How much to charge??

[biggimmer]

The other week a customer asked if I knew anyone who does chainsaw carving....I'd been thinking about giving it a go anyway so did a few mushrooms as practise and today I did a tawny owl for them. I'm going back in a couple of days to do the finer details and some painting on it. 

This being the first time doing a carving for a customer i'm at a loss as to what to charge? It is about 50cm tall, sat on top of a carved 'tree' about 1m tall.... and the customer really liked it so far...what would the 'going rate' be for something like that.

[Mick Dempsey]

 We soooo need a picture for this one..

[Botty Cough]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

 We soooo need a picture for this one..

Definitely.

SIL had an ash tree in the garden made into a 6ft owl and it was £1500 if I remember right.

[biggimmer]

My paints turned out the wrong shade....so I will be sorting the colours but these pictures should give you an idea.

[maybelateron]

I thinks that's pretty impressive for a first time customer job. Haven't got a clue about what to charge.

[sime42]

1 hour ago, biggimmer said:

My paints turned out the wrong shade....so I will be sorting the colours but these pictures should give you an idea.

 

That's a beauty.

No idea what to charge though. You could start with your normal or desired hourly rate to get a figure as a starter. I'm guessing that'll probably come out quite high given the hours of work that you've put into it so you'll have to adjust that down to a price you think the customer will stand, (which will hopefully be something you're happy with too).

Good luck.

[gobbypunk]

Hi mate  a good effort but most of us carvers tend to stay away from paint and just Oil them and I would say £2/300 

[biggimmer]

Cheers

Yes I came to the same conclusion regarding the paint....

I kind of wished I'd left it without....

Anyway I'm going back tomorrow to sort it out and will show some more pictures of the finished article.

Yes I'd settled on £275, as it is just a first go and didn't take too long.

This carving lark has got my attention and I'm going to try some more carvings. I spent 20 years making traditional bows and have an 'artistic side'....

[spuddog0507]

Personally i think for a first attempt at carving, thats a 10 out of 10 from me,, i think you need to be doing a bit more of this TBH,

[john87]

Have to be fair, I think that £275 for that is giving it away..

 

If i was a monied type and wanted one i would happily pay £1275 for that...

 

john..