How to price a refinish job?

[Jon Hutchinson]

I've been invited to refinish a hutch. Can anyone give me a clue as to how to price a refinish job? I've refinished smaller pieces of furniture - tables, chests - (and lost money on them), but have never attempted to price out a refinish job on a large piece such as a hutch. I have no idea what finish is on the hutch; I have yet to visit the client and see the piece in person.

Thanks a bunch for any advice and pricing formulas!

Jon

[Jerome Hanby]

Not to sound flip, but I'd come up with what you think is a fair honest bargain price for the job, then double it. Unless you have been around the block over and over it's almost a sure bet you'll hit some snag you have to work out and you'll end up working many more hours than you originally estimated.

[Jon Hutchinson]

When I price a job (usually new design and construction) my wife says "That's too low; double or triple the price." She has always been right. I have under-priced sooooo many jobs - and I end up spending all my "labor dollars" on materials. I've learned a lot from her input ... but, when it comes to refinishing neither she nor I can come up with a profit-making bid. So I think I'll look at the pieces that need refinishing, come up with a price (time and materials) and then ask her. I'm sure her guess will be twice what mine is. I just don't know if there is a formula or any guidelines for estimating a refinishing job. I have run into many snags in the past that I didn't budget for and ended up losing money on refinishing jobs.

[Scott Holmes]

What type of "refinish" is this job?

Strip and restain? Or clean, seal and add a toner?

What kind of wood?

Darker than it is now or lighter than it is now?
Lighter costs a lot more on maple, poplar, birch and pine.

Most refinish jobs I bid, I'm told I'm too high... This is a good thing...

[Jim Tobias]

I recently did a couple of pieces for a friend( I don't normally like to do refinish work). I just priced it to her by the hour as I knew I couldn't figure out a close estimate. There is always more time involved in stripping or sanding or both than you think(at least that is true for me...the optimist).
Just be fair, honest wiht your hourly rate and after that.... It is what it is.

Jim

[Prashun Patel]

I agree with Jim. I'm not a pro, but I've refinished a couple pieces for friends. So many variables: whether it needs to be stripped, recolored, leveled, dings repaired.

I did a table for a friend where the extension wings were the same color as the main leaf, but were different wood species. Matching was a pain.

Hourly is the only way I'd do it - unless I had a million jobs under my belt and cld trust my intuition.

[John TenEyck]

Refinishing often involves more work than finishing the original piece. If this job looks like it fits that catagory then look at your own work and how much time and materials was spent on finishing, then add to that the time to strip or prep. the one you're being asked to bid on. Then add the cost of picking up and returning the piece. Then add some more for unknowns. Then add some more for profit. Charging by the hour is great for you, but unless the client already knows and trusts you, or knows others who do, most won't be comfortable with that arrangement.

[Jon Hutchinson]

Okay - I finally saw the pieces in question. One is a china cabinet (about 57" wide and 72" high), the other is a buffet (about 57" wide and 34" high). The bottom of the china cabinet and the buffet are exactly the same: a door on either end and 4 drawers up the middle. Both pieces have carved front feet, rounded-over stiles on the outside of the doors. The doors also have leaf carvings. The upper part of the china cabinet features severe tombstone glass doors. The glass is actually held in place with quarter round stock, even on the tombstone tops! Both pieces were custom built 60-plus years ago and are solid cherry. BUT (you knew there would be a "but"), both pieces were primed with oil-based primer and painted beige with oil-based paint 20 or more years ago. Now the big question is what stripper will work best for quickly (and painlessly) removing the paint? The customer wants both pieces stripped and finished as cherry furniture - no more paint. I'm still not certain how to charge; I know the amount of stripper and other materials will be (and cost) a lot. But the quicker the stripper works the less I have to charge for time.

I appreciate all the feedback I've received. Any more ideas will be very welcome!

Thanks - Jon

[Jason Roehl]

My first step before bidding would be to find someone with a dip tank (I know of one local to me, so I'd track him down) and see what he would charge to strip and clean it. Barring that possibility, I would lean towards an hourly rate (plus materials) along with an ESTIMATE of what it MIGHT add up to based on my experience, but not a fixed bid. Then, for stripping, I would not be shy about using potent chemicals (methylene chloride), a sprayer to apply it, and a pressure washer to take it off and neutralize it. Then it's on to the more known (ha!) quantities of sanding and finishing.

In my book, if I have nothing else going on, some money is better than none (provided I get paid more than the materials cost), but if I have other work, I don't lose sleep if I don't get a "not fun" job because someone thought my price was too high. Chances are that they would have been too picky anyway and a pain in the kiester to deal with.