Pricing?

larry merlau

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Delton, Michigan
if you were asked to make some custom siding panels and two sticks of custom trim, the customer supplied the material.. how do you price it? use a shop hr rate? and if so pm with some ideas of your rates that you would charge per hour of shop time..thanks i had to do several setups to get this done and wasnt in my eyes wasting time, it took longer than expected..so i dont know where to go i hadnt priced it in advance. thanks for your help.
 
Things I have not done before take me much longer than the next time I do it. I don't think the customer should pay for that so, hourly for this specific job might be unreasonable. I would try to think about how many hours it would take me if I had to do it again having learned how to do it and apply a fair hourly rate to that number. There would still be machine setup time and so forth so don't short yourself.

If the customer went to a pro shop there would be minimum charges or rates adjust to reflect the fact that they have dedicated machines set up to make the run. Your time required to actually make the run may be more but there is a premium to be paid for "custom" work, be it the actual piece or the method used to produce a small quantity. Economies of scale do not apply to one-offs ;-)

That was a lot of talk with handing you a number but, I hope it helps. All JMHO of course.
 
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jobshop set-up rates here in the sticks are between 100-150 then you add on the footage.......
if you bill shop time at 25hr by the time you figure overhead you`ll maybe make a little better than minimum wage...
remember that you have literally thousands of dollars tied up in equipment and hundreds of hours if not thousands invested in experience......if you`re working for a friend then price whatever feels right......for keeping your doors open 25hr is going to feed you beans not steak.
 
Really hard to say Larry. :huh:

For me, if it is for a friend, it's free, if it is for a customer, the price is worked out in advance, too many pitfalls to do it otherwise.

If the price is not worked out ahead of time, then if you charge "X" and the customer thinks that is too much, they will not be happy, if they think it is too cheap, then you have shorted yourself and you will not be happy. :doh:

I know that does not answer your question, sorry. :eek:

How many hours do you have into the job, or as Glenn said SHOULD have had into the job?

Less tooling means a lower rate per hour, but more hours.

Best of luck, I don't think I was much help :p sorry :wave:
 
customer showed up to have more stuff done this afternoon just left and he paid:) and seemed happy:thumb: this is a good friend but he is doing it for a customer that he is making money from.. so i got more than beans Tod:) maybe even some catfish and sweet tea:) he even mentioned that there may be more so i quess i done right by him.. thanks of the input, will turn this into better tooling for the next round!!!
 
I got tired of telling people "no" when they asked me to make a few cuts or make a moulding or ... whatever. So I set a simple rate of $1 per minute for me and any machine in my shop. If it is a 5 minute job, like they always say, then $5. I had one 5 minute job that took an hour and 15 minutes... cut miters to fit, but the "to fit" wasn't square. Easy, $75. If you want a fancy invoice, preparing the invoice is part of the time you are charged for. When they walk in, I look at the wall clock, and say "by that clock, it is currently 3:15, right?"

I have one client that appears occasionally with a bigger job - they accept $60 per hour rate, including the time discussing all the details before they show up with material. If my wife helps stacking pieces as I work, she goes for $40 per hour, since there are no machines associated with her time.
 
I got tired of telling people "no" when they asked me to make a few cuts or make a moulding or ... whatever. So I set a simple rate of $1 per minute for me and any machine in my shop. If it is a 5 minute job, like they always say, then $5. I had one 5 minute job that took an hour and 15 minutes... cut miters to fit, but the "to fit" wasn't square. Easy, $75. If you want a fancy invoice, preparing the invoice is part of the time you are charged for. When they walk in, I look at the wall clock, and say "by that clock, it is currently 3:15, right?"

I have one client that appears occasionally with a bigger job - they accept $60 per hour rate, including the time discussing all the details before they show up with material. If my wife helps stacking pieces as I work, she goes for $40 per hour, since there are no machines associated with her time.

That sounds about right I was going to say $65. Look at it this way Larry if they had the knowledge and/or the tools they wouldnt be there and you didnt get there over night and no one gave you the tools.
Jay
 
Larry,

You should ask Glenn about the amount of time it took him to do a repair on a large bulldozer when he worked at a rental yard. Then ask how long it took the next time, etc.

I'm not sure it was a bulldozer, however it was a big something or another.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
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