I did quite a bit of building and finishing for people years ago. I wanted to mostly do covering and painting but also built a kit or two, did some scratch type building/finishing, and just painted a few more.
It sucks. After the job is done they don't want to pay you or pick up the plane. I had to send registered letters to more than one person. I didn't charge very much for what I did but when a person in a $20,000 SUV pulls up and can't pay a couple of hundred dollars for a big job that is ridiculous. My biggest job was to finish building and fiberglass/paint a Bud Nosen Corsair. It took me 18 months of every spare minute I had. When it was all done the guy was squealing about the cost of the materials which was nearly twice my labor charge. I had written everything down as I used it and showed it to him. Heck, epoxy paint is expensive. I could have made just as much money working at Burger King for about 1 month as I did on that Corsair. The worst part was that it ruined me to building for many years. I hated it after that Corsair. I quit building RC airplanes and started building furniture. It was a long time before I got interested in building or flying again.
My objectives when I decided to start building for others was simply to be able to keep building and spend someone else's money for materials instead of my own. I was out of work for nearly a year while I was doing this. I met my objective with interest but didn't make squat as far as money was concerned. I wouldn't even consider doing it in the future. These days, I help out club members who can't fix something themselves but only if it interests me and won't take more than a month out of my time.
Here's the plane that killed me.
