Why I really dislike the local Fab shops

I was talking to a 'somewhat' local fab shop about making me a custom front bumper for my Tacoma. Well, just like all the other's, the price tag made me laugh, and then cry.

I honestly don't get it, why do people want to charge 10x what a bumper is worth. The picture is of the bumper style I wanted, no winch mount or anything, bare they wanted $1250. And we're not talking a 200lb heavy duty plate bumper.



^ I don't rightly know about you, but the sides of that bumper look fubar. I've welded up something close to that when I was lucky enough to have a buddy with a welder and know it's semi tuff, but that just looks choppy to me. $1250! No winch mount! WTF?! Is there a reasonably priced fab shop in central Florida?! I'm beginning to think not. I opted in saying no winch mount for price sake, but the price is like it comes with a dang winch. It's nuts.

 

A lot of people don't understand the time it takes to build something like that and time=$$

 

I know it sucks man...all that "custom" shit is waaaaaaay over priced. I want a tubed prerunner style bumper sooo bad but there just soooo expensive

 

I'll do it for $1200

 

RelentlessFab does good work and his prices are par to what he does... Take a look at his stuff.. .

TW username is RelentlessTaco.

 

He's busy making bumpers right now!

 

I've welded them up, I understand the time it takes. But $1250 for a bumper like that without a winch mount? I welded up six bumpers styled after Boondock bumpers for a few of my buddies and charged them $875 with bed liner. All had winch mounts and grill'd holes for offroad lights. Those bumpers weighed over 100lbs and I made over $450 profit on each bumper. I understand the PITA it is, but grossly overpriced is grossly overpriced. I just hate how rare it is to find a heavy duty bumper for a Tacoma is. I could find RanchHand F&R bumpers all day for big diesels for $500-750 a set, but everytime I see a used offroad bumper for a Tacoma I'm looking at $1000+ For just a stinger and winch mount.

Hell I'd be happy with a semi HD bumper with a winch mount as long as I'm not spending an arm and leg for something that's not totally perfect as the price reflects perfection. I guess Rock Defense it is.

 

Oops...

When he gets finished with his orders, he'd be the one to contact about a custom one.

 

Don't most fab shops charge like $80/hr or so?

You're giving them a picture to work off of. They need to wrench on your truck, measure once, measure twice, put everything back on, figure out how they're going to fab up what you want, and then burn everything into place.

Not exactly quick.

 

x2 that relentless fab is the way to go

 

Not around here man. I see guys selling fronts and rears for Chevy and Ford diesels for $500-$750 for the set. My buddy got a front for his Ram 2500 for $475 from Okeechobee, FL. Brand new fronts sell for $1000+, but his was literally "Brand new" and he paid $450 for the bumper and gave the guy fuel money to meet him closer. Just seen a Ranch Hand set for Chevy 2500's sell for $700 at a local auction, brand new, not a scratch on them. Saw a dude selling a F&R for the early 2000's chevy's for $650, another selling a front for $300. Makes me wish I had a fullsize. Ain't no good work here in Florida so the people with those bumpers are selling them dirt cheap for some extra moolah.

Just got to keep an eye on Florida mud bogging forums, there's deals like that left and right if you got a fullsize. It's just odd to see bumpers like that go for so cheap and then when I finally see a nice bumper for my truck that's semi beat up they want $1200. Some dude tried to sell me a Rock Defense front bumper for $800 when you can buy them brand new for under $400 with a stinger and winch mount.

Don't get me wrong, I know how to do business. I was Operations Manager for a company and ran bids all day long until I realized everyone around me did drugs. So I understand the time = $$$$$ perfectly, just seems everyone wants and arm and a leg for anything Tacoma related.

Relentless Fab has awesome bumpers with a damn reasonable price tag, I'd just like to find someone like that somewhat close to me. I just don't understand how I can ask about the same bumper for, let's say a F150, and the price would be cut in half, but when I mention Toyota they go crazy in an orgasmic money fueled rage.

 

gotta pay to play...

thats just how it is

 

DING DING DING!

That bumper would probably be close to ten hours or more to complete. You have to think...they probably have never done one for a tacoma. So they would have to take your bumper off, measure everything then fab, fab, and fab some more. With labor rates at around $100.00 an hour that sounds about right to me.

Once you get a few under your belt you can start selling them cheaper. One off stuff is always going to be $$$

 

They don't touch my truck, just weld up the bumper and I pick it up and do any trimming or cutting myself. They have their own measurements for Tacoma's, mounts, etc. So it's not one of those kind of shops. That picture is their own, I just simple asked a question and that is what was sent to me.

Only shop I know of that does what you describe,
Labor = $145/hr, Bumper = $900 bare, Front light bar = $250, Recessed light mounts = $175, Recovery points = $100.
^ Actual quote. There was also a fee associated with your truck taking up a parking spot and lift, which was $100 a night and $25 an hour on a rack. They wanted to keep my truck for five days. I don't think so.

 

I always try to offer a nice product for a better price than these local fab shops charge. (real world prices) Those plate bumpers get a little pricier too because all the long ass welds have to be ground then smoothed, not to mention all the different size puzzle pieces that have to be hand cut or done on a plasma. I know anything over 6 bills is getting on the high side, but I always tell people, go grab all the materials, build one yourself, go through the trouble of making a fixture to produce more and ship, and then tell me how much you'd want to build one for someone. (or 5 more as orders come in)

 

I think the measuring was the worst part when I made them, was the picky custom stuff, CNC trip.

But even prerunner DOM tubing bumpers with winch mounts are ridiculous nearby me from shops. Even when I bring in measurements from an AutoCAD print out, and I mean EXACT measurements. I thought it would be fun to layout the exact product from Rock Defense and ask a few shops that my buddy's truck got bumpers for and it was always the same $1000+ for a bumper that can easily be had for around $450-500.

I didn't make this thread to be flamed or anything, so don't get me wrong. I was simply venting a bit, I just don't see how prices go up for everything when I mention "Toyota Tacoma".

I'm not a whiney little punk either, but I do like to vent. So no flame-age please mi amigos, just had to vent.

 

Oh I agree, prices do get crazy out there. I really do go out of my way to offer a great product for a price that the Taco crowd can actually afford (and not mind paying) I hear ya on the insane fab prices, hell, my $489 rock sliders are the highest price product I offer. I'm building a nice tube winch bumper on a 4runner using a pre made BudBuilt winch plate and skid plate to save some hassle, with 2 shackles, probably a small aluminum plate too, and I can guarantee it's not going to run more than 4 or 5 bills or so when done.

 

See, now that's cool. I've always been a real down to Earth fella myself, so anything I ever sold or made I was always reasonable. I never gave anything away, besides speaker stuff , but reasonable on custom stuff. I just don't see where people come up with prices sometimes, but it's just one of them things. Not like I'm forced to buy from anyone in the first place. Just the more I look every custom fab shop out west have prices that are awesome compared to the "good ol' boy" shops around me. Bumpers like the one's Relentless makes would cost me over $1500 here I bet, all I would hear would be; "These holes were cut from a fancy laser cutting machine, which was $ALOT an hour, and it took six years to cut them, so I want $25,000 and your first two children."

lol

 

Shall do, I'm interested myself, I still have most of the measurements off my 96 F150. It usually does though, but I never had a CAD file to back it up with.

But usually when I ask for a bumper similar it's always $250 or more cheaper than it would be for my Tacoma. Considering materials used, it should be the opposite. I'll have the quote by this weekend.

 

That's also why I'm 100% into keeping my setup small scale and not getting myself into a place that I have to ream people and not include any Vaseline while doing it. Small shop means small rent, which means sell lower and sell more. That's how I see it. Nobody has ever had something done and left feeling ripped. (I've gotten pretty good at screwing myself...hahaha) Happy customers spread the word.