Why not work with an Authorized Scubapro dealer, go to the " Amazing " Scubapro repair clinic and become a Pro repair tech. Any dive shop could use a Pro Tech.
It sounds like your shop may be happy to have a real Pro.
Generally I'd agree with you as I've never been unattached to a Scubapro shop since I got initially certified about 15 years ago, and I've been actively recruited everywhere I've moved by shop owners once they realize I've moved and where I live now.
However since the last move, I've had to amend that viewpoint. The dealer in the area does not appear to be very interested at all.
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The potential pitfall of the Scubapro repair clinic is that it's a two day course for new techs and that is really only enough to get the basic knowledge needed to work with another more experienced tech in a shop to learn the finer points of reg repair. With a good mentor, a new tech can get up to speed pretty quickly and become truly good - but on your own it's a long, difficult process. I get calls now and then from the brand new recently certified tech from one of the shops I used to work with when he runs into problems that the class and the manuals don't really address - and there are a lot of those issues. I feel for him as it's difficult without some in-shop expertise to lean on.
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You have a point. We, the dive industry, don't charge enough for our professional services.
I feel that our techs get a fair share of the amount the client pays, but I truly wish I could give them more because they deserve it.
The standard is normally 1/2 the service rate charged to the customer, and that averages $25-$30 per stage. So, on a first second and octo, that's between $37.50 and $45.00 for the reg service. That should include disassembly, cleaning, service, reassembly, tuning, bench testing and wet testing, but that can normally be done in 60 to 90 minutes depending on the particular stages involved.
So the hourly rate is not too bad. Unfortunately the work is generally not all that steady, even in large metropolitan areas so it ends up being a part time occupation for most (good) techs. That's actually a better service model however than having sales staff or a store manager try to do it as an additional duty in between customers. That's where interruptions occur that can result in things like...umm....retaining bolts being installed in swivel caps and turrets but not actually tightened properly.
I'd love to start a regional/mail in service business, but Scubapro is wedded to the LDS service model and is not amenable to changing that approach, so such a business would require all the over head of a full service dive shop, and that makes the concept pretty much unworkable. That's too bad as if the tech could be independent of the shop and it's over head, they could charge enough less than $30 per stage to make if economically attractive to the customer even after the shipping costs each way, while maintaining enough profit and volume to provide a livable full time wage.
It would resolve the problems associated with the LDS model and part time techs with limited experience and/or additional duty techs, but it would also mean the loss of a revenue stream for the LDS (although they'd save space on the service area and would not need to stock parts or pay for the techs insurance out of their half of the service fees, so the actual loss in net profit would not be great - if any).