That's just part of the job sometimes. Good on you for fixing it right and not trying to patch it. Clients remember how you handle problems more than the problems themselves.

Consider it Tolkien's family history, not a novel.

Sewing with old drop cloths sounds like a great way to make a bag of dust. That heavy canvas is probably full of grit and paint flecks. Good luck getting that through a machine without breaking a needle.

That's a brutal way to learn that lesson. Saw a seatpost clamp on a basic aluminum frame get crushed by someone going full gorilla with a long Allen key. The replacement clamp cost maybe twelve bucks, but the dent in the frame was permanent.

The sales pitch itself is five hundred dollars. That's more than my car payment last month. I can't imagine paying that just to hear someone talk.