Hi John. I did bid the job with the Makita in mind. That being said, you bring up an interesting philosophical point. My general philosophy is that, whereas I may take into account however long it takes me to get a job done the regular way, If I can get it done more efficiently by being more technologically advanced or smarter than the next guy, I shouldn't make less money simply because I am better at it. To use a Wild hypothetical example, If I were to buy a $50,000 floor machine that allows me to price a job at $1.00 psf rather than three, I would still charge $3.00 on the assumption that the capital cost of the machine drives up my sunk costs and my capital risk (maybe I would prie a little cheaper to insure getting th business) , and there would be no reason for me to buy the machine if It didn't allow me to work more profitably. So If I can get a job done in two days rather than four by investing in a $2000.00 machine and learning how to use it, I think I should reap the rewards. The bessemer steel process made Carnegie Steel the largest steel company in the world 130 years ago because they figured out how to do it better than the other guys. Anyway, I'm interested to hear what other people think, because this equipment costs a lot of money and not worth it if I can't use it to my advantage.
Baird
Baird,
I have if the tables are large enough and you have a 1o or 13 inch floor machine with a short handle these work the best . if not I find I can hone with the makita hand machine as quick as anything, you can use these other devises but make sure your technician hold the machine flat on the surface or you will wave the stone.
How did you bid the job ?using a Makita or another a different size machine.
Once you bid a job the process and the size of the machine should have already been determined. Therefore your price and profits were based upon the process and the equipment you bid. Switching process and or equipment just o get off the quicker should have been taken into consideration. If you bid a job for 4 days and then when you actually do the job you get done in 2 days the customer could question why the difference in time.
Then the customer looks at the price for the number of day then could feel they paid too much for 2 day service when the job was bid for 4 days of service. The customer not question value for the price.
After that lecture you can use a 7 Inch pad for honing, you can use a floor machine provided you have a machine with a short handle, I do not recommend you try to stand on the table and use the floor machine.
My experience is use the equipment you plan on using when you bid the job.
John E. Freitag
President/Director
The Stone and Tile School
Office 407-567-7652
Cell 407-615-0134
jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com
From: Baird Standish [mailto:bairdstandish@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 5:46 PM
To: Restoration and Maintenance
Subject: [sccpartners] Planetary Tool for counter tops?
Hi, We are starting a job grinding, honing and polishing some old marble tables (large areas), and was curious if anyone has much experience or comment about going with one of those flex or intertool planetary head honing/polishing machines. I typically just use makitas with appropriate heads and also have one of those aluminum three socket heads that goes onto a makita. Am thinking it is just as easy to go with 7" electroplated discs. These are old marble tables that were used to make candy, and they will continue to make candy with them, so they don't have to look like church alters, just ding free with a satin or semi-gloss finish.
Thanks.
Baird
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________________________________________
>From the desk of
Baird Standish
Managing Partner
Facility Specialists, LLC
1616 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-732-7505
Fax: 215-546-9160
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