I'm just wondering if you guys can help me out. I saw the post about the salary of a professional pool player, what about the salary of a professional pool table mechanic? With all you pool players out there who do you turn to when you need to make sure your equipment is in tip top shape? The Professional Pool Table Mechanic or do you strike out and attempt to cover and level your table yourself? I'm thinking that is where I want to be, there's literally thousands of pool tables out there someone has to maintain them. What kid of salary do you think a table mechanic can bring in annually? If your good you can get a couple of tables ina day, and can even buy and sell tables as well. So anyone out there live the life a professional pool table mechanic? Can you maintain a steady income and put food on the table for your family? Thanks in advance for your input...
The Average Salary of a Professional Pool Table Mechanic
- Thread starter bigchase
- Start date
I helped my friend who is a very proficient table mechanic recently to re-cloth his home table and it took four of us probably four hours to finish the job. And that was just a re-cloth. I'm not sure how much you would have to charge for that to be worth it, but it is not easy work nor is it fast-moving.
ElCorazonFrio
Banned
Funny, the people who cover the tables at the hall I play out of are a husband and wife over sixty years old and they get 20 9' tables done in about four days...and they aren't working 30hour days.
Hi,
you can do about 6 tables over a weekend (new cloth, carom tables, championship-grade). You work will be usually in clubs or clubs with 3-6 tables, 10 if you're lucky, and you will be out of town regularly.
My advice: get familiar with "new" cloth types (Z9, Royal Pro) and be an expert with them when giving advice and offers (i.e. do something others don't).
Try to establish a steady income by being the go-to guy in your area and regular maintenance guy for the clubs (including cues).
This can only be done by fair pricing and excellent work and working exactly as the customer wants you to (!).
Can't imagine that home owners do recloting regularly due to the low wear.
Cheers and good luck,
M
you can do about 6 tables over a weekend (new cloth, carom tables, championship-grade). You work will be usually in clubs or clubs with 3-6 tables, 10 if you're lucky, and you will be out of town regularly.
My advice: get familiar with "new" cloth types (Z9, Royal Pro) and be an expert with them when giving advice and offers (i.e. do something others don't).
Try to establish a steady income by being the go-to guy in your area and regular maintenance guy for the clubs (including cues).
This can only be done by fair pricing and excellent work and working exactly as the customer wants you to (!).
Can't imagine that home owners do recloting regularly due to the low wear.
Cheers and good luck,
M
pool table mechanic makes more than a pro pool player :angry::angry:
I have made my living as a Professional Billiard Mechanic and Cue repairman for 30 years. I can tell you it is not a great living at all. when I get commercial work and do a pool room I can put some away but the problem is that every pool player today thinks they can work on tables so the prices are driven down because of all the hacks out there and the everyday home owner getting a table moved or recovered dosent care. cue repair is worse. everyone has a lathe now and the quality of cue work being done in the pool rooms where I live is just upsetting. at 45 years old im looking to do something else and that's sad because I love working on tables.
quality here in Toronto is horrendous, has been for decades
yet we have more rooms and a bigger pool scene than most American cities
go figure
our rooms for the most part have no diamonds nor brunswicks...even the snooker tables were mostly mid grade stuff
most of the coin ops in the city are set up like a nightmare
cue work needed? forget about i
our pool people here from players to everyone else are OLD SCHOOL, and CHEAP and seemingly have never heard of the internet (latest example was a middle aged dude telling me how Johnny Archer was the best in the world and giving me the deer in headlights look when I started to ...but soon enough digressed.....mention chinese 8 ball)
I'm at the point where I ship my shafts to Seyberts for tip replacements which SUX cause it aint cheap and you worry about your shaft getting lost as well as being without it for a couple weeks
I love the local tourneys but i practice at home, watch pro online at home, and discuss online at home
every person in this city is bush league when it comes to pool
yet we have more rooms and a bigger pool scene than most American cities
go figure
our rooms for the most part have no diamonds nor brunswicks...even the snooker tables were mostly mid grade stuff
most of the coin ops in the city are set up like a nightmare
cue work needed? forget about i
our pool people here from players to everyone else are OLD SCHOOL, and CHEAP and seemingly have never heard of the internet (latest example was a middle aged dude telling me how Johnny Archer was the best in the world and giving me the deer in headlights look when I started to ...but soon enough digressed.....mention chinese 8 ball)
I'm at the point where I ship my shafts to Seyberts for tip replacements which SUX cause it aint cheap and you worry about your shaft getting lost as well as being without it for a couple weeks
I love the local tourneys but i practice at home, watch pro online at home, and discuss online at home
every person in this city is bush league when it comes to pool
Well, this was my and the other two newbies' first table repair experience, so it's entirely possible it took us significantly longer because we were simply waiting on orders from the one guy who actually knows the process (I'd imagine this will invariably slow any job down). I'd guess two people that really know what they're doing can get a job done quicker than four bodies with only one brain. It could also be a matter of technique, differing equipment, or quality of work. Hard to say.
Why the frowny face?
Pool table mechanics provide a valuable service to the pool community.
He's not upset with the mechanics, just upset with the system. It would be akin to the grounds crew of a baseball stadium making more than the players.
Actually, it's minimum wage versus $6M avg. salary for a player. With some hitting $30M per year, and the newbie makes $400K before he hits free agency.
PS: I know table mechanics work is MUCH more difficult than a min wage ground crew, so please do not take offense of my analogy.
I am certainly not retiring anytime soon....Money is decent if your motivated... Home market is where the money is at least here in the Northeast....Problem in my opinion is the guy with a carpenters level & bondo with no training or insurance, doing jobs for peanuts... The average homeowner is clueless and just assumes the table is correct...With Craigslist gaining popularity it is only gotten worse...This is truly a labor of love!
The brand and model of the table will have a lot to do with the time it takes.
Following a bad mechanic who did the tables before will cost a lot of time in doing a table.
The best is to do commercial rooms - where you have done the tables the last couple of times and everything is how it needs to be - and you can move right along.
ElCorazonFrio: you are probably talking about Bob & Sallie Bebb. They knock out the tables, mostly because they know what they are doing and they are 'following' themselves. Known them for years and they did all my tables for the 3 rooms in California and the Anchorage Billiard Palace.
Mark Griffin
Following a bad mechanic who did the tables before will cost a lot of time in doing a table.
The best is to do commercial rooms - where you have done the tables the last couple of times and everything is how it needs to be - and you can move right along.
ElCorazonFrio: you are probably talking about Bob & Sallie Bebb. They knock out the tables, mostly because they know what they are doing and they are 'following' themselves. Known them for years and they did all my tables for the 3 rooms in California and the Anchorage Billiard Palace.
Mark Griffin
some people want a cheaper job and are willing to have lower quality work. same as in anything.
if you are tops at whatever you do the people that will pay more will find you. if they arent knocking down your door you arent as good as you think. simple as that.
if you are tops at whatever you do the people that will pay more will find you. if they arent knocking down your door you arent as good as you think. simple as that.
I will vouch for PT911. I know a few mechanics...they make a livelihood at best. And work off beat hours sometimes. Most customers want to know How Much...an educated consumer wants to know How Good. And most mechanics are not that good. To the first class techs out there...thanks for your highly skilled work. And I hope you're making out ok.
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Jullians by me in Worcester MA has ignored the players recommendation for a mechanic and went with some cheap guy, tables are HORRIBLE. No two pockets are cut the same, rails bank weird, quite a few rails hove hop, and the guy before them actually used a saw to cut the rails off to work on them which makes setting up the tables properly just about impossible without spending a ton of money.
Needless to say, the good players stay away from that place, and it's sad that they do as much business as they do, many other places deserve better.
Well -
I have helped recover some friends tables and have done my own years ago, but it takes strong hands which I do not have anymore.
I bought an old Gold Crown III, and had the metal pieces powder coated, and the first time I had it put together, I had some guys that did the work at my local pool room (from out of town), I had them come to my house and put it together and recover it. The recognized when there were parts (bolts and screws, etc) that were missing or screwed up.
I paid them in cash, and told them not to report it. To hell with the government and all of their taxes for social programs...:angry:.
Like most services, you can help them by paying in cash.
JMO,
Ken
I have helped recover some friends tables and have done my own years ago, but it takes strong hands which I do not have anymore.
I bought an old Gold Crown III, and had the metal pieces powder coated, and the first time I had it put together, I had some guys that did the work at my local pool room (from out of town), I had them come to my house and put it together and recover it. The recognized when there were parts (bolts and screws, etc) that were missing or screwed up.
I paid them in cash, and told them not to report it. To hell with the government and all of their taxes for social programs...:angry:.
Like most services, you can help them by paying in cash.
JMO,
Ken
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Groundskeepers do make more than many players in AAA ball.
Have you been to Jim Wych's room, Cornerbank? I was there over the weekend and it seemed like a solid room to me. Easily in my top 3.