Pricing!
I was contacted, last week, by a gent with an ex-SEG R1150 (very tidy indeed) who wanted a rack fitted to the top of the old radio box. Apparently he'd approached a few people and no-one was interested in doing it. Since the ongoing sale of my workshop equipment hadn't yet devoured my TIG, I said I'd do it and here are the results (minus the Metalastic mounting bobbins which are on their way). And he wants me to fit it to the bike too.
It's constructed of 6063T6 19x19x1.6 aluminium box section. It's very light and very strong - despite the fact that little, if any, of it will still be in T6 state after all that welding!
Now you could argue that, in terms of work, it's not that much different to making an entire rear seat subframe except with shorter tubes - but the 2.4 metres of tubing is a small proportion of the cost. However it's still just a bloody rack.
Those of you who are self-employed will know what I'm getting at here... How much to charge? I've put it on a spreadsheet and labour, materials, welding consumables, running about, etc. included, at a fairly conservative hourly rate (£25/hr). It comes to a little over £600 with the VAT! That's assuming nothing awkward occurs fitting it. Now this may be why no-one else was interested, it's certainly an element in why my workshop is shutting down - because I just can't bring myself to charge somebody £600 for a rack.
Make the building dry and warm...then get on with the project in a year or two !!!
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