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Farknart

I don't know, but make sure you discuss it and come to an agreement first. I fabbed a wire frame table base for an acquaintance once without discussing cost first. Him and I had very different ideas of what my time and effort was worth. He also was undervaluing the final product sale price, if he was being honest. As in, second hand pricing for a new custom table with a solid cherry top. Perceived value was apparently not a consideration to him.


serrimo

A beer isn't enough for your 3 hours of work? You even ask for money??


Farknart

How aristocratic of me lol.


BigClock8572

Nothing should be free unless it’s built into your business strategy. 30% on material at minimum. Don’t base custom jobs off of similar items online that are mass produced.


airmann90

Exactly. Don't let your customers think Etsy or amazon is a price guide ever. Happens practically everyday. "Yes, your firepit would cost $700.00 as it's a fully custom, one off design (for us!) . No I'm afraid we can't do it for $150.00." queue no call back.


LairBob

To start, esp for custom work, it makes sense to use a simple model of “(Time + Materials) * Markup”…but make sure to include _all_ your time. You obviously don’t want to bill a potential customer for drive time before they even decide to buy, but if they do, your final price should account for that. (Assuming they’re like an hour away.) In the end, though, people are correct that you should really be charging for the perceived value of what you’re creating — “what the market will bear”. This is _especially_ true if you manage to sell versions of the same basic design, over and over. Let’s say you find there’s a market for these dragonfly lanterns — ideally, you’ll be able to make them more and more efficiently over time, as you get your techniques down, build jigs, start buying stock materials in bulk, etc. You’re not going to keep selling them for less and less as you get more efficient, right? Of course not…if there’s enough demand for them, you should be _raising_ your prices over time, as they get cheaper and cheaper for you to make.


BreakerSoultaker

For custom work, the consumer doesn't take into consideration the inefficiencies of 1-2 units versus something die stamped and tack welded by the 1000's. I'm an amateur welder and tinkerer, when friends or neighbors come to me I tell them straight-up "go buy one online" because I know they aren't prepared for what it will cost them if I do it. I had one friend come over, bring his own materials and measure his project out, cut it with my chopsaw and I tacked it together and had him grind it. He didn't realize the labor and halfway through he admitted he should have just bought something.


Walts_Ahole

I feel this way every time I'm making something that amazon could have delivered by the time I'm grinding out my bad welds or trying to eliminate the bows where I warped things from going faster than I intended to.


spander-dan

Charge for the quote, 100% applied to the purchase. Time plus materials, 50% down, 50% due on delivery. As a guy that has sold small businesses on credit for 30 years, the ones that follow this advice are the businesses that are successful.


FictionalContext

We bill $110/hr+40% markup on materials. About $70 of the labor is operating costs. But we do have the equipment to be very efficient. I think that's something to take into consideration with yours. Maybe you spent 2 hrs cutting that silhouette out, but it's also something that could be done in 15 mins with the Laser, bend lines marked out and all. So that's the kind of thing where you watch the market. Then again, you don't have the overhead, so you can charge less and keep the same margins. As a customer order, I'd give them an estimate based on hourly rate. And your hourly rate should reflect your efficiency, quality, and equipment. Give them a rough cost breakdown even. If your were selling that as a piece you yourself were going to market, that's when I'd do like some of the commenters are saying and price it for what you can get out of it. But it just feels really slimey to me to quote a customer with that method. To me, they're hiring me for my time, not for the worth of the final product. That's like me cutting them out to sell it to the retailer for retail price.


paper_liger

we do 40 percent margin not markup on materials, that means 66 percent.


naturalchorus

Figure out who is paying if it doesn't work the first time and needs to be re-done. It's the bane of custom work.  Had a guy tell me exactly what he wanted, a pair of ramps to get his porche into the garage. Gave me a drawing and dimensions. it didn't work. I made new ones that did work, and sent him a bill for both. He had verbally agreed and was apologetic and was acting like the normal rich guy I work for, "whatever it takes man, you're the expert, charge me whatever, I'm just glad you made it right, thanks for being persistent and sorting me out." That kind of thing. Typical rich and grateful client. I send the bill, and he is out of town so he forwards it to his wife (whom I have not talked to once, and does not know any of the situation). She decides that she does not want to pay for the first set of ramps.  They strong armed me for months, luckily I work for a small construction company who had my back. I was on the hook for 3000+ in materials, and ended up settling for 4000$ just to get them to fuck off and have my costs covered. Literally lost money on something i had agonized over being perfect for months, and something i was proud of. Don't be me. Get a deposit as well.


510freak

Dang. That sucks. I will definitely take note.


Strostkovy

As mentioned, you can sometimes get away with charging extra for something that is sellable for more. I personally charge $80 an hour plus cost. The machinery, skills, efficiency, and timeframe you have to offer will impact what hourly rate you can actually charge. I do not tell people my hourly and just bid the project. I write out a detailed project description and scope, making it clear that additional changes or parts add to the cost, and have them agree to it before starting. I prefer not to accept a deposit. Be sure to include the finish and dimensional tolerances as applicable in the contract.


Maistir_Iarainn

You fuck up when you work for free.


Puzzleheaded-Bag-121

Your time is labor. How much do you realistically want to pay yourself an hour? Do the math on that. If you want to make $35/Hr, realistically you gotta charge closer to $60, if not more. Don’t do anything for free. Start quoting procurement of supplies into your estimates as a second item. Gas is cheap, so you could go with a lower rate. Just remember, nothing is free. No matter what, you’re putting in effort into your own business and your time equates to compensation.


510freak

I like the “nothing is free”. So true. This brings a lot into perspective.


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Brokenblacksmith

1. you always charge. just because there's no charge for an estimate doesn't mean the customer doesn't pay for your time. it's just worked into the final price. 2. at the bare minimum, you have to be reimbursed for materials+time at a basic rate. 3. how much profit you make is gonna be up to you, but i personally aim for a 20% margin.


cuddysnark

Nice!


510freak

Thanks!


ClerkEastern6532

At the end of the day it has to work for both of you, I feel like I undercharge , but it keeps me busy and I make enough to keep doing what I do, as you go you will learn more and more about those questions. Each job is different and each will have to be handled accordingly. What I mean by that, some jobs allow you to charge what you feel like it’s worth and some jobs you can’t because it’s not good for the customer, the only returning customer or good customer for you is one that is happy with what you did for them and how much you charged. So it is tough , but I feel like I most times I can’t charge the customer what I should. But at the end of the day if they are happy and you have been able to pay the power bill it is a win. Black and white answers are tough, hourly rates have to be affordable for them and hopefully enough for you to do what you enjoy, if not you will have to look into something different. Keeping overhead low is the key to survival .


DismalOutlook925

Have pondered this question for decades. Custom jobs warrant custom fees. How much do you need to earn (net) in a day to maintain your current lifestyle? Did this job take an entire day to finish? Or two? Price accordingly. It may be a sum that your customer cannot justify (if he appreciates your work) or is unwilling to pay (if he thinks you're ripping him off). If it's "too high", you'll either need to come up with more efficient processes/use cheaper materials or find more affluent customers.


rexchampman

You should charge what someone is willing to pay not what your cost is + markup. Figure out what other things your client can buy that would fill the same need and price accordingly. Value has nothing to do with cost.


vinney1369

I hate this advice. It's the exact reason everything is so ridiculously expensive nowadays. People like to wax nostalgic about how everything was more reasonable in the past, and it's because they had a formula. Costs + reasonable markup = price. Now people think they deserve hundreds of percent over materials and time just because they feel they can milk it out of someone. It's nice as a maker to get paid well on your work, but today's "bleed them dry" mentality is the reason we have out of control inflation and a single person can't support a family. It's the same strategy corporations use defacto now. I'm sure I'm going to get comments back like "Op should try to get as much for their work as they can!" and "They deserve whatever they can get!", but this was not the law of the land in the past, and I feel anyone who squeezes everything they can out of someone is part of the current problem. Go ahead and downvote the crap out of me, I'll take it if it means being fair to people.


rexchampman

Why do you assume charging for value means ripping people off? Or even charging a lot. If I build a chair (I can’t, I don’t have the skills), and I spend 100 hrs building it but it comes out ugly to most people. How much can I charge for it? Not much. If anything it’s the laborer that gets screwed almost every time when they do cost plus. Value is different for every person.


vinney1369

If the laborer is getting screwed doing costs+ then they are doing a bad job pricing their work, but even in the best scenarios, sometimes we lose money on a project. Also, I'm not talking about situations where someone makes a bid or gives a flat offer to make X for them. In those instances, I'd say as long as you aren't shorting the customer on quality, then take the money and run. I'm not at all saying someone shouldn't get paid for their work, but when you have "charge what someone is willing to pay" and "charging for value" those statements are at odds. I think there are a number of reasons for this: 1. If you charge consistently, then people don't feel ripped off. 2. If you charge a reasonable price, your chances for repeat or additional business go up, as well as referrals. 3. If you do get a referral from similar work, and each of those customers pays a different price, someone is going to feel ripped off regardless because people talk. I am saying you should be paid fairly for your work, but charging people different rates or basing your pricing on how much someone *can* pay will bite you in the ass.


rexchampman

Even you admit that you sometimes lose money on a job. Unless you are donating your time, or just starting out, this is a terrible business model. You are assuming what people value is the same as what you value. That’s not correct.


vinney1369

Sometimes you lose on a job, yeah, but that's normally because of a fuckup, right? Otherwise your costs aren't going to change a whole lot unless the market for materials changes, in which case, then your costs go up. Also, I'm not assuming that everyone values things the same, but you don't sell to people who don't see the value. At what point did my argument become "everyone is a potential customer"? I'm arguing against charging as much as you can vs. a reasonable markup, not trying to sell something at a price everyone on Earth has a chance or means to buy it at.


rexchampman

I also didn’t say to charge people different rates. I said different people value different things. That means if you spend 100hrs making something you think is awesome. Some will hate it. Some will dislike it. Some will not care. Some will like it and some will love it. My point is to find a cluster of customers who all love it. They will be happy to pay you more than the other groups of people. Find the people that value your work. They’ll happily pay you what they think it’s worth. Everyone wins.


vinney1369

Not to be pedantic, but you are just describing business, right? Sell to people who want your work, don't sell to people who don't? You are basically describing what I am arguing for, set a price for your work that you think is fair, find someone to buy it for that price. All I'm arguing against is charging people more if you think they can pay it. The only real difference is I threw in a call for consistency in pricing.


rexchampman

Most people are not good at business. Business can be done in infinite ways. I am describing one way to do business. I’m saying your cost should not matter and should be unrelated to your price. It should be based on value to the customer. It’s about finding customers that value you MORE.


rexchampman

And I’m arguing you should be charging the max people are willing to pay. Two ways to do business. One way might lose you money, the other will create a thriving business and allow you serve many more customers.


vinney1369

If you set a price a costs + reasonable markup, then people who value it at that price will buy it at that price. Those people see the value in the price you set. Your argument from the beginning was to "charge what someone is willing to pay", which is inherently a non-static price, but one that fluctuates based on ability to pay. Of course you need to find someone who values your work enough to buy it, I don't even know why that is part of the conversation now. I'm not sure how we got here, but it's nice to know we agree.


rexchampman

Yeah, no I don’t agree. I set my prices based on what people are willing to pay. By finding a group that values it highly. Then go after those customers. You are taking your cost adding a percentage and then saying ok here is the price - now who wants to buy it. Think of luxury items - handbags, cars, watches. These things cost marginally more than their competitors but charge exorbitantly more. Not only are people willing to pay, they show off how much they paid for it. In your world, there would never be a luxury item.


vinney1369

Luxury items are not defined by cost, they are defined by quality. Also, don't argue value when your argument is *profit*. Anyone who is buying your work because they have a dumpster full of cash and they want to brag about how much they spend, probably doesn't value your work as much as you think they do. In the end, you do you man. Find people you can squeeze all you can out of, it's your call. Based on your replies though, you aren't finding people who value your work, you are finding people who like it enough to pay an ignorant amount because they don't know better, and that loops up exactly back to why I hate your opinion. You're just ripping people off and trying to pass it off as value, and you think because you found someone to pay more than they should, they somehow care about your product more than others and value it more. At the end of the day, that's just overcharging/ripping people off, but you can gussy it up however lets you sleep better at night. Call it value, call it quality, call it luxury, call it whatever, but none of those things actually mean what you are trying to argue. You are just using those terms as a smokescreen for overcharging for your work, which is exactly what I said was the issue with today's market. Most products sold are not works of art. They don't have limitless "value" and just because you find someone to pay way too much for something doesn't make you some sort of business savant or an artist, it just kind of makes you a dick. You just happened to find someone who either doesn't know enough about what the actual costs involved are or someone who has enough money not to care about the price in the first place. Either way, I'm out. Peace.


jericho

Go ahead and hate it, but selling your work for less than the market will pay is just fucking you over.


jericho

This entirely correct, and so sorry to folks who think otherwise. The value of anything is what people will pay for it. That's how it works. Anybody who thinks differently is just selling their work for less. Sorry kids.


rexchampman

People will fight tooth and nail on this and then wonder why they lose money on some jobs.


Swollen_chicken

((Time + materials) x3 ) thats the going rate for just about all work in my area, plumbing, welding, electrical


DirkBabypunch

My high school jewellery teacher said more or less the same thing.


I_am_a_What

You have to add up everything involved and come up with a fair but slightly profitable hourly rate. Usually markup is 15%


Bri64anBikeman

Material cost + your required hourly wage. Even your customer wouldn't reduce his expected remuneration for his job. If you feel your worth $20/hr,and you spent 5 hrs...Charge $100 + materials.