I have one shop that (I think) uses me for all their guitar repair work, and another that uses me for major stuff they are not equipped to do. I give them 20% off my usual labor, and collect payment as I bring the work back to them.

I work with a local music shop that now outsources all their guitar and string work to me. Before the switch to sending work directly to me, I would pick up and drop off at their store, and I’d charge my standard rates while they marked up the cost as they saw fit to the end customer.

I did just that with a small shop in the town I lived in. It was the only music shop in town. They did some repairs but when they were backlogged or needed some crazy wiring then they would give me a call. Sadly the shop did not survive the lockdowns. I was able to get supplies from them for my work so I would have them order things when the shop would order from Allparts or other distributors for electronics, fret wire, knobs, pickguards and things like that. And I could always go get a special brand of strings since I only kept Slinkys and NY XLs and some customers didnt want those.

When I first started my shop I was doing this with multiple businesses in the area. It can be beneficial but there are a few things that I would suggest considering when making the decision. Please forgive me if these are already things you’ve considered.

How many instruments do you want to add to your current work load, do you have to pickup and drop off those instruments, If you are picking them up how much more is insurance for transporting the instruments, and are they giving your business credit for doing the work?

For me, I didn’t offer a discount for our services unless they were picking up and dropping off the instruments to our shop and adding 5-10 instruments to our work load per week. If they’d do both those things I’d offer a 10-15% discount depending on the type of work. Also, I refused to do the work for the music shops unless they informed their customers we were the repair shop they’re contracting with. No sense in you building the reputation for someone else’s business with your hard work. Insurance for transportation of those instruments isn’t much but it will eat into your profit margin as will the time it takes to drive back and forth to the shops. So I wouldn’t suggest offering a discount if you have to pickup and drop off the instruments. In fact you may consider charging more than your standard rate as you’re transporting the instruments and assuming the risk in that transportation.

And finally make sure it’s a written agreement. As with everything in business it protects you, your customers, and both your reputations.

Hope that helps and again apologies if these are things you’ve already considered.