[BC] Making engineering pay

[Cowboy]

On Monday 24 July 2006 12:02 pm, Kent Winrich wrote:
> Boy Mike!  Did you NAIL IT!!!

 HEAR ! HEAR !

> I am sorry but my time IS worth something.  And if someone does not 
> want to pay my rate, then:
> 
> A) I didnt relay my value
> B) They will never see the value

 Or, they're under some artificial accounting mandate that cheaper is better
 at any and all costs.
 It doesn't last, but it does cause grief in the meantime.

> In the past I would have under cut myself on pricing, because I didnt 
> see the value of my time.  BOY!  Did I make a mistake in that!!

 So did I, but not as much because I didn't see my value as much as
 I feared the competition, and simply being out of work.
 It was a huge mistake !
 Now, having been unemployed ( that's "contractor" to some of you ) for
 the last decade or so, it ain't so bad !

> I explain to a client that you may pay more for me now, but the job 
> will be done RIGHT.  Some went away only to come back to me when the 
> value part finally hit them (they went to someone else but the job 
> never got done right, and ended up paying more and more to fix 
> something that should have been done right the first time!).  They 
> realize that the value I give them is worth it in the long 
> run.  Guess it takes some people a little longer to get that concept.

 It's happened to me. Learned not to worry about it.
 Made more money re-doing a job than could have been made
 by just doing it right the first time.
 There are some out there that one can easily make a career just following
 them around, and fixing whatever they did !

 It doesn't feel good at all when the cheaper guy gets the project, but
 it feels GREAT when that same client pays me even more to fix it !

 Some have been done SO badly, that the only way to really fix it
 is to call for an air strike and start over.
 Not much can be said except that the owner made his decision,
 and he's the one that's gotta live with it !

 Got one pending now where the design consultant told the client that
 if he hired "that guy" again, they'd have no further involvement, and take
 no responsibility if it all fell apart and didn't work at all, but they'd back it
 100% as long as that client got me to build it.
 Now, that REALLY feels good !

-- 
Cowboy