Hi All,
I’ve been asked (“treat us like a customer and we’ll treat you like a business”) by my parents to fix and refinish their kitchen table.
They lived on a boat for approx 15 years and the maple tabletop took a pretty bad licking from the moisture and sunlight. It is split and splitting along several seams. The finish is just about gone.
Now I know what I’d charge for a new piece but I have no idea what is fair for a repair/refinish job.
Anyone offer a typical formula or advice?
It doesnt appear to be a very difficult repair project if that matters.
Replies
Thanks Wineman....
My thoughts as well, but they know the wife and I are struggling at the moment and want to "help".
I just need to find a fair price that will work for us both.
Well, if they don't want it for free, estimate the number of hours it will take and multiple that times your hourly rate for woodworking or your regular job and see what they say.
If that won't work, just tell they to pay you what it is worth to them. Or maybe to take you and the wife out to dinner.
I, personally, find it hard to charge relatives for work, it always seems to cause tension later, or sooner. They either think they should get a great rate because they are relatives or that you should do it for nothing. If you lay the dollar amount on them that you would Joe off of the street they think you are taking advantage of them. This is not to say that your parents think this way, but my relatives do. :<)
Bruce
Edited 5/21/2008 10:08 am ET by Wingdoctor
My parents are both gone now but a smile on my moms face would be more than enough payment for me. I would get a cake or a plate of home made fudge as payment because she would insist on giving me something, not realizing she alread had. It would be sweet. I'll jump in with the others and say FREE.
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Have them pay for supplies, the wow Danny boy that looks great is all the reward. They may still feel they need to slip you some money, but that is up to them and the amount too.
Might I suggest you tell them you'd be happier to do it for the cost of the supplies. If they insist on paying you for your labour (Canadian spelling..), you could drop a hint you've had your eye on a small handtool. Make sure you tell them exactly which make, model, and source, as you don't want to end out receiving a gift you'll not want to use, but be forced to keep it kicking around the shop so they'll not be offended.Cheers,Marty
"Have them pay for supplies, the wow Danny boy that looks great is all the reward. They may still feel they need to slip you some money, but that is up to them and the amount too."
After my dad passed, I would have to travel to take her to the store and take care of bills as she put it. We always had the same routine. She would insist on paying for my time, and I would say no, but she could cook me something and I'd sit and eat with her. That seemed to work out well. They never had much but seen to it that I had what I needed, so it was very little in comparison to what they did for me. I would not even charge for the supplies. Do it and offer it as an early aniversary present. I would pay a small fortune today to be able to sit down to one of those meals again. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
bones,
she could cook me something and I'd sit and eat with her
Man, that brings back some memories. A few years after my dad passed away mom needed her kitchen repainted and so I did it for her, walls, ceiling, crown molding and cabinets.
She wanted to pay me but I refused. So one day for lunch she made me some salmon pea wiggle, my favorite, along with some homemade strawberry rhubarb pie. Doesn't get much better than that, for me anyway.
Hummmmmmm, haven't had that for quite some time now.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I hear ya! My mom's potato salad was great along with fried potatoes served with beans and fatback and homemade butter milk cornbread. Of course the potatoes were fried in lard. Nothing like a pot of beans cooked all day long in a cast iron pot. It don't get any better than that. Good memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Oh man, my dads store used to have baked beans from Maine. They were called Windovar. He used to tell everyone who bought 'em, "Sooner or later you'll get wind of ah beans".
What in tarnation is fatback!?
Me be droolin but don't know what fatback isn,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 5/22/2008 1:41 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
"What in tarnation is fatback!?"
Well fatback is the bacon without the meat. Another name used is side meat salt pork. Basically its lower on down the belly of the hog. It looks like bacon and adds the best flavor. We cooked pinto's or October beans (same as pinto's just bigger). Process is as follows:
Pour out about about two cups of dried beans into your hands a few at a time and pick out any gavels (there will be some) and rinse with cold water. Soak over night if possible. Any floaters discard. Dump and rinse several more times and put in a big cast iron pot if you can get one. Cover with good cold water. To that add a piece about 2" x 6" of fatback or salt pork as it may be called. It will look like a slab of bacon without the meat streak. It will be heavily salted from the curing. Rinse the salt off prior to dumping onto the bean pot. Cook on low heat (high enough to bring to a low boil), cook all day adding water occasionally. A thick soup will be made. If you get your beans too salty you can place a whole peeled onion in the bottom of the pot and it will draw out some of the salt. Server with cornbread fried potatoes and a green onion if you can get it.
One of the funniest stories was when by sister in-law wanted to impress my brother by fixing this country meal. She cooked a whole two pound bag of pintos (no washing) and put a pound piece of fatback in without washing it. She had beans everywhere that would draw your teeth together. I still kid her about it.
There is another good use for fatback. I keep a piece to clean the grill with! Get the grill hot and using tongs run a piece (I keep it in a baggie just for this purpose) run it over the grill it will clean it right off and the food won't stick.
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Edited 5/22/2008 2:41 pm by bones
Ahhh, salt pork = fatback, gotcha.
Years ago after cousin Stinky Inky got married my uncle stopped by their house. His new wife wanted to make a batch of homemade beans for him, but was fearful of the potential.
Uncle Leo told her that if she let the beans soak overnight, she could prick them in the morning with a needle, so when they cooked them the gas would be released.
Next mornin our new cousin Shelly was busy at the kitchen table pricking holes in all the beans, one by one.................
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Oh man, thats funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Thanks guys,
I have all the supplies already...no cost there to go that route.
I think I'll just estimate the hours and throw out a number for them. I would prefer to just "work for food" cause my Mom loves to feed us but I can just tell by talking to them they want to pay me something.
As for the "look in their faces" when you make something for them...yeah, well aware of that. Made my Mom a simple (maple and mahogany) cutting board for xmas and made her cry....almost got me going too!
I dont think she's mad a single cut on it either cause she says it looks too pretty!
I always told my parents they didn't owe me anything, then they'd slip me a $20 and feel good about it. Never had the heart to tell them $20 didn't even cover the materials.
Getch,
Just because you already have the materials doesn't mean you aren't paying for them. They had a price when you bought it, or when you replace it. It's OK to charge for materials you have in stock.
I have a labor rate I charge extended family. The rate is lower than my usual rate. My folks get charged just material cost. (they are two people who I will always owe) They write me big checks that I tear up. When they give me a check for the material cost only, I cash the check.
If you are pressured into taking payment, you could ask for a family fishing day on their boat followed by a nice dinner on that good looking refurbished table. Might just be a day you and the folks remember for a long time.
Charge them what the job is worth; they obviously won't mind. And it't good practice for you. If you know what a new table like that is worth, then you must know how long it would take and what your time is worth. The last step is figuring the time on this job.
You are giving your parents the convenience and enjoyment of working with you, and watching what you create.
Brian
I run into the same problem with my folks on a regular basis. If I insist on doing it free they threaten to have a white elephant shipped to me prepaid. They have made good on the threat often enough to be a deterrent. I have had some luck with trading for my mothers cooking, she makes a potatoe salad that is to die for and the best deviled eggs I have ever eaten. Perhaps there is some dish you could swap?
------------------------------------
It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. ~David Ormsby Gore
Wineman,
It's a rather simple dish, the trickiest part is the white sauce, proportions of the ingredients is a matter of taste. The sauce, peas and salmon are mixed together and put on either Saltines or toast points when done. What you're after is very similar to lobster newburg.
Ingredients: Salmon - fresh or canned but make sure ya take out any bones.
Peas - Again canned or fresh but fresh sweet peas are a lot better.
Start with deboning the salmon. This will break up the salmon into small chunks. What you want is meat sized something akin to SOS ($hit on a shingle - Military term). Whilst preparing a white cream sauce (season to taste) in a frypan or double boil saucepan, slow boil the peas in a separate saucepan or the same as you would when serving fresh peas as a side dish to a meal.
Once the sauce comes to a slow boil, add the salmon and peas (drained) and wait for the whole thang to come back to a slow boil. If ya want toast points now is a good time to make them.
Pour/ladle the wiggle over toast points/crackers and serve piping hot.
Now I like fresh homemade rhubarb pie for dessert but any fruit based dish seems to work - perhaps a cobbler, along with some dry white wine......... I sometimes sneek a wee bit into the sauce too.
Makes a great brunch or kept in a chafing dish a good dish for a buffet. Also, you can experiment with different fish, seasonings, etc. I've even added cajun seasoning on occasion.
This is an old New England dish and a Google of salmon pea wiggle will find lots of recipies.
Enjoy,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 5/23/2008 9:22 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled