We need your services Lenny!

Last week while I was working on the plans for the stainless steel carts I recieved a phone call. The voice on the other end said we need your services lenny, bring your tape measure! I said I could be there in 45 minutes or so , Dave said great!
I showed up just like I said I would and signed in according to the protocalls. How can I be of service I asked. Dave explained that the company wants every cabinet off the floor for a qualifing audit this week and wanted to know if I could build frames for all of the cabinets in the building. JackPot! I thought. This will be a piece of cake! Then Dave said we will want them by Tuesday next week, Do you think you can do it by then? I said I'm pretty sure I could.
This was on aThursday evening after the metel store was closed so after an hour of taking measurements for the cabinets , I ran a quick total of inches and divided by 12 to get the approximate footage of raw materials required for the job. Turns out the job required about 370 + ft of 1.5" x 1.5" x 3/16" angle Iron. I didn't know the exact cost of the raw materials but gave an approximation value of 4-500 dollars. I said if they could put in a purchase order for the raw steel which comes in 20' lengths that I could pick it up and get started the next morning. Dave listened as I explained what I would do to add value for the product I had in mind. I scribbled a basic sketch of the notched corners fitting in place and explained that all welds would be consealed except for the four corner welds that are on the topside of the leggs, which would be finnished up with a grinder for a uniform appearence. I also expected to keep the job some where in the budget range of 8 - 900 dollars if they could purchase the raw steel. This made my life easier as I didn't have to arrange the funds to get started.
The next morning I got up and made my refigured calculations and rounded up the last full 20' length of angle in case I made a mistake. It is a good thing that I did that too.
There are many things that can go wrong and do. in this case I underestimated the wire needed for the welder and missed one cycle on the band saw a goofed up one piece by cutting off a tab instead of cutting a notch. That one was covered. The only other goof was breaking the band saw blade before I had spares on hand. That happened about 11:30 Friday night and I had planned on picking up a couple at Ace Hardware Saturday morning anyways. I used the time welding the first five before I quit for the night around 3:00AM.
The next morning I started cutting the longer peices with a 7" zip wheel untill my wife came home with the blades. Although the cuts are not perfectly square they can easily be consealed by wrapping the corners with the 6.5" leg after the outside is welded and cleaned up with a radius to allow the angle to fit snug.
By the time I quit for the evening Saturday night I had all the steel cut and notched and five pedistals welded up. I still had 26 more to weld and clean up prior to delivery. Sunday I took the morning off for a little bit of quiet contemplation with my maker. While I'm making my settup I ask the good Lords blessings on the project. I know kind of late for that one , but remember I have a dead line! By the time I had put my 12 hours in on Sunday I had 23 completely welded and cleaned up. It was going to be close on the welder wire Monday. I bought the last spool in the local area Saturday morning, and would have to drive twenty miles to get more. Well just like self fullfilling thoughts do, they come true, and I ran out with just three to go on Monday afternoon!
So, seeing that I had to drive into town to get the wire, I might just as well deliver the 28 units I have so they can start loading them up ASAP.
When I came home and got back to work, the project was finished by 9:00PM. I still had a day to work on the billing aspects of the business. Fortunatly I have some blank order forms that I could use as an invoice to list items by size and quantity. After figuring my goals and costs, I set my prices for the custom pedistals at $27.50 a piece, compared the totals with my estimates, and calculated the company cost to be under $45.00 each unit total. I think every body comes out ahead in the end.
If you think of the 53+ hours I put in on this project Fri through Monday was extreme or,I did not make big money, the rewards of a successful project like this is more than enought to make up for simple wages. For example the phone call from Dave this evening, thanking me for
my efforts, that is something that you won't get from a day job! Not to memtion that if there is more welding to be done I have already made the first impression! Who knows where this networking might lead to nextime?