Cabinet pricing

[Jason Yeager]

I have a couple of small cabinet jobs, a vanity and a small kitchen, and am trying to come up with pricing.

For example, the vanity job will consist of 2 18" wide 3 drawer base cabs, one 36" sink base, and a 12" wide by 48" tall four drawer base. I plan on using 3/4" ply, alder face frames, dovetailed drawers, good quality slides and hinges. What would you price that for? Finishing included.

In establishing pricing, do you work from a per item cost, time basis, or ......?

Thanks for your time.

[Steve Griffin]

Hi Jason,
Pricing is of course the million dollar question, and there is a big variety of ways to answer it.

First of all, it's not about the product and what you think it is worth, it's ALL about what the customer thinks its worth. Do you have the job for sure? Are you starting a business that you want to build on? Is the job for a friend? How much do they care about money? How much do you care about making money? Is there anything special about your cabinets that justifies anyone not just using factory cabs?

One approach would be to price your package out the same as something as close as you can find from the big box store. This will result in a meager return for your time on this particular job, but if you want to build a business, who cares about this little piddly job--you care more about the learning experience, getting the job and having a thrilled customer.

Another approach would be to do your best to estimate actual materials and labor at what you consider acceptable. Materials are the easiest, so make a few phone calls for prices and put them on a spreadsheet. I figure my time by linear footage baselines I've learned from previous jobs--from what little I know about your job and style, I'd guess somewhere around 3-4hours/LF of fronts and 1-2hours/LF for finished ends. I then add .5 to 1.5 hours per drawer on top of this depending on how they are constructed. I also add hours for anything funky (like the log home PITA factor, pullouts, special trim etc). Figure about 1 hour/LF for install plus an allowance for loading and delivery time. Then add 0 to 15% for profit and the unforseen, depending on how likely you are to get the job and how much you need the job....

Good luck!

-Steve

[Van Huskey]

One other thing to remember if you are using the market penetration pricing approach make sure you soft shoe in the fact that this is a price for THEM (they are special :)) and if they are happy you would love them to pass your name along to other people but not to quote them THEIR special price. You don't want it to be this obvious but you want them to get the idea, plus as you business builds you want to be able shift your pricing model toward higher margins as your market share grows without upsetting people.

[Paul Incognito]

Steve and Van both bring up good points. I used Steve's time and material guide untill I got comfortable enough to go with unit pricing. Definitely don't forget to account for your time on either end of the job, picking up materials and delivery/installation.
PI

[Jason Yeager]

Thanks, those are good thoughts. Do you treat finishing the same way?