What would you charge??

Bob Gibson

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Merrimack, New Hampshire
I was asked to plane to thickness, straight cut and joint about 20-30 bf of oak. Possibly cut all his pieces to size as well. A fellow I met at work wants to make a bathroom vanity but doesn't have a jointer, planer or ts.

Thinking about charging him per foot :dunno: Not sure on the thickness or width of his boards.
 
If it's rough cut, there could be a lot of labor involved in straightening an edge, flattening a face, and planing to thickness. 40 cents a foot may not come close to paying for your time. Hourly rate seems sensible to me. Cheap bathroom cabinets may cost less than paying you a reasonable rate. Guess it comes down to how friendly and generous you are feeling.
 
Another vote for setting an hourly shop rate (wages+overhead). It keeps it simple for you as it takes care of charging for variables such as "Possibly cut all his pieces to size as well.".

Ike
 
Whatever you charge, I would add the price of a new set of planer blades. Not your lumber, you never know what is in his stuff. I promised to do some planing for a friend before I learned the wood has been stored outside for several years. Bound to be loaded with dirt and grit. :( Good friend, so I'm not going to tell him no now but I'm sure it will cost me a set of blades.
 
Good point Frank :thumb: I've messed up planer blades while doing my own wood. I have some Tamarack going unused that I bought a few years ago. It sat in a barn for 20 plus years and is filthy. Made the mistake of trying to plane some up without really paying attention to how I cleaned it.:(

Sounds like an hourly rate would be best for me. It would cover all bases.

It's not the most fun part of wood working but I don't mind it. Planing raises heck with my back. Maybe I'll quote $40.00 or $50.00 per hour. Not sure.
 
I did say per side. that means if you are face jointing and edge jointing, then planing and cutting on ts to get 2 straight edges, thats 4 sides. So now you are looking at 1.40 to 2.00 a bf.
25 bf shouldnt take you much more than an hour.
 
Friendly guy at work, or somebody you don't care for?

I'd probably do it for a couple of beers, but I can be convinced to work cheap way too easily.
 
I would prefer to take lumber to someone who charges by the linear foot. If the gent who is making the offer of 35 cents a linear foot gets 100 linear feet of lumber, it's going to cost $35.00. That's on all four sides, BTW. If he charges by the hour, how can you estimate what the cost will be? If he's as slow as I, then it could cost a lot by the hour.
 
Friendly guy at work, or somebody you don't care for?

I'd probably do it for a couple of beers, but I can be convinced to work cheap way too easily.


If I knew the guy I'd do the same Karl. Probably just do it for free just to have company during the day.
This guy came into Lowes and we stuck up a conversation about what he has to build. He couldn't afford to buy the equipment just for one fairly small build.
 
I would walk away. The guy isn't in the hobby or profession and obviously isn't going to be. Sounds like a good candidate to take his dimensions to a pro and then go back and pick up the finished piece. Sort of like me trying to do transmission work by having you take the tranny out for me. I'm not tooled for the task and would be better off paying someone who is. JMHO.
 
I would walk away. The guy isn't in the hobby or profession and obviously isn't going to be. Sounds like a good candidate to take his dimensions to a pro and then go back and pick up the finished piece. Sort of like me trying to do transmission work by having you take the tranny out for me. I'm not tooled for the task and would be better off paying someone who is. JMHO.


Good point Glenn. If he screwed up his project he'd probably blame me.
 
I have had great luck with $1 per minute for the folks who want "just a cut or two." When we get started I look at the shop clock and say "looks like 3:15 to me. Right?" That way, if the boards are in good shape, and the cuts are pre-marked, I can whip through it in no time. But if they are going to stand there and say "2 inches... no 2 1/2 inches.... no make that 2 1/4 inches" the meter is running. For that price they get me and any machine in my shop (they don't touch any machine). If the wood is dirty, I clean as required.... as the meter runs. If you want a fancy invoice, that is part of the time.

I had one customer who wanted a cut on a gun-stock - without taking the barrel off. Took about 40 minutes until he was happy the way it was aligned on my saw, and he paid me $50 with profuse thanks.

I had another customer who had made a frame, and wanted another frame around it... he assured me that the cut was a perfect 45 degrees. I could see that it was not. 1:15 until he figured what angles he really wanted me to cut for each piece, so I charged him $75. He thought it was expensive for cutting 4 pieces. I hope he doesn't come back.
 
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