Hello

[Brian Hough]

This is my first time here,although i have been a member for a while.what i would like to know is how to charge for a wood working job [abook case in 4 sections ,built & installed no finish}.:confused:

[Richard Wolf]

Welcome Brian, That question ranks right up there with the meaning of life. Good luck!!

Richard

[christopher webb]

there are lots of considerations to consider here .......first if this is your business and you want to make money go high....if this is a friend , and you want toi help them then go medium, if this is a chance for you to get your name out there....then go very low....so low that you will get noticed , you can always go up after you are well known for yoru quality work.....it all really depends on what you are tlking about ......good luck

[Mark Singer]

Brian, Welcome ...I will keep it breif many others have lots to say ...they are gabby and like to talk ..I just like to get right to the point so let me say on this very special morning that you are joining us...a special welcome! grab a cup of coffee and a bagel...the cream cheese is extra!:cool:

[Frank Pellow]

Welcome from a fellow Ontario resident. But, I am sorry to say that I have no idea how to establish a price for crafted furniture.

[Dan Forman]

No help from me on pricing, but welcome to the Creek. A treasure trove of woodworking information. Pricing questions are notoriously difficult to answer however, as there are many qualifying factors to consider, such as level of craftsmanship, name recognition, quality of wood used, market area, etc.

Best thing to do might be to see what people are charging in yur local area, or at least one similar to yours. Then adjust this taking into account your experience, current level of craftsmanship, cost of materials, lack of name recognition, and any other factors mentioned previously or forthcoming.

There are probably other threads on this topic, try using the search function near the upper right corner of this page. Good luck.

Dan

[Fred LeBail]

Welcome to the Creek, as you already can see there is a lot of good advice here. It is also a friendly bunch who don't mind giving out such advice and will set you straight when need be.
Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions,I do it a lot and everyone is very understanding. Remember , the only dumb question is the one you didn't ask!


Again, Welcome from another Canuck !

Fred

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Brian, Welcome to SMC! We are glad to have you as a new member!

Good luck on your case work!

[Mike Cutler]

Nice to meetcha' Brian. I'm way to slow to make a living at woodworking, so I can't help with the pricing question. I mainly just wanted to say welcome to Sawmill Creek.

[Richard Wolf]

Let me take a shot at answering your question about pricing. There are two factors to be taken into consideration, time and material. The material part is straight forward, figure out cost of everything that you will use including glue, screws, sheet goods and lumber. Be sure to add in atleast 10% waste and 20% would be realistic. The second part, time, is the gray area. If you are quoting the job before you build it you must estimate how long you will spend working on this project. Include shopping, planning, delivery and installation. Let me warn you that most people think they can do a lot more in a day than they really can. So say you think this will take you 40 hours to complete, how much is 40 hours of your life worth, only you can answer that. But here are some things to consider; 1) A cabinet maker would be able to make this in a lot less than 40 hours.
2) If you are charging real prices, and not doing someone a favor, it better be right, no excuses why something does fit right or the finish is less than prefect.
3) Most people have no idea what in involed in custom furinture and the cost of having something built, so you better educate the customer before they have sticker stock.
4) be careful about doing the job to cheap just to get started because you may end up building a bunch of these for their friends and they will all want the same price.
5) Once you agree on a price forget about the money and just do the right job. How ever it works out it's an education. And education is not cheap!!

Good luck

Richard

[Walt Pater]

Brian, Check your PM's
Welcome Walt

[Ken Salisbury]

The formula I use is :

Material cost + 10% (make sure you include all materials/finishing supplies/ including disposables (like sandpaper, etc)
Estimated time to produce + 10% x hourly shop rate ($35 in my case)
If "delivered" add the time at what you think is a reasonable rate.

[John Hart]

Welcome Brian...good luck in your quest. I consider my time worthless so I have low prices...'course then, I don't make any money. Just wanted to say welcome!

Another note: The other day, my sister said that people would buy more stuff from me if I raised my prices! Go figure.;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian....Welcome to the Creek! Hopefully some more members who are more qualified than I will be able to answer your question. Again.....Welcome!