Question:
What do accountants, architects, artists, carpenters, electricians, electronic technicians, interior designers, landscapers, lawyers, and movers have in common with model railroading?

Answer:
They are all types of costly services that are often used in producing custom model railroads.

Well, you wouldn't normally associate these professionals with model railroading, but building custom railroads does involve many talented people. These days labor hours and supplies can be budget busting!

Estimate process
During the estimate process, we'll ask you questions either on the phone or through emails, to develop the right vision and track plan for your railroad. If you decide to make changes to your project during the course of construction, no problem - we'll make adjustments for any "add-on's" for the services performed and cost of extra materials.

After consulting with you on the scale, size and complexity of your project, we'll develop a detailed supplies cost spreadsheet based on suggested retail prices, we do not mark up any products we are purely a service business. Our clients get all copies of the receipts for their records. Our labor charges are based on an hourly rate, and we'll consult time-sheets of our past projects, which will help estimate the labor charges more accurately.

If you're looking for artistic talent and quality workmanship, then our labor rate is actually quite reasonable. When you consider the type of work involved, it's like hiring all the services we mentioned above. Unfortunately, most of our greatest modeling tasks take time - we will not "rush" to get it done. The work can be done in our shops or on location of the railroad. Travel time, mileage and lodging may be required, and would be an extra charge added to the estimate.

Estimates for custom model building or CAD designs are done in one phase, and full layout estimates are in three phases.

Phase #1 is for those who want to do the scenery and finishing work themselves. We do bench work, track and wiring.

Phase 1 includes:

CAD design Building the benchwork Roadbed & track laying Wiring - tracks, signals, lighting, etc. Power/control panels

Phase #2 is for those who want us to do the scenery and finishing work for a complete railroad.

Phase 2 includes:

Building the structures Scenery landscapes Scenery details - autos, people, etc. Backdrop installation Fascia and finishing work

Phase #3 is for those who want us to do the work onsite or to transport the railroad to the location.

Phase 3 includes:

Travel/Lodging expense Transportation expense Labor cost for work involved