£200 quote to chrome this, insane!!!

[graffian]

I know a yank who was restoring a 57 chevy about 20 years ago, he had a quote ~$30k to rechrome
what needed rechroming! He bought a lot of chromed repro parts and had some parts rechromed,
it ended up costing a lot less than 30k, and I gather the pile of "only needs rechroming" original parts
reduced this cost even more.

I have always looked at things and weighed up the cost difference between rechroming and making from
stainless, even in the 70's it was often cheaper to remake part.

 

[RWD3M]

Part has been well prepped.
So less for chromer to do

Yet a £200 quote !!!! Wow

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Do you have the option of trying anywhere else?

 

[Bobupndown]

Same old same old arguments time and time again.

I dont have to be poor just because something is expensive.

I could have plenty off money but believe the service is expensive and choose not to use it.

Have a better argument plz.

I have run a business and know all to well off running costs.

It's not like running costs are a grey area that only a few understand

Don't bo so nieve your not the only person who has a brain

I am entitled to know agree as you are so again, don't force your options as gospel and the only opinions that are worthy

A bit of a snipey response there OP You commented that £200 seemed expensive and others replied giving some insight as to why such a price might be charged. No one is forcing their opinions on you, and you don't have to pay for the service. Hope you get a quality job done at a cheaper price elsewhere.

 

[Fraserb]

My price for one off complicated jobs is far higher than simple multi part jobs, I'm sure there'll be people somewhere complaining about what I quote but thats how it is im afraid. I've had people say a mate or another company are cheaper but then it turns out they can't actually design the part and just wan't a file ready to cut.

 

[grim_d]

Same old same old arguments time and time again.

I dont have to be poor just because something is expensive.

I could have plenty off money but believe the service is expensive and choose not to use it.

Have a better argument plz.

I have run a business and know all to well off running costs.

It's not like running costs are a grey area that only a few understand

Don't bo so nieve your not the only person who has a brain

I am entitled to know agree as you are so again, don't force your options as gospel and the only opinions that are worthy

Don't think anyone said you were poor? Nor did they use that as any kind justification as to the cost, just because something is more than you think it should cost doesn't mean it's expensive or that you are poor.

Running costs might not be a dark art but even
as the owner of my own business...I have no idea what it takes to run a chromers....but I can be damn sure their overheads FAR exceed mine due to H&S and chemical disposal etc.

When it comes down to it if you think that's really expensive then go a few other places and compare quotes. I personally don't think that's too bad given the shape of the item and clearly this is an opinion shared by the majority of this threads participants.

 

[Munkul]

Sounds like the Chromer is better off without having Piero's business

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

How funny

Just for a point of practice, I've just been on companies House website

Try doing this yourself

You will be surprised, how wrong a lot off people are lol lol

Given that we don't know the company's name and we are only working off of information you provided I'm puzzled by this post.

 

[brightspark]

i got mine done by london chroming and it was dear but 100 percent i had to send it to them before they gave a price id had it done previously and it was crap

 

[W.olly]

Bit late to the replies but i got three quotes for this lot.

One £480 then £650 and £750, ( Custard is an odd one to chrome but i like to try to be posh )

I asked the £450 if i do prep as below will they give me a better price, thye said no as they like to be 100% the prep is done properly, fair enough
The £750 quote would do it for $450- if i did said the prep but had to be 100% clean from all old chrome etc

I believe prices have gone real high due to cost of Nickle going up.

 

[roofman]

Bit late to the replies but i got three quotes for this lot.

One £480 then £650 and £750, ( Custard is an odd one to chrome but i like to try to be posh )

View attachment 345765

I asked the £450 if i do prep as below will they give me a better price, thye said no as they like to be 100% the prep is done properly, fair enough
The £750 quote would do it for $450- if i did said the prep but had to be 100% clean from all old chrome etc

View attachment 345766


I believe prices have gone real high due to cost of Nickle going up.

Plus energy,fuel,man hours, consumables,rates,rent, the list goes on...I run a business and Joe public think that its just them that need to pay more for stuff

 

[bricol]

Part has been well prepped.
So less for chromer to do

Yet a £200 quote !!!! Wow

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Looking at it, I can see plenty of opportunity for chemicals to leach out from between sections after parts of the process and wreck the finish, meaning extra care, extra time, extra hassle, and still no surety you won't be coming back with it demanding they do it again. All the sharp edges are going to be an issue with chrome build-up - need an R2 radius miniumum on all edges to get a good finish. The welds will stand out like a sore thumb.

Horrible thing to polish if you want it shiny. Chrome doesn't magically appear smooth and shiny - like paint, the surface needs to be smooth and flaw free if its not to show in the finished article.

If you simply want it corrosion protected to some degree, try electroless nickel plate - won't be shiny, but should remain intact a while

 

[W.olly]

Plus energy,fuel,man hours, consumables,rates,rent, the list goes on...I run a business and Joe public think that its just them that need to pay more for stuff

Well obviously yes.

 

[Morrisman]

to be honest most of the parts I would have chromed (on ancient vehicles) was gone far enough to replace
but as most arn't available I get most made from 316 st/steel and polished...
partiq screen surrounds and window mounts....

The windscreen frame in my earlier pic was something I made from angle bar stainless, polished up like chrome. I couldn't find any stainless suitable to make the posts though, so they had to be chromed.

 

[Fazerruss]

Just to give an example these exhausts I repaired cost £700 to chrome and that is the going rate. I deal with a chrome company on a regular basis and the costs he has are eye watering. The hexavalant chromium license alone is £10,000 and he mentioned to me recently that nickel had gone up around 300%

 

[armalites]

Just to give an example these exhausts I repaired cost £700 to chrome and that is the going rate. I deal with a chrome company on a regular basis and the costs he has are eye watering. The hexavalant chromium license alone is £10,000 and he mentioned to me recently that nickel had gone up around 300%

View attachment 345802

Anyone who has seen Erin Brockovich knows how Hex Chrome affects people.

 

[brightspark]

Just to give an example these exhausts I repaired cost £700 to chrome and that is the going rate. I deal with a chrome company on a regular basis and the costs he has are eye watering. The hexavalant chromium license alone is £10,000 and he mentioned to me recently that nickel had gone up around 300%

View attachment 345802

all the chromers i know would rechrome used exhaust pipes because of the carbon in them contaminated the chemicals

 

[Greeves246]

I used to work for a large motorcycle exhaust manufacturer. All our systems were duplex nickel then chrome, some cheaper competitors claimed duplex nickel but were only single. We lost the contract to one bike manufacturer because we wouldn’t compromise on quality to cut the price.

 

[Fazerruss]

all the chromers i know would rechrome used exhaust pipes because of the carbon in them contaminated the chemicals

Yes there isn't many who touch pipes, especially two strokes. These pipes were spit open so I could repair the dents. While open the insides were cleaned out

These are the pipes before chrome when I repaired the damage.

 

[Fazerruss]

Anyone who has seen Erin Brockovich knows how Hex Chrome affects people.

That's possibly the reason for the push towards trivalant chrome but it's not as good. It's less durable and milky in colour compared to hex.

But then again it's all bullsh## if precautions are taken. One of the chromers I know is a family firm that have been doing it for over 70 years and still breathing.

 

[ukracer]

22 years ago I was quoted £75 minimum cost for any welding job in a small engineering company , I was charging £100 per hour being self employed . So being realistic £ 200 for that 22 yrs on is exceedingly cheap .

Money halves in value roughly every 10 years so 22 yrs ago you'd haver been looking at £50 ish inc Vat

Strange thing business .
We recently had a job of assembling steel parts.
We had a large oblong horse shoe approx 12 inch x 10 inches. 3/4 inch thick.
We had to drill 2 x 4.5mm holes in those and there was also two arms same thickness that each had one 4.5mm to drill in.

Then we had 4 bolts 2 washers and two large springs. The two longer bolts went through the arms and spring and were placed under tension.
The other two bolts were stops so the arms remained under tension.
Each bolt then had to have 3 tacks on them. Bear in mind we had to handball the blanks odd a pallet and handball the finished article back on a truck.

Anyway another company started making smaller versions. But they have later facilities and drill and tap the 4 x 20mm holes. (That's how the horse shoes came to us.) Then they assemble as we did.
There were various knacks to doing things and I even deburred our drilled holes.

Suffice to say I got a fiver for each assembled unit. It was regularly our work was better than this company and yet last week we were told thanks but we don't need you now.

Rather annoyed me as I had just made permanent jigs up and after tax the money paid the extra direct debit the electric and gas had just gone up by.
We did 65 per job and it took me two days start to finish.

The only reason we lost out. Was not because we were too expensive or our work was not good (it was better) but they openly stated they wanted to use the other companies credit resources.
I.e they pay for everything up front. They are on a 90 day payment.
The company I did the work for sells them to the end user who get 30 day payment terms. So in effect they get paid at least one month before they have to pay for the finished item.

So often it's not just about cost of an item....its about how the supply chain is funded as well.