Help for project pricing

[Brian Cosier]

Hi everyone,

Been lurking on the site for the past few months and learn something new almost everytime. But I've got a question that I haven't been able to find an answer for.

I got a request today from a minister that would like me to build a scale model of one of the buildings at a camp that he runs. This is exactly what I have been doing for my building kits for model railroads. But most of the time for the RR buildings, all I have to work from are photographs. He has plans for the buildings, so I have all the dimensions. And I'll take a trip out there to get photographs.

My questions is how should I price this thing out? How much for time in Corel drawing everything up and time for cutting the pieces, painting and assembly? He says he doesn't want to pay a lot for this. (what else is new?) and I don't want to price myself out of a job. But I also want to make it worth my while to do. The camp has about 50 separate buildings, and hopefully after he gets the first one, he'll want to do models of all of them. (hey, I can dream, can't I?)

Everything I've done so far is sold as a kit, and the design time has mostly been learning time. I'm not sure what to tell this guy. Would a few of you mind letting me know what you charge for these services? Then I can put together a fair estimate for him.

Thanks in advance. And I hope everyone is ready for springtime. After 75+ inches of snow this winter here in southeast PA, (officially the snowiest winter in Philly in recorded history) I know I am!!

Thanks again,

Brian C

[Dave Johnson29]

My questions is how should I price this thing out?

Brian,

I am retired so my advice may not be the best for you. On projects like this I put it back to the customer.

I ask them what they think would be a fair price that will fit in within the upper limit of their budget.

Once they give that, you then decide if you want to do the work.

Doing it this way you find out how much they can spend and you have not yet wasted and time, money or effort on any exploratory work.

Good luck with it.

[Dee Gallo]

Brian,

I don't mean to discourage you, but architectural models are VERY expensive to commission. Hundreds and thousands. I would want to know a few things before deciding:
1. how EXACT does he want the model to look?
2. how complex is the building?
3. how big does he want it?
4. what material does he want the model made of?

I have made a few models of single buildings and facilities with 20 plus buildings - they take a LOT of work and time. I was salaried at the time, so price was not a concern to me.

My recommendation is for him to give his campers some toothpicks and popsicle sticks and let them go to work. It would be fun for them to make a diorama style model which everyone can admire for years to come. You will never make enough money from a guy who says he doesn't want to spend much... I have experience with very nice ministers who believe they deserve charity since they are doing such good works. Maybe they do, but that does not feed you or your machines.

If you made the basic shape of the building from cardboard, they could do the small details...maybe this is a compromise you'd be willing to make. Maybe you'd prefer to make the whole thing yourself and "donate" a lot of your time. This is something only you can know, but if you make something he loves for a price that hurts you now, what will you say when he wants the other 49 made too?

There are some Creekers who make these for a living, as well as some incredibly talented RR model makers and maybe they will chime in.

That's my 2 cents, dee

[Joe Pelonio]

My regular labor rate for signs, installation, engraving and computer time for artwork design, cleaning up files, converting to a comatible format and so on is $75/hour, though in some cases may be up to $100 depending on the detail involved, or risk to my person in the case of installations. For this area that is still considered at the lower end of the middle in comparison to other companies. I used to work with a CNC guy who did models using PVC board, cut by CNC and glued up from vector files (no artwork to do) and what you described, at roughly 12"x18" and one story would have been well over $1,000 at his prices.

[Dan Hintz]

On the RR models, you continue to make money as sales for the same model continue to come in... you did the design work once, but you get residuals, if you will. In this case, there will be no residual sales, so you must price your work accordingly. Don't count on repeat sales for such an item from anyone but an architectural/marketing firm.

[Mark Winlund]

You will never make enough money from a guy who says he doesn't want to spend much... I have experience with very nice ministers who believe they deserve charity since they are doing such good works. Maybe they do, but that does not feed you or your machines.

Very accurate observation. I would venture to say that I have never done work for a church that didn't want it for free or a drastically reduced price "because it's a church". I wonder if my local grocery would provide me with an equivalent amount of free groceries because I did it for the church?

Mark

[Rodne Gold]

I too have been done in by more church/religious ppl than any other group and also find most of em want it as a charitable contribution..sad comment , but thats my reality.
What is the exact purpose of this model? ..we have done most of ours as either sales tools for developments yet to be built or visualizations of proposed dwellings..they not cheap things to do , some up to $40 000 depending on size , realism and complexity. We have had CAd drawings for most of these and albeit even having the electronic "plans" , the time taken to manipulate these to cuttable files is not at all insignificant.

[David Fairfield]

Any job I'm afraid of losing if I give an estimate based on an hourly fee for the time I know is involved, is exactly the sort of job I would politely refuse. I learned that the hard way.

Anything that feels like a favor is a loser project, unless you are totally psyched up to do it. I don't get that feeling from your post.

The only way you can make it pay is if the structure has potential interest to model railroaders and you design it as a kit in a popular model train scale (1/87 or 1/48). Then you can sell the built up demo model at a modest price and market the kits.

Dave

[Tom Bull]

If you really want to do the work another consideration would be to just donate the time and materials at normal rate and take it as a tax break. I do stained glass as a living and it is inevitable that when doing a survey of broken pieces in a large repair job that some breaks will be missed. I tell the church that I will do the extra work for them at no cost other than a receipt from them that I donated the extra work. (Has to be a 501-c3 charity to be tax deductable).
It is true that many churches are looking for something for nothing, but it is written: "the workman is worthy of his hire."