What would you charge?

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Oliver Springs, TN
I spoke to a friend and she asked me if I could build this amy.jpg and of course how much. She said she has the windows, and if you notice it has chicken wire in the sides. She said she also has that. She is an art teacher and I told her if she did the finishing it would save a few bucks, and she said that wouldn't be a problem. The only thing I would do is the woodworking. It looks really simple to make, just a frame and three shelves. I'd use poplar for the wood parts since she will be painting it.

I'm horrible about pricing things, and was just wondering what would you charge?
 
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depending on how close a friend, if its mortise and tenon structure, Id charge cost of wood, plus 300 dollars.
If its pocket screw construction, Id charge 250 plus cost of wood.
 
...It looks really simple to make, just a frame and three shelves. I'd use poplar for the wood parts since she will be painting it.

I'm horrible about pricing things, and was just wondering what would you charge?

What about the beadboard back, and the hardware?

Cutting and assembly will likely take about 3~4 hours for proper mortise and tenon joinery, so what's that much of your time worth? At $50.00 per hour, and about $50 worth of wood, and another $25 for hardware, Allen's $300.00 seem pretty good.

Make sure you see the windows and wire before you ever start the job. Her idea of 'good' might differ from yours. Also, the windows need to be the same width, else there'll be additional fiddling (and time) involved.
 
5 times material costs usually works out fairly well.

I have read many experts pontificate about how terrible it is to price things as a multiple of material cost. So on countless occasions I have gone through a painful design and pricing process. And after I am done, I usually find that the result is 5 times the material cost, no charge for shop supplies like glue and sandpaper.

Stu is right on!
 
Im amazed the geek squad charges 200 dollars for a home visit to fix a computer, and people happily pay, because they cant live without their internet.
People pay 95-145 dollars an hour labor charge at any car dealership in America.
 
I've always been one to under-price my odd jobs, using the excuse that if the customer is happy they'll be back. But I'm finally seeing the light...I now charge what I feel is very comfortable to me and if they walk so be it. My boss{SWMBO} is much happier with my crossing off items on the honey-do list, than not covering the expenses such as overhead, wear & tear, etc. etc. of shop time just to have some work.
 
a good friend of mine who is a very talented carpenter, plumber, electrician etc......wants to do a collaboration project with me.
He wants to build a desk, and wants to use my garage shop with me and we should build it together. He will pay for all supplies.
Oh boy.
 
Im amazed the geek squad charges 200 dollars for a home visit to fix a computer, and people happily pay, because they cant live without their internet.
People pay 95-145 dollars an hour labor charge at any car dealership in America.

Or 160 bucks for a guy to come clean your dryer vent. My water conditioner company wants 300 to come do a yearly inspection.(must have to keep the warranty) that last less than a half hour. But try and charge someone 50 bucks an hour for a skilled carpenter and see what happens. LOL And no I don't price things like this buy the hour mostly because I coast faster than most people work. So that makes it unfair to me to charge someone100 bucks for an item that took me 2 hours to build when most people would take 6 hours to build the same thing.:thumb:
 
a good friend of mine who is a very talented carpenter, plumber, electrician etc......wants to do a collaboration project with me.
He wants to build a desk, and wants to use my garage shop with me and we should build it together. He will pay for all supplies.
Oh boy.

OOoof. Hope you get some work out of him to equal your time and opportunity costs.
 
to be upfront, over a year ago when I was ripped down the walls in my wifes quilting room and needed to re sheetrock, he said hed be more than willing to come over when he was free and help me. But I cant depend on someone telling me when hes free, which could mean next weekend, maybe in 8 weekends, so I got someone in to do the sheetrock.

Im going to see him this weekend, Ill tell him after I finish my garage/shop reshelving, cleanup, and then make the cabinet my son wants, Ill work on his project, as long as he is there every step of the way to do the cleanup, run to store, and he can assist in glueups and any work lilke that, but I cant let him use my machines, as I don't think he has experience with these.
He might be able to frame out a room and hang doors and install vanities, I just don't know if he knows how to use a jointer or TS and I don't want to find out he doesn't in my garage.(I just don't think its a good idea to let friends use my stationary tools)
 
I just don't think its a good idea to let friends use my stationary tools

That's a good idea. I guess there really is a difference between carpentry and woodworking. You'd assume that someone who spends a lot of time cutting boards and putting them together would know about planers and jointers and such, but it probably isn't true.

Would be interesting to get Chuck Thoits perspective on this.
 
Allen, you might consider how inconvenienced you will be while his project is stored uncompleted in your space until he has time to work on.
 
I have read many experts pontificate about how terrible it is to price things as a multiple of material cost. So on countless occasions I have gone through a painful design and pricing process. And after I am done, I usually find that the result is 5 times the material cost, no charge for shop supplies like glue and sandpaper.

Stu is right on!

Well Charlie, you are one of the guys that first convinced me to use this pricing and it has been just about bang on for about 90% of the work I do.

Cheers!
 
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