A customer wants a Kasuti blouse back on her own cotton silk, with a temple-tower border and three small buti. She needs it in five weeks.

• Units: 1 border of 14 repeats, 3 buti, 1 small Neyge centre.
• From the log: one border repeat = a minutes, one buti = b minutes, one Neyge centre = c minutes.
• Stitching time = 14a + 3b + c minutes. Convert to hours.
• Other hours: charting 1.5, tacking and marking 1, finishing and pressing 1.5, photos and packing 0.5.
• Safety allowance: about 10–15 % of stitching time.
• H = stitching hours + other hours + allowance.
• Price = (M + H × R + O) × (1 + margin %).
• Timeline check: how many hours a week can you really give this order, alongside your other work? Five weeks × that figure must be more than H. If not, change the date or the design now.

• Keep a “unit sheet”: your minutes for every common motif and border. Quoting becomes quick and consistent.
• Quote in a range for the first chat (“between X and Y depending on the design”), then a firm price once the chart is agreed.
• Attach the chart to the quote, and get the customer to say “yes” to it in writing (a WhatsApp “approved” is a record).
• Ask for the deadline early. Rush work disrupts everything else; if you accept it, quote the extra time it costs you.
• Stitch a small test on a corner or seam allowance of their cloth if you are unsure the cloth can be counted.
• Photograph the cloth when it arrives, both sides, with any marks, before you touch it.
• Give a progress photo halfway; customers who see progress don’t chase.
• Keep the advance and balance as separate entries in your order book.

The customer changes the design halfway.

1. Stop and re-quote the change in writing before you continue.
2. Offer a cheaper change if possible (a colour swap instead of a new motif).
3. Prevention: the quote says changes after approval are re-priced.

The cloth turns out to be hard to count.

1. Tell the customer at once and suggest the net method or a simpler design.
2. Re-time and re-quote if needed.
3. Prevention: see and test the cloth before quoting.

You underestimated the hours.

1. Honour the quote this time; it is your error.
2. Record the real hours in your log.
3. Prevention: build from units and add the safety allowance.

The customer disappears after the advance.

1. Follow up politely twice, with dates.
2. Follow your written cancellation terms.
3. Prevention: clear terms on the quote about collection and storage.

The deadline is impossible.

1. Say so now, kindly, with the date you can do.
2. Offer a smaller design that fits the time.
3. Prevention: always check hours available against H before agreeing a date.

• Quoting from a photo without seeing the cloth.
• Agreeing a price before the chart.
• Starting without an advance.
• No written terms for changes, cancellation or late collection.
• Forgetting charting time: designing a custom chart is skilled work.

• CA: “How should I record advances and balances, and what receipt or invoice must I give?”
• CA: “Does tax apply to job work on a customer’s own cloth differently from selling a finished piece?”
• Lawyer: “Are my written cancellation and refund terms fair and clear enough? What happens to cloth that is never collected?”

Note: rules on tax, registration and export change. Check the current position with a chartered accountant or the office named before you act – this lesson tells you what to ask, not the answer.

• Do you see and test the cloth before you quote?
• Do you build hours from motif units?
• Does every quote include the chart, the date, the advance and the change terms?
• Do you check your available hours against the deadline?
• Do you take the advance before you start?