We had a huge undertaking for a serging job recently. It was a nice job, two custom shaped pieces we had to bevel and serge the perimeters of. Check out one of the pieces in the pictures below:
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| Custom hallway in for serging. |
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| Custom piece; different angle. |
It may not look like a hard task, but believe it or not this one piece took nearly 3 hours to complete! Custom pieces like this require a lot more time and effort to complete. The inside corners on this piece took about 45 minutes in itself to finish. Inside corners are the perpendicular angles that happen at the junctures of the cut-outs. We relief cut them in order to get our serging machine to by-pass the areas, then we have to glue them back together, almost as if they are seams. Due to the extra time involved, there is an extra charge applied to the cost. Dan and I double teamed this job, so as I was working on the inside corners of this piece, he started the serging on the second piece (you can catch a glimpse of it in the top corner of the second picture). The second piece was not as intricate, yet it still took a good 2.5 hours to complete. With two people working on the project, it didn't take as long as it could have. However, the time and extra labor cost more money. Simple as that.
In addition to custom shaped pieces, such as the ones above, we charge additional fees for handling used carpets. DWP Carpet Binding had a customer bring in two used area rugs for serging. They were surprised when they heard about the up-charge. The fact of the matter is, handling used carpet is a health risk. On the back of these particular carpets there were multiple stains, which could be from anything.
We try not to guess what the potential causes of the stains are, imagination can lead you to very disturbing places sometime. As we were working on these pieces, we used our leaf blower to clean them of excess carpet fibers. Literally a cloud of sand came up upon doing so. That's horrible for our serging machine. Sand can get into every orifice of the machine, which if not properly cleaned, can and will ultimately break parts or ruin the calibrations of the needle and looper, which results in poor stitching quality. With that being said, the health risk of handling unsanitary used carpets and the sand factor, we charge more when working with used carpets. It's only fair.
In a completely unrelated side-note, check this out:
We just BARELY had enough serging yarn to complete the two area rugs!!! The total footage for both area rugs was 130 linear feet and I had guessed that we'd have enough. This is pivotal. There was maybe enough yarn for another 6 inches or possibly a foot. As we worked on the last side, Dan and I were cheering the machine and serging thread on, in high hopes we'd have enough yarn. We did! Then we danced in celebration.
In other news:
I was recently e-mailed a picture of a custom piece I recently made! I wrote a blog about a month ago in regards to this particular piece, as it was made from samples into a "patch-work quilt" area rug.
Below are pictures of the piece in our shop as well as it's final destination in the owner's home!
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| Custom "patch-work quilt" area rug, in our shop. |
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| Custom piece in place in the customer's home! |
I'd say the customer did a great job working a unique piece into the decor of their home! I noted (for future endeavors) that I could have followed the brick work pattern of the chimney to really pull the room together. The customer said he likes it the way it is and wasn't worried about matching patterns between chimney and carpet. Regardless, I couldn't have been more thrilled to see it in use! It certainly is a piece that I'm proud to have been a part in the making of. The customer also had a big 30th birthday celebration, with 30 - 40 guests; all of which raved about the carpet (this is what I'm told at least). Which is just another feather in my cap ... as I said before, compliments are always welcome! [smiley face.]
On that note, this has been your 101 on why we charge extra for certain job tasks.
Thank you to all who have come to see us in the recent past!!!
