As Steve said, it is almost impossible to get any government entity to let out a time and materials project. The CHS is no exception. When the project went over budget, the CHS did provide a lot of the cost overruns but not all of them.
So, we at the SVRy & Sumpter Valley Machine Works had a choice. Do substandard work that would hurt our reputation and possible future business or “bite the bullet” and do the job right. There are still a few things that we would like to do to the 1203 but the finances have us (and the CHS) a little restricted. Snowplows for example.
In a small industry like ours, your reputation speaks far more loudly then any marketing we could do. So while this decision will cost us money now, we believe it will pay off in the long run and that it was the best business decision for us to make. Time will tell.
Tim Bain
SVRy Director