In your opinion, what tasks should a "Pool Table Mechanic" be required to perform at a minimum to be considered a Table mechanic?
- Thread starter realkingcobra
- Start date
Let’s say well respected Joe X has a school/course… the tech learns to perform to Joe’s standard. They are now JX certified.
I had a tech that serviced my GC4. I think he did a great job…. Years later MG tells me he trained him. I learned this 10 years later. Can say mechanic is MG certified or approved. We know MG’s standard. He sets the standard. May I use RKC’s name… he could do the same.
However there is no substitute for a techs reputation.
I had Authorized techs work on my tables 2x. Authorized Hackers would have been the better classification. “Authorized Schlock Artists. No degree necessary.
Last edited:
Can't be any one single person. Has to come from a board of acceptable directors, that have also come together to create all needed training materials with which to study an acceptable process of working on pool tables!
Second purpose of the board of directors is to oversee the quality of the products sold through this industry through some form of a rating system in order to advise, protect, inform, and guide the public through their purchases, service expenses, and otherwise general knowledge of this industry.
Every business wishing to sell anything in this industry should have a rating on those products based on 1 being junk, to 10 being the best. The board making those ratings should NOT be in a position to be influenced by the manufacturing and sales industry associated with this trade
This industry does.
That also means your board of directors has to be made up of people from the pool table, cloth, balls, cues, tips, chalk, and new products industry.
You may recall that Mr Bond was working on this (see private mechanics area).
I do, but he was going about it the wrong way. You can't give certifications unless you first identify what the certification covers, and there's the problem, there's NO study materials produced anywhere today that is correct, yet there's a lot of videos showing idiots working on pool tables that would like you to believe they KNOW what they're doing!!
This is what has happened to this industry, clicks, followers, advertisers, but LOUSY video content!!! You've got the same hacks working on pool tables, making videos also so they can pick up a few dollars from advertisers!!
Those very same so called table mechanic "INTERNET" stars couldn't make a living working in my backyard!!!
They try, thats for sure, but word of their work goes around faster than a new candy store opening in a fat kid neighborhood!!!! Then, they're gone again, but not before leaving quite a few bar owners behind pissed off!!!
Those very same so called table mechanic "INTERNET" stars couldn't make a living working in my backyard!!!
They try, thats for sure, but word of their work goes around faster than a new candy store opening in a fat kid neighborhood!!!! Then, they're gone again, but not before leaving quite a few bar owners behind pissed off!!!
Would it be fair to say some bar owners/pool room owners want cheap. That is their first concern. That's a problem. I'd like to think a first class mechanic can name their price. And they deserve it. Good work is not cheap...cheap work is not good.
Even i can name what ever price i want, but if I expect to get paid, I'd better realize there's a price breaking point too!
Yeah, I have a vending company in Northern Idaho that has pool tables in 64 bars, and they charge top dollar to play on their pool tables as well, from $.75 to $1.00 a game, BUT they want to use Championship Inventational cloth, they supply it, and they're only willing to pay $125.00 for 2 hours of work per table.
In that situation, I told the owner you're charging top dollar, using the cheapest cloth, and want to pay me 1983 wages, no thanks, I'll pass. None of their pool tables are newer than 20 years, and as they've already found out, I'm kicking their pool tables out of 3 bars because they want Diamond tables, and they refuse to buy them!
Bad move on their part is all I can say, the customers want, what the customers want, and if you're not willing to give them new pool tables, but you're charging new table prices, good luck!!!
I also pocket up the largest vending company in Spokane willing to pay my $400 per table fee, cloth and labor included because they went and looked at the work I do, and even though I'm $25 higher per table than what they're use to paying, I'm also in a whole different class of table mechanics that they've ever seen, so its worthwhile expense to them, and they have 184 bars with tables!!!!
Is the money in servicing rooms or residential. Do the quality rooms pay the price. I played in 2 rooms... one did their own work...Kevlar gloves were needed to reach into the pockets... The other room used a local tech that might be ok for residential but his poolroom work was an upperclass rush job. And he gets away with it.
They do not have to call you in the middle of the night every night for loose ends. How much is No Aggravation worth? $25 is not higher..it's priceless better. They're paying for job done right. There's no substitute. Some see that. And if you have slight price increase they would be foolish to shop.
There's higher fees charged to home owners, but thats opening pandoras box, you have no idea what you're getting into, so I don't do residential work. Pool room owners by the number of tables are always trying to cut costs, so, for the rooms here in Spokane, I taught the room owners how to recover their own pool tables, Diamonds. Black Diamond Billiards has the guys I trained to recover their pool tables, and they do them once a year. The other pool rooms pay my mechanic's top dollar to come in and recover their Diamonds, I don't do Diamonds much anymore, unless they're special like the 9ft Professional 3 piece slate, or the tables have had problems working, then I'll go recover them and fix whats wrong, then turn them over to my guys for service work the next time.
My pricing and services shut down anyone's chances of staying in business working in the commercial market place, the only accounts they'll keep is the cheapest, for now, but even that'll change by way of the customers!
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Just adding a bit to the conversation. Today IF a customer wants to, they can learn enough to be selective on who they pick. They can google their mechanics, reviews, look at work they've done, learn the correct process through youtube videos. It's a lot of work for the customer. The average customer wants to show cash and get perfection. Unfortunately this is them thinking money means something to a mechanic. Money should mean something, but if a mechanic doesn't take pride in their work, no amount of money will make a shit technique good.
What can a customer do? Educate themselves if they care. If they don't care then currently they are at the whims of whoever does the installation/work. A business like Diamond (or any manufacturer) should care enough about their product to have good mechanics. As you know, good mechanics are in high demand for customers who demand excellent work.
You remember that I set up my olhausen, leveled it, clothed it and did some pocket rattle fixes. I took the info on the forum here about leveling a 3 piece slate, watched videos on diamonds being leveled on youtube. I studied it hard for several weeks while waiting for cloth and getting equipment etc. I took my time and did a good job getting it leveled and such.
I bought the cloth and the Simonis installation DVD, studied it hard (even glue down method which I haven't done yet). Got the cloth installed very well for a first time.
Then I went to fix the rattle... gathered info on the forum and immersed myself in old threads and all over the google rabbit hole about pocket fixes, "diamondizing" subrail extensions etc.
The point is, the info is there. Most average consumers want to lay cash down and get good work. That's not currently reality.
I agree 100% BUT the biggest problem with reviews of mechanics work on the internet, is that those GREAT reviews......can be bought from customers who've NEVER even owned a pool table, let alone HIRED the person they gave the REVIEW to!!
Thats why I always tell everyone to ask for the pictures NOT provided, because they tell the truth about a person's REAL skills!!!
Not everyone who is interested in pool needs a $5000+ pool table in their home. Telling them that their table is junk when they need to have something done to it, is a surefire way to turn them off on the whole thing.