how much can I charge?

[Leo Voisine]

Allen, I sell stuff.

I also owned a franchise business called Mr. Handyman. Easily searched on internet.
In the franchise business we had MANY MANY seminars, tutorials and examples of how to operate the business.
That's one very nice thing about franchise businesses.

Because we had to go into customers homes there were LOT's of Children's, single Mom's, families with Dad's at work during the days, and LOT's of opportunity for LIABILITY cases.

My business was bonded and I carried over a million dollars of liability insurance.

I also know people that take advantage of opportunity to SUE people at any opportunity they can

There are also HUGE billboards of Lawyers looking for opportunity to sue.

Ohhhh - this list can go on and on and on and on

I do NOT just say what I say because it is simply my opinion - no - on the contrary - I was taught by way of professional teaching.

I WILL NOT sell children's items in any way shape or form.
I opted to not even make anything for my grandchildren - even when I was asked to do so.
Even friends can go - even family

I choose to NOT put anyone into a situation that could possibly be avoided.

That is MY take on it.

You - can take it any way you choose.

 

[Brent Dowell]

I also don't really let hardly anyone in my shop either (with a couple of small trusted exceptions).

My guitar player isn't allowed in my shop. He has issues putting his hands on things that shouldn't be touched and quite frankly is a little spastic. Things are packed in just a little too tightly for that, lol.

 

[Leo Voisine]

every person or couple in this picture has something I built them
only complaints I get is when can they expect this or that when can they put their order in

Allen - I don't worry about adults.

I sat in your chair, sitting beside you in New Hampshire.
Your chairs are WAY cool
This is NOT an issue at all.

The issue is about children's stuff and sue happy parents.

 

[Frank Fusco]

Because we had to go into customers homes there were LOT's of Children's, single Mom's, families with Dad's at work during the days, and LOT's of opportunity for LIABILITY cases.

Reminds me, in 1990 I worked for the census. Had to knock on the doors of many hundreds of homes. I'm no naïve kid, but what I often saw astounded, and scared me. e.g. houseful of a couple dozen babies and toddlers unattended while mom was at work; open use of drugs; teen age girls answering the door nude. Scary stuff. And, if accusations are made there is no defense.

 

[Leo Voisine]

Reminds me, in 1990 I worked for the census. Had to knock on the doors of many hundreds of homes. I'm no naïve kid, but what I often saw astounded, and scared me. e.g. houseful of a couple dozen babies and toddlers unattended while mom was at work; open use of drugs; teen age girls answering the door nude. Scary stuff. And, if accusations are made there is no defense.

Frank, yes I have seen a lot of crazy stuff. I had to refuse to take some jobs due to the hygiene in the homes. I had tech's and I needed to comply with OSHA regulations. I could have gotten in a heap of trouble sending my tech's into unsanitary situations.

 

[allen levine]

Reminds me, in 1990 I worked for the census. Had to knock on the doors of many hundreds of homes. I'm no naïve kid, but what I often saw astounded, and scared me. e.g. houseful of a couple dozen babies and toddlers unattended while mom was at work; open use of drugs; teen age girls answering the door nude. Scary stuff. And, if accusations are made there is no defense.

and this reminds me of a tenant I once had. she was puerto rican, a nice woman, Id guess at the time 30 ish.....2 kids and husband.....shed constantly complain to my clerks(who spoke fluent spanish) that it was too cold in her apartment, while the tenant above her complained to me constantly shut down the heat, they are cooking in their apartment, but I used to turn it up at night when I left so the women with the kids wouldnt complain, but she kept complaining.
maybe the radiators needed to be drained, I didnt know, so I contacted my plumber/handyman to go up and see what the problem was.
the woman answers the door in her bra and panties, after she was told the plumber was on his way up the stairs in 10 minutes. He refused to go in, he was smart....after my girls told her to put on a robe, he went back up there,
he spoke spanish, told her the apartment was hot as hell, but she complained. so he slipped a thermometer behind the dresser and told her hed be back in a few hours.
of course, the thermometer read over 80 degrees and that shut her up finally. just a memory I had when you mentioned the above post...people dont think or care.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Geez guys... This liability subject keeps surfacing from time to time as well as the charging one, both usually go together or end up going together.
I know that US is a sueing loving country which makes me to be scared about trying to sell anything there. What about all those things that are sold in ETSY and other platforms? Children will do weard things with anything at hand, stuff up little soldiers or marbles up their nose, eat dirt and other similar things.
What if I sell one of my carvings and it falls from the wall where it is hung? Who would be sued? Me, the guy who hanged it, the nail producer or the mason who put the drywall?

What if the furniture we make is not for children but for adults? Does time affect liability? I mean, if I make a chair and it collapses; makes it any difference if it happens within two days or two years from purchase? Or if the guy who sits on it weighs 160Kg or more?

Maybe there should be a sticky post about some rule of thumb how to charge for a job, how do professional ww do it? They charge on top of the material price, they charge for the man hours, and for additional materials like sanding paper and drill bits and electricity, and all the other costs that go together with all that.

In the book "Cabinet making the professional approach" by Alan Peters this issue (Cost & pricing estimation) is widely covered in chapter 4, in pages 63 and 65 there are two parts "Determining your costs" and "Estimating" that might help all of us to do it. Obviously we hobbyist will not take into account all the things that Alan Peters mentions in the chapter but it should help or so I think.

Another even more difficult issue that goes together with this is one is "How much do I charge for the " ideating and design process"

Sorry I got carried away as this is something that I find very difficult to evaluate when someone asks me for the price of my pieces. Usually as they have no real intention to buy them, I answer " How much would you be willing to pay?"

 

[Frank Fusco]

Tony, you asked a lot of questions in that post. Answers will vary with who replys. Long distance selling will probably shield you. But, there is a saying that anyone can be sued for anything. One is: 'you can sue a ham sandwich'. Winning and collecting is something else altogether. As for pricing, I try to factor in my material costs, time, shop amortization and wet finger in air to come up with a price that will give me a fair return but still be attractive to potential buyers. And, yes, people often ask prices simply out of curiosity. I know I do.

 

[allen levine]

Anything can be harmful to
Children
I've owned a pharmacy for 33 years and sold toys and never had a problem with liability both product or medication
Every person who has a garage sale?
Sell a doll with a button that any litttle kid can swallow?
The world is dangerous
If someone makes a product that was intentionally made shoddy because of costs eh

I'm not worried

here's a very happy kid who finally grew big enough for this chair