Prices???

[Dan Earp]

So arbtalkers,

 

When your making something either a bowl table beds etc what do you put in mind for the total price?

I understand to price in the timber used and time but what else?

 

Also since ill be doing this as and when what could i charge ? Per hour or per item since ill be doing pretty much the same thing

 

Thanks

[se7enthdevil]

this has always been a sticky subject for me so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

 

pricing bowls is tricky because a large bowl could take you hours depending on the ease that the timber turns, the desired finish and any problems you encounter.

 

things to consider should be the cost of the wood, your time and the look of the finished item. remember, if it looks a million dollars then charge accordingly, if not charge to sell.

 

 

from a personal point of view i turn bowls aplenty and have lots of wood to choose from but an example recently would be that i bought a reclaimed plank of elm from ebay and cut it in to blanks it cost me £35 including postage and i got about 10 blanks from it so it really doesn't matter what i charge for each bowl as even if they only average out at £20 each then £200 is a fair return for what should only be 4-5 hours work to turn all 10.

 

if you are commissioned then stick to an hourly rate or some other pricing formula and that will take any guess work out of trying to come up with a price when you've finished.

 

one tip would be that if you can try to make lots of an item in one go as batch production is more cost effective than doing a bowl then a coffee table then another bowl.

 

a good example of this is my current commission of the savill garden bowls turned from their own timber. they dropped it off and i set my self up to do various tasks. firstly cut them up in to blanks, next i did nothing but turn the outside of all the blocks i had, then i cored all the blanks as many times as i could keeping all the tools i would need to hand. after one weeks work of only two to four hours per day i have cored 44 blanks ready for seasoning and cut round another dozen bowl blanks.

 

i'm keeping a constant record of how long everything is taking me. with this particular job i'm not charging by the hour though, i have a price band ranging for bowls 5"+ up to 20". doing this ensures i get a bit more than if i were just charging an hourly rate as i can finish a dozen bowls in a few hours. for me its currently working out at about £30-£40 per hour.

 

 

this may only work on the larger scale so you may want to take a different approach yourself.

 

bottom line i think is that the more you do the better at pricing you get.

[Woodworks]

I charge £15 an hour + materials. All running costs come out of the £15 per hour. This is for cabinet making quality work. Could probably charge a bit more but customers still gulp when handed the bill

 

If I work as a chippy I can easily earn £20 per hour and no workshop costs.

[Dan Earp]

Great👍 and thank you guys for an in site to the way you work and price.

 

By no means will i be turning bowls etc through lack of knowledge space and equipment, but have found the enjoyment again in making something from a blank to it becoming a piece that could be used everyday.

 

Overheads etc are pretty much non existent, but just got stumped when i was asked how much. Lol

 

Once again thank you for replying, and keep up the great work as i enjoy seeing others work 👍

[slackbladder]

Really complicated problem,because if you get some timber at a really good price and you sell stuff cheap it's very hard to justify putting the prices way up when you have to spend on more expensive timbers. A lot of the time price seems irrelevant,i went through a stage of reducing my prices right down and didn't sell any more,put my prices back up and sold more,you just can't tell

See you soon Dan

[Dan Earp]

Aye Mr slack 😜 how much do i need to bring lol.

[Rob D]

Done lots of Xmas markets this year...

 

 

Lots of chopping boards, tea light holders, and a few shot glass trays...

 

 

It's tricky pricing things - the best way to do it is keep overheads low, production low and prices high IMO...

 

 

I've tried to upscale things this year - you can sell x20 items easily, x1000 items is very hard.. you end up having to go through retailers - time consuming and painful!

 

 

I'm throttling back on the wood side of things now - just not got the time... would rather do as a hobby and sell a few bits here and there....

 

 

 

[northcountryboy]

I have a similar problem pricing items up, this one is made from one piece of solid English oak with English oak supports, is 64inches long, 12 inches wide, 2 inches thick and stands approx. 5 inches high. The timber cost £25 and is finished with 3 coats of food grade oil and took probably a day to make ( although oiling seems to take forever). I've done this for a friend so only looking to recoup costs but have had 3 enquiries from my facebook sites. What would everyone charge for such a piece?

[Dan Earp]

Happy to pay £60 bud. Very nice 👍

[northcountryboy]

I've priced them up to prospective clients at £80 plus delivery. They probably cost about £40 in materials and petrol to collect the timber so not a great deal in it but there has to be a ceiling limit where people wont pay what its costs and how much time has gone into it.