Fees, General Information

We are often asked to provide an estimate of fees and costs by telephone, letter or E-mail based on telephone discussions and upon photos that have been sent.

It has proven impossible to make this work for us or for our clients, as this profession involves so many variables regarding materials we might use to complete a project, and the condition of the article under discussion cannot be seen well enough for us to make an assessment without actually having it in hand, under bright lights, and using magnifiers and probes to yield a really good analysis.

Asking us to estimate our fees without examining the actual object is similar to asking your Family Doctor to give you a price quote for healing an ailment he hasn't begun to diagnose. We all need to conduct some tests, discuss your problem with you to devise a plan that will hopefully cure your condition, and that will not cause harm.

All professionals must approach new challenges using the same general methods.

So we ask that you understand we are equally interested in seeing a project through to an ethical conclusion for you, meeting your expectations, and managing your costs according to the degree of effort and responsibility involved.

We are always concerned with the welfare of the object you ask us to restore or conserve, to cause no additional harm to it, and to make certain the actions we plan to take are reversible to the best of our ability. This assures that, should it ever become necessary in future, the object can be dismantled.

There may be instances where we do not feel we have the equipment, parts or supplies to accept projects, and we will always decline these in your best interest and that of the object in question.

By examining photos and discussing your project on the telephone or by E-mail, we can generally determine whether the project is one we can help you with, and we will promptly provide you with an accurate fee quotation once we have evaluated the actual object in our laboratory.

Please note that once we have agreed on a plan and you have our fee quote, it's highly unlikely that we will have any need to increase your fee.

Generally, a single project will not cost less than $100 to accomplish.

You can effect considerable savings if you can prevent any work being done before we see the item in question so that we will not have to spend time un-doing prior work, especially old adhesives. Please do not try to bond any parts to see if they are all there.

Also, if you can present the project without clothing, decorative attachments and other items that will have to be removed, we can save time and reduce expenses.

When you send items, please have them packed so they can be quickly un-packed without having to deal with excessive tape and other factors that slow the process down. And if we can re-use the packing material, so much the better.

Sincerely,
Robert K. MacDowell

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