RFQ Response Etiquette, (The Man In A Shed) vs (The Commercial Operator)

[Jonathan]

in no way was there any or has ever been spite towards Jonathan in any post of mine that wasn't blantly obvious or said directly to him in my rantings at him.

You may intend to be direct in your posts, but that doesn't mean more than you intended to say can't be inferred from them. Wether what is inferred is true or not is a different matter, but Mark is entitled to speculate.

Jonathan and Me regularely exchange information or share knowledge and even components off the forum

Yeah, about once a year

point out to Jon its all very well under cutting someone else's price but when you don't have overheads and don't pay your dues and demands its not fair to make out someone is charging too much.

Have I not paid some dues? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't owe any tax due to making parts, as my total income this year (from CNC parts or otherwise) was well below the threshold?

Also, the coversation regarding myself and taxes is based on a false premise, since I said "I'll get my freind to cut it". If the transaction had occured, the transaction would have been between him and the customer, so it is his potentiallly taxable income, not mine. I'd just act as quality control!

From corkcnc's post I have assumed rightly or wrongly that he is a legitimate company
[...]
If Jon had just posted that he could do the job for £35 and left it at that then maybe I would not have posted.
I am not having a go at Jon just wanted to point out sometimes its best just to think before you post.

I don't make posts without thinking about the situation. I concede I could have been more tactful by providing the following reference and avoiding the smieley. According to this post, the user in question appears to be a 'man in a shed' business who charges (quote) 'pretty good man in a shed prices for stuff.' In my opinion this statement doesn't match the price quoted, so I took the opportunity to highlight a general point - namely what sort of price people should expect from an RFQ if it's not fulfilled by a business.

For a conventional company, then to be fair £25/h seems below average for CNC machining, especially compared to what was quoted in the last thread I was involved in where this was discussed. As a 'man in a shed' I would not be comfortable charging that much.

[blackburn mark]

man in a shed

I've heard this "man in a shed" stuff once or twice and it is tempting to buy into the idea that a "man in a shed" is somehow less worthy.... but now I think about it, it seems like a large bag of horse piss.

The larger workshop owners frustration of the "man in a shed" is understandable but the customer is only ever arsed about time, price and quality and a man in a shed will invariably be capable of kicking the arse out the workshop owners bids on small batches.

The derogatory "man in a shed" image is, it seems, a bit of a phantom used buy those with the motive to piss and moan at our hero, the "man in a shed" driving prices down.... sour grapes :)

Maybe the workshop owner should tell the man in a shed that he is worth the same money as everybody else and drive the prices back up again so we can all live happily ever after :)