> Can you say "wedge"? Can't that dial be mounted on a plane parallel to the > horizontal at Bixby, OK? Move it +/- 5 degrees and it would hardly be > noticeably off level! In some cases, the angle would add to the sculptural > appeal.
That would really look really Daliesque since the dial also has built-in longitude correction, especially with the counterweight hanging at some weird angle! Bixby, OK 74008 Latitude: 36.001471 deg. North Longitude: 95.859781 deg. West John John L. Carmichael Jr. Sundial Sculptures 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson Arizona 85718 USA Tel: 520-696-1709 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: <http://www.sundialsculptures.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "John Carmichael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Sundial List" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 11:05 AM Subject: Re: 50% or 100% Payment? > On Sat, 2 Nov 2002, John Carmichael wrote: > > > Hello Sundial Sellers and Buyers: > > > > I used to be afraid to ask my clients for 100% thinking that it might scare > > them off from purchasing. So, I only collect a 50% deposit from my customers > > when they order. This worked fine until my last order when my customer got > > fired from his job as an American Airlines pilot and then couldn't afford to > > pay the remainder (a thousand dollars) after I finished his dial. So here > > it sits, unclaimed. (It's for Bixby Oklahoma, so I'll never be able to sell > > it to someone else). This is the first time after 76 dials that someone has > > reneged on an order after paying the 50 % deposit. > > Can you say "wedge"? Can't that dial be mounted on a plane parallel to the > horizontal at Bixby, OK? Move it +/- 5 degrees and it would hardly be > noticeably off level! In some cases, the angle would add to the skulptural > appeal. > > > Do you think I should change my policy to 100% like Jim does? What do you > > do Tony or any of you other sellers? Do you think that it makes a > > difference if the sundial is very expensive (Jim's sundials cost about one > > tenth what mine do). Do you think the shaky economy means that 100% is > > advisable? > > I am an engineer, not an artist, so I do come from a different financial > world. (One could say smaller paychecks, but more reliable ones!) In my > business, I and my customer are bound by contracts. Creating a custom > skulptural design needn't be all that different from creating a custom > piece of electronics or software. Perhaps you need to move towards more > formalization of the implied contract with your customer, with payment in > phases. > > Off the top of my head, there would be design study resulting in an > initial proposal; this is sometimes "eaten" by the contractor, as a cost > of doing business. Once you and the custoemr have an initial agreement on > the scope and general layout of the project, you should draw up a > specification that is detailed enough to ensure both parties have a clear > understanding of what the finished product will look like, exactly what it > will do, and what you will do, in terms of installation, maintenance, etc. > At that time, you should be funded through the detailed design, in > advance. When detailed design is completed, both parties agree on it, and > you should be funded for time and materials to build it. That, of course > is probably the biggest chunk of payment. Finally, once the dial is > completed, you should be paid, in advance, for installation. > > One significant point comes up in these mental wanderings: You need to > establish a fair price for your artistic labor, and estimate (I'm sure you > already do) the hours it will take to complete a job. Those numbers should > produce a straight-forward hourly rate, clearly explained in the contract. > This would be a repeatable basis for estimating the initial cost or value > of your art. As with other art forms, any subsequent *change* in value is > almost completely driven by subjective issues of artistic merit and > supply-and-demand. > > > p.s I had another customer die on me last summer during the design phase > > before his sundial got built. His name was Paul Ecke Jr. (a very famous > > poinsettia grower and my former boss) and he was going to fund a monumental > > sundial to be built at California State University in San Marcos. He didn't > > provide for it in his will, so it's unfunded and probably won't get built. > > I HATE it, when that happens! If you have any written correspondence from > him, you might be able to convince his executor(s) to consider funding the > monument in his honor... > > Dave > 37.28N 121.97W > > - > -
