A customers truck were finishing up.
Posted by MrsMcKinney225@reddit | projectcar | View on Reddit | 22 comments
We’re arguing about what to charge the guy. He did the motor install and we did the entire twin turbo set up. I posed in a welding Reddit and got absolutely dragged. It’s a rat rod.
absolutelynotarepost@reddit
Do you mean it's a rat rod and the poor welding aesthetic was a customer request or it's a rat rod so that being the best you can do doesn't matter?
Because if that's the absolute best effort, I think the more serious conversation is wether or not you're qualified to charge people money for custom plumbing setups.
It may be perfectly functional but a custom twin turbo setup is a lot of money and having it look DIY is not something most customers will be satisfied with for the money its going to cost.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your opinion. We have a lot of practice to do, that we know. I just sincerely don’t know how to charge for this shit… I’m new to this game 100%. I can do motor swaps and actual mechanical work pricing all day. But fab stuff is a whole new world to me personally.
Heavy-Focus-1964@reddit

leaving the rest aside, i think bottom center-left needs to be redone. don’t give that to your customer, that’s beyond what anyone would consider acceptable
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
The coolant pipe?
The_Duke2331@reddit
Yes, it might even be better swapping out for a full hose with factory bends in it.
Double_Minimum@reddit
Grinder….
GortimerGibbons@reddit
I would be embarrassed to charge someone for this.
ElGuapo315@reddit
To me, the combined intake tube is undersized and will massively restrict flow and HP. Maybe increase the diameter to the throttle body diameter.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
**POLISHING EVERY PIECE NOW** does it look a bit better?
Crafty-Interest-8212@reddit
Nice. I'm trying to pervert my friend who bought a property with 2 motor home with 454 chevy. I told him to put one with 2 turbos in a cheap truck or a old chevy platform....
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
Helllll yeah! This is a junkyard twin turbo grudge truck. It’s so much fun.
CogBlocker@reddit
You didn’t give the customer upfront pricing?
You don’t have a minimum hourly rate you can calculate based on how long it took you?
Finishing the project and then asking what to charge the customer is crazy to me. We can’t tell you what you need to charge to pay your bills and still have a profit percentage.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
He’s a buddy so it was more of a ‘do this and let me know what I owe ya type thing. And when going into this kind of thing and not knowing exactly how long it’s gonna take, we can’t exactly give him a price. Just a ballpark. And our ballpark was ‘lower than what you got quoted in Myrtle’ lol
Yes, our hour minimum is $100. I figured for custom fab, $125 was reasonable. I’m not asking exactly what to charge. I know where my profit margins are…. I was just simply asking for opinions.
Different-Quail2370@reddit
If I were to have done this job. Assuming I purchased the piping and Wiggins style clamps. It would be approximately 5 to 6k.
Stop doing pie cuts. Period. Not one professional race team does this. Ever. They are failure points. The style came from bikers and their need to be different and have colorful pretty stainless/titanium exhaust.
Count each weld. Find the diameter of the tube and multiply to find the number of linear feet you have welded. It'll be a lot more than you think. That adds lots of time.
The super car people will pay 20 to 40k for custom titanium pipes for their shitboxes with those stupid pie cuts etc. For reference.
The welding does need improvement but that should just be seat time. Keep going at it.
125 an hr for custom work is extremely reasonable in today's world. In the future make it crystal clear its time and materials. They can set a top to the budget. You cannot fix things or fab fixes on the fly on a set cost.
Do yourself a favor, most people doing this are shopping. Before you tell anyone you'll do a job wait 24hrs and think about it. Then give them an answer. Make up some shit about your schedule or whatever. Two things will happen. They find someone else or they come to understand the costs. Both outcomes work in your favor.
Best of luck in your future endeavors.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
We never even gave him a quote. He’s a buddy, so he just said ‘let me know when it’s done and what I owe ya’ type deals. And I know, I despise pie cuts. But unfortunately with the room we don’t have and the money that my cancer treatment stole from us….. a tubing bender and new garage are out of budget for a while. Thank you for your honest opinion !
cheeseshcripes@reddit
Alright, so 2 questions: was the aluminum piping new material or had it been used before? And: did you come up with this design and material selection or did the customer?
spitestang@reddit
I took a look at your other post, and they were right to drag you.
Those are some real diy welds. That shit looks rough.
Granted if the customer is happy, all is well and good. But you shouldn't charge pro prices for diy level work. Keep your pricing low until your welds look cleaner. Even for a rat rod this guy is going to get dragged at shows.
2k Max All day, your husband is correct to laugh at the pricing
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
Thank you
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
She thicc
myfishprofile@reddit
Somewhere around $1-1.5k give or take depending on what area you live in, pie cuts take forever to weld out.
Kinda sloppy work, but if the customer is happy with it then that’s all that matters
Also what radiator is that? Looks pretty small. if it works well I could use something like that for my car.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
No stamps on it at all, but it’s not that small actually.
MrsMcKinney225@reddit (OP)
I did all the pie cuts since they take 47 years to do, while he did other work physically on the truck, so it wasn’t just a waiting game.
For location reference, we’re not even an hour away from Myrtle Beach…. Where the customer got quoted $6,000-$10,000
We have about 35 working hours in it total. I was going to do like $125 an hour to also account for supplies and all. But husband heavily disagreed and said that’s way too much and basically laughed in my face 🥴 I’m just confident in him and his work and think the world of him, so that could be my issue with wanting to charge $4,500.
Aaaaaand let me see if it’s stamped, hang on. We’re running turbo drain lines as we speak. Will get back to you.