Regular Fabricating Questions About McCarthy Fabrication

FAQ

Answers to commonly asked questions to help you understand our process and help you get your project built!

Can I come by the shop?

Make, Buy or Repair?

Make, Buy, Repair

We are often asked to repair furniture or build items based on images customers find on the internet. The majority of the time, it is more expensive for us to repair or build these items from scratch than it is to buy the item online. Large scale manufacturers can achieve economies of scale that drive consumer costs WAY down. We might have to charge triple what Target or Amazon charges in order to take on the cost of production.

Our shop minimum is $200 and we charge $85/hr, so a general rule of thumb is if your item costs less than $1000 it probably makes more sense to replace versus repair it. If you want us to build something that you found online, odds are it will cost 5-10 times more for us to build it for you. If you want us to build 50 items, there's a much better chance that we can compete since we can set up a production line.

For example:

You have a broken office chair that is $70 new on Amazon and it is going to take us 1 hour to repair we would charge you $85. For an extra $15 you could have a brand new chair, perhaps under warranty.

You see a cool fire pit on Amazon (example below) for $150. That fire pit will take at least a day to build and cost $75 in materials. When you do the math it just doesn't make sense.

8 hours x $85 + $75 = $755!

For that price, you could buy 5 fire pits on Amazon!

How can I get an estimate back quickly?

We receive dozens of requests for quotes a day. There are things you can do to help us quickly process what you need and save you money. Quality drawings are key to speeding up the estimation process.

Good drawings include dimensions, quantities, tolerances, materials, etc. They can be done by hand (if legible) or digitally. Examples of great drawings are at the bottom of this page.
For large drawing packages that contain scopes of work for other trades, such as a full set of plans for new construction, please indicate exactly what you want us to look at within the package. You can indicate specific pages within the drawings via email or edit the drawings in PDF editor by highlighting items. This will minimize the back-and-forth time between you and our estimator.

Do you provide CAD/Drafting/Engineering services?

For simple projects like gates, handrails and fences, we do provide in-house drawing services. Drawing services are billed at $100/hr. We do not provide engineering services.

For more complex projects, we recommend using a draftsman. We have several draftsmen/engineers we can refer you to. MFAB can project manage the draftsman for $90/hr upon request.

We highly recommend getting good drawings done for your project. With good drawings, you can easily shop around to find the best price and will often get better pricing from manufacturers.

*All drafting fees are billed up front.*

Do you work on cars or boats?

Do you sell metal?

What are your rates?

What are your payment terms?

At MFAB we accept checks and direct deposits on all projects. For projects under $3000, we accept credit card payments. We require that projects under $3000 be paid upon pick up or prior to delivery. For projects over $3000, we require a 40% deposit and net 15 terms. If you require longer net terms, we can provide you with a service agreement that specifies terms and conditions for both parties.

If you want us to sign your service agreement, please forward the agreement and allow us 2 weeks to have our legal representation review it. At this stage, we will either sign or propose changes for your review. This 2 weeks will automatically be added to our project turnaround timeline.

Fixed Bid vs. T&M

Have more questions? Feel free to reach us.