I have a client who has a white Barbarossa ram that has yellowed over the last 15 years and he wants me to clean it. It looks to have been tanned but with what I do not know. No one smokes in the house so i wont have to deal with that stinking mess. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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I have a customer with a resturant full of mounts that I clean. One goat was brown when I started with it the first time. Mount brite cleaned it and restored the white. give it a shot.
SOMEPLACE in those archives, I describe how I take these things outside, spray them down with liquid soap, hose them off, rinse them coat them with fabric softener, rinse them, and blow them dry with shop air. Then I take it inside and use a hair dryer as I back brush the hair to make if fluffy. Time consuming and EXPENSIVE for the customer.
it worked just as well for a large ram. Way less traumatic than hose'n them down. You can plan on 1 hour per mount. It's neither time consuming nor EXPENSIVE!
But what I'm TRYING to tell you is that Mount Brite really doesn't CLEAN the wool at all. It seems to have been designed for haired animals. And, used as directed, I don't understand the "traumatic". It comes as a concentrate, needs to be diluted with water, and specifically states that old mounts can be "washed" with it. Once you was any wool animal, it needs to be dried completely, and back brushed. THAT'S what's expensive: my time.
You would think that if a customer brought you an animal and said that he wanted it clean, you could give him a price, say $80, $90 or $132.60 and he would have the opportunity to say yes or no. What's so expensive about that? You get your time paid for, be it 1 hour or 4 hours worth of work.
I know from past experience, that this ram can be CLEANED, and yes I said cleaned, with mount brite. I know because I have done it and continue to do it on a regular basis with my restaurant customer. I also get paid very well to do this cleaning. Time consuming? Yes. Expensive? My customer doesn't think so. In fact, he says it's worth it.
So Tom. Yes the mount can be cleaned. With whatever you choose to do it with. Yes it takes time. Plan on, lets use George's estimate. Oh, he didn't give that. Ok, use 2 hours. That's 1 hour to wash and 1 hour to dry. Does that sound reasonable George? Charge what every your rate is plus cost of materials. Let's see $40 per hour and $20 for materials. Charge the guy $100 for your work.
George, does any of this make business sense? I know you have been around for 48+ years, but getting paid for services rendered should be a no brainer that even you can agree with.
Doug
I have key words that set off synapses immediately. One is "game farm" and the second one is "Texas Dall" (or Barbarosa, or Merino, or whatever name they dream up for barnyard sheep). That synapse fires and the only words that come out of my mouth are "What do you need done to it. Mounting? $550. Cleaning? $250, includes conditioning and brushing." Takes any guess work out of the equation. Don't like my prices? Well, the other guys know what their time and effort is worth, so take it to one of them.