Just like restaurants who charge corkage when they allow you to bring your own wine, we also charge a10% handling fee on customer-supplied parts. We do tell customers in advance and it’s clear on all quotes. This covers in part the administrative burden ( As a Part 145 we still have to process the goods correctly, check paperwork etc) and additionally partly addresses our loss of profit. Many companies with significant overheads don’t make sufficient income just in labour to cover their costs, and the parts margin becomes an important line in the revenue stream.
Yes, most aviation workshops do look quite run down but I strongly suspect that that is because they’re not making enough money to justify the expense of modernising their premises.
Over the last few years of permit aeroplane ownership I have become very good friends with my inspector who runs a very professional and well respected aviation maintenance company. Having got to learn quite a bit about his business, I wouldn’t want to swap it for my Mercedes garage.
Just venting here: based on the estimate given by Jesse I ordered the work from the Hungarian shop a week ago. They agreed to revise their price a bit downwards, so the difference is less, but still considerable. They finally got back with an estimated time of shipment: end of June… So, for an extra 10-15% margin it would take almost two months for the transponder to arrive vs same-day shipping from elsewhere. This is gross IMO.
