nightmare for me as 1/2 of them were Fraken mowers & I did not know what actually should have been there and what was a substitute part.
FWIW I am still on about 30 forums , but only post to 5 of them and spend most time on this one.
The others + motorcycle forums + the engineering forums + the foundry forums are what I do in the evening because I only turn the TV on for 3 hours a week to watch some gardening shows .

The information & tips I give to you are particulary good for you because we are substantially in the same boat and everything I have learned, you will have to learn & hopefully pass on to others in good time.

Don't sell yourself short, my friend. You're a guru at this. It sounds like you came by it the hard way. I can't imagine all those frankenmowers you started out on.
There's a couple of good facebook pages that are solely small engine techs. They don't really allow questions like "My mower only turns 1/2 way then stops." If someone posts that, they'll be told pretty quick to take it to a small engine shop. Simply because most of us have shops. And DIY's, are a double whammy. They either fix their own stuff. Or they screw it up so bad, that many shops won't even touch it without charging full price for every minute.

BTW, that whole "forgetting what you had for breakfast" thing. Yup, happens all the time. I think I spend more time looking for something I just laid down, then I do actually fixing things. At least it seems that way sometimes.