GregBBRD

As I was hand "whittling" a slightly bigger "brass square", which makes the "POS" window switches and sunroof switches work properly (it is to the point where I have to make these pieces for even new switches to work properly), today, one of my friends who also owns a Porsche repair shop (but works on the later model cars) dropped by.
He hung around watching me cutting, sanding, fitting these tiny brass pieces, testing them for function in the switch, removing them, and then modifing them until they were the "perfect" height....so the switch worked perfectly.
In the end, he looked at me and said, "When did you quit being a mechanic and became a custom fabricator? While you screwed around making that switch work, I could have done a complete oil service on a 997 and made a couple of hundred dollars. You are going to charge what? $30 to fix that switch? What the hell are you thinking?"
I explained that very few of these switches function properly. (The other day, I installed three new sunroof switches on a car, none of which worked properly, until I "hand made" a couple of "brass squares" that were slightly taller.)
He looked at me and said, "When did making parts properly function become your problem? Send that **** back!"
I looked at him and said. "But then the sunroof would never work properly. You'd have to poke at the switch 2-3 times to get it to open and then pray that it was going to close, because all of the switches are crap."
He responded, "Like I just asked, when did that become your personal problem?"
Having really nothing to say, I simply said, "You've got a good point there. I spend hours and hours making things work, never charging enough for the time spent....and then sitting around, at the end of the month, wondering why I make half of what I used to make, when I did brake jobs, services, and oil changes."

Makes one wonder if the chosen path is the right one.

svp928

lol...Greg, you know my answer to that one..

Steve

andy-gts

I have my super greg brown car and I want you to never quit . you should change the name of your shop to PERFECTION MOTORS

OBehave

Sounds like you didn't quit being a mechanic,You're doing what mechanics have always done and that is fix things. Before there was a part for everything,mechanics would fabricate or rebuild everything themselves. How many "technicians" out there today can actually rebuild a caliper,wheel cylinder,starter motor or alternator. Not many!
It's too bad the world is infested with crap parts and people who would rather collect hand out checks and government cheese then learn a trade and actually care to do a good job.
Now,if you're not making enough money then you're not charging enough!
Ed

Randy V

But think of the satisfaction you get when you fix it 'right'.

85euro928

I agree with your friend, from what I can tell it's a waste of your talents, not to mention not being compensated accordingly. But that seems to be the direction the world is heading (ever see the movie Idiocracy? Lousy movie, but poignant ) I feel your pain and frustration.

SteveG

AND you post primo helpful stuff here and get paid nothing for it.

[I am going to be ordering oil cooler lines from you that I saw in another thread]

928mac

Well Greg, there are a couple thoughts here.

First, I believe that a real mechanic (1 that has had the gift since very young)
can just about take anything apart and see where the problem is and fix it.
That is what you were doing with the switches and from what I here, what you do with most everything.
SO! IMHO! you never stopped being a mechanic but have gained more engineering knowledge allowing you to repair at a deeper level.

Not a lot of mechanics or technicians, as they are called today, learn beyond what they have be taught in school or what they have learned from an older, experienced mechanic.
Most do not like to experiment and most do not have the skill to reason on what it would take to make it better.
Its a lot more then cranking some nuts and bolts together.

If you need some extra cash, do some quick brake jobs or some starter/alt rebuilds which will leave you with time to redesign some of the sheyat the manufactures throw at us.

I guess I better post this as others have the same thoughts as me.

Keep on Keeping on Greg

dr bob

I bailed from the biz decades ago, when customers were more aggravating than the cars.

MBMB

Greg,

In this modular/disposable society many people don't appreciate craftsmanship, and don't see the logic in paying a craftsman appropriately to make things work right. As a result the world is losing its craftsmen—they don't see the logic in being paid a pittance to make things work right.

If the way to get a $68 sunroof switch to work is to send it to you and pay you appropriately for your time, I'll send it to you.

Meanwhile, may I recommend that you read ?

LT Texan

Greg, unless you are actually doing the oil changes, I say it's time to properly relegate you to an office and kick yourself upstairs.

You can "whittle" there.



Or run your skunkwerks....

PorscheDoc

That's great if you charge accordingly for how much time you spent on making the switch work properly. If you aren't charging your properly hourly rate because you are scared to charge $200 or so to fix a window switch, then that falls entirely on you, and your business will suffer as a result. We have the same problem here, we want to help people fix their cars for as cheap as possible, but that isn't a good business model. I talked with a shop owner down the street a few months ago, he said "Karl, 35 years ago I started out and was afraid to charge a high rate, so I did stuff almost for as cheap as possible. What I found out though, was that if I did something for free or very little to save someone money who couldn't afford alot, then they would go and tell all their friends who also didn't have any money, and all of a sudden I had a customer base of people who couldn't afford much." It's pretty hard to run a business like that.

If a new "non working" switch costs $75 bucks, then having the knowledge to create a switch that actually functions properly, you should be able to charge more than double that. You aren't just charging for your time, you are charging for your knowledge as well.

WallyP

Greg,

We seem to have reached the stage where customers simply do not expect to have to pay for diagnostic work, troubleshooting, or making crap work properly. At the same time, most customers see nothing odd about paying book rates for book hours at the dealership. Yet, in the first case, they are getting excellent value for money, while in the second case, they are getting raped.

Charge what you are worth - there will be people who agree that you are worth it.

NoVector

Original Porsche parts?

kevinlieb

Now you are a mechanic and a craftsman. A rare breed. Be proud!

I have to do mine in the near future. The driver's side switch is getting near inop. I hope I have the patience to do it right.