Always remember Larry that you will never loose money on a job you don't get. Charge what should be the going rate, doing less makes it hard on the rest of us trying to make a living.
What everyone else is saying I agree, but what Jim is saying here is really important.
I realize that in the past I was guilty of doing just that, I've mended my ways.
I do good quality work, I do a lot of different things and I'm very adaptable, if a customer comes to me with a problem I can almost always solve it for them, if they are willing to pay. The Ballpark estimate is something that I've added to my set of tools that I use dealing with clients (Thanks Charlie!) and boy does it work.
I also do work for friends, and that is completely free, my list of people who get that price is short
Larry is this person requesting the work coming to you as a professional woodworker?
Are they coming to you as a guy that has a hobby and free time?
Let's say the client is a real estate agent, if you put some property up for sale would they do it for free, just expenses and say a nice dinner?
If the client is a mechanic, and your truck needs a tune up, new wires, plugs and filter as well as an oil change, would he do that work for the cost of the parts and say a six pack of beer?
I know you understand what I'm saying, so you have to ask yourself what you will work for.
i get that the extra money in hand is really tempting, but when you add in all the other factors, how much extra money are we talking about?
I'm doing my taxes right now, off the top I expect to pay just south of 30% income tax, and these side jobs added to my salary at the L shop have moved my tax bracket up, so if I charge $1000 and my material cost are $400, that leaves me with $600, now I pay taxes on that, 30% so now I'm down to $420. If I have 5 hours into the job, I'm a happy guy, if I have 25 hours into the job well that is not very much an hour, and I've not added anything for wear and tear on tools, and my van, nor have I paid for all the sundry stuff that costs real money in my workshop.
If you go cheap materials, charge at least 15% to 20% on top of the materials, that should cover your time/gas money to go get said materials.
Then what do you want an hour for work in your shop?
Figure out a good ball park figure for the hours and then add 15% to 20% on top of that.
So if your materials cost $300 make that $360, if you figure 18 hours of actual work on the bench, then times that by what you want to pay yourself an hour, that lets say $40 an hour $720 times 20% $864 for labour.
$864 + 360 = $1224.
Does that kind of pricing sound fair?
materials $300 x 4 = $1200
Materials time four or five is really a good price, if you want to pay yourself a living wage. If you just want some extra cash for the weekend after doing your day job, then as long as you charge $1 over the price of the materials I guess one could make the case that you are happy. That may be so, but that is no way to run a railroad, IMHO.
I know you do very nice work, even on something like this basic bench, we all know that you will do a very good job, the bench will be used for many many years to come and the price anyone paid for it a generation or two later will be long forgotten.
I hope this helps, I really do understand what you are struggling with, as I'm struggling with it too, but the fact is your time on this earth is limited, don't sell it too cheap.
Cheers!