Change of workshop

Last week I had a very difficult conversation with the manager of Imageworx (the workshop I'd been in contact with previously) who, after a month of delaying sending me the final price quote, told me that the job would cost more than four times the amount he'd originally said it would be.

The figure was way past what I could afford and it was confusing since we'd already made some amendments to the original design (such as doing away with the free standing back board which was no longer required due to the change of venue) which he'd said would reduce the final cost. He told me that he would be able to reduce the quote but that we would have to compromise on the finish of the sign and that it would not be so "glitzy".

Before negotiating with him further I did a last ditch search online for other workshops that I could contact to get another quote. I had lost a lot of confidence in Imageworx as I felt that perhaps I'd been strung along in the hope that I'd agree to a massively inflated quote due to the time constraints.

Thankfully, due to having learned a few new terms from the technicians I'd been in contact with at imageworx (such as Cabochon and Turbolite bulbs) I managed to find some workshop sites that I'd not come across in my initial searches. Remco Signs looked the most promising - they specialise in manufacturing illuminated lettering for funfairs and had a lot of images on their site with exactly the look I'm after for my sign. I was very nervous that there was so little time before my deadline but I sent through my technical spec document and gave them a call to discuss it.

Strangely enough, it turned out that Remco Signs knew all about my project as they had in fact been sub-contracted by Imageworx to supply the illuminated letters for my sign! I got a call from James Teague at Imageworx shortly after I'd called Remco apologising for wasting my time by not getting the quote to me sooner. He was very frank and said that obviously since he was the middle man it would cut the cost down and save time in communications if I cut him out of the equation and transferred the whole project over the Remco. I explained the situation to Rhys Fell, the manager at Remco and went ahead with finalising the project details with him. Since he already had prior knowledge of the project there wasn't too much to explain and he got a much more reasonable quote over to me almost immediately. He assured me that he will be able to complete the sign in time for delivery on the 26th of May since he already has a good understanding of the project and has sourced the materials required.

As of this afternoon I have paid a deposit to Remco Signs and they will begin production tomorrow morning.