So I recently did a lot of work on a friends table for their club and one person in the club complained saying that the price was to high and that the rails were covered wrong because the side pockets were done with the hospital fold method.
The table is a valley 7ft bar box It was an old valley as it had the original valley rails with the valley stamped U23 profile cushions on it.
The parts that were ordered consist of the following:
Genuine Valley pocket liners
Genuine Valley gulley Boots
Ridgeback Rails standard edition rails
Championship Invitational with teflon bed cloth
Championship Titan brite rail cloth with custom embroidery
10" horsehair table brush and under rail brush
Case of color matched chalk
Now the work that was performed on the table:
Corner castings had to be removed and broken pocket nails drilled out
Remove and replace gulley boots
Remove and replace pocket liners
Slate was scraped to virgin slate on top, bottom and side (this alone took about 2 hours)
Slate was cleaned with denatured alcohol top bottom and side till white rags came back with no residue.
Cabinet was leveled
Slate checked for warping, and bows in both the vertical and horizontal planes with a 4 foot straight edge.
Cloth was indexed,stretched, secured with 3M 77, pockets closed, cloth trimmed 1 inch under slate remaining cloth secured to bottom of the slate.
Rails covered, making sure embroidery was perfectly centered from side to side on the head rail.
Interior of the cabinet cleaned of all chalk dust, felt pillings, and residue
Slate installed in cabinet and checked for level at all pocket openings in both the vertical and horizontal axis's using a 12" starret level.
Slate removed and shimmed at slate supports in center and sides of cabinet to ensure perfectly level playing field.
Rails installed and aligned to the length of the table for straightness and verified for flush with rail cap laminate before final torquing.
Spot installed.
The last time the table was worked on previous to this was in 1997.
The total cost for parts and labor was $580.00 and the total time spent was about six hours.
Now I am not delusional and admit that I am not an expert by any means in table mechanics and that I would work slower that someone who does this for a living. But am I wrong in feeling insulted and asked by my friend to verify that the way I closed the pockets was one of the right ways to do so. Am I also wrong in thinking that no GOOD table mechanic would have touched this job for anywhere near the price that I charged? I ask because I have personally seen mechanics not remove old glue, not level a cabinet and then the slate inside the cabinet, all they did was slap new felt on in 20 minutes and charged $500.00.
The total cost of the parts was just over $480.00 and I charged my friend $100.00 for the labor.
I will attach a picture of the finished table after I get a few responses to see if I am justified in the way I feel or not.
The table is a valley 7ft bar box It was an old valley as it had the original valley rails with the valley stamped U23 profile cushions on it.
The parts that were ordered consist of the following:
Genuine Valley pocket liners
Genuine Valley gulley Boots
Ridgeback Rails standard edition rails
Championship Invitational with teflon bed cloth
Championship Titan brite rail cloth with custom embroidery
10" horsehair table brush and under rail brush
Case of color matched chalk
Now the work that was performed on the table:
Corner castings had to be removed and broken pocket nails drilled out
Remove and replace gulley boots
Remove and replace pocket liners
Slate was scraped to virgin slate on top, bottom and side (this alone took about 2 hours)
Slate was cleaned with denatured alcohol top bottom and side till white rags came back with no residue.
Cabinet was leveled
Slate checked for warping, and bows in both the vertical and horizontal planes with a 4 foot straight edge.
Cloth was indexed,stretched, secured with 3M 77, pockets closed, cloth trimmed 1 inch under slate remaining cloth secured to bottom of the slate.
Rails covered, making sure embroidery was perfectly centered from side to side on the head rail.
Interior of the cabinet cleaned of all chalk dust, felt pillings, and residue
Slate installed in cabinet and checked for level at all pocket openings in both the vertical and horizontal axis's using a 12" starret level.
Slate removed and shimmed at slate supports in center and sides of cabinet to ensure perfectly level playing field.
Rails installed and aligned to the length of the table for straightness and verified for flush with rail cap laminate before final torquing.
Spot installed.
The last time the table was worked on previous to this was in 1997.
The total cost for parts and labor was $580.00 and the total time spent was about six hours.
Now I am not delusional and admit that I am not an expert by any means in table mechanics and that I would work slower that someone who does this for a living. But am I wrong in feeling insulted and asked by my friend to verify that the way I closed the pockets was one of the right ways to do so. Am I also wrong in thinking that no GOOD table mechanic would have touched this job for anywhere near the price that I charged? I ask because I have personally seen mechanics not remove old glue, not level a cabinet and then the slate inside the cabinet, all they did was slap new felt on in 20 minutes and charged $500.00.
The total cost of the parts was just over $480.00 and I charged my friend $100.00 for the labor.
I will attach a picture of the finished table after I get a few responses to see if I am justified in the way I feel or not.
