Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Recommended Posts

G'Day blokes ( & shelias )
Ian & i's is wonderin' on what youse lot use ta work out what u'll charge for youse work . Ian's been " asked ta make some towel rail's " & don't know what ta charge ,,, Ideas greatfully recived ...

Chopper ( aka ) Dale Russell ... & Ian ... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello men. I'll just start by asking, what is your time worth ? I rate this by the hour. Then, what is the energy cost to forge the item ? Material cost will be probobly be the least but hard to say. Don't forget consumables. Can you make this in one hour ? One or 2 per day ? Consider time from drawing or inception through finish work (get it all ). I still charge $3.- for lotta hooks but some have went to $5-. If this is an item that MAY be used as a stock item later, you may take this into consideration. Do you have tooling to build for this ? Not that I would scalp a one time special deal for a customer, just think if this item may really be saleable to future customers. One off items ( special things ) usually bring more. Stock items can have a pretty much standard price. If you price yourself too cheap, you will NEVER recover this. Ask yourself what the market will stand for pricing. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So ApprenticeMan, when you hire help do you pay them a variable hourly wage?

There have been some very good discussions over at AnvilFire on pricing work to include shop overhead, design work, etc One of the points was that you were lucky if you actually got to spend 50% of your time at the forge making the thing!

Thomas

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After having been in business for a number of years, I guess I just have ways of doing things that work for me. TIME is the real killer. Can you make the item in an hour, a day, a week ?...This time MUST be worth something and this something HAS to have some sort of worth in a unit of measure. Production work for me means piece work and of course the faster and more efficient I can be the better. I barely have time to meet myself comin the door now. I have things that I have commited to that have not been finished ( orders outstanding ). Richard nailed the head with his analogy but we aren't always given this choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think apprenticeman has a point - Would you pay a plumber or an electrician the same hourly rate as the guy out front raking your lawn?
If you've invested the time to learn something as difficult as repousee, by all means charge a few extra bucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thing to factor in, or at least give some minor consideration to, is wether you are trying to make a living at it, or is it just a hobby. Personally, my smithing is just a hobby. I have a good job I am very happy at which pays the bills. My ultimate goal is that some day my smithing will break even. However, I found that when I first started and I priced stuff way too low that I was actually hurting the professional smiths in the area. If I price stuff way too low it reduces the percieved value of hand made blacksmithed items.

For example, if someone buys a fireplace set from me for $50 but a professional smith needs to get $500 for the same set to pay for his time etc, then I have dragged down the local market. That personas friends and neighbors will be looking to pay a similar price for that set in the future. (btw, that's an example only, I would never charge that little for something like that)

I have now taken to pricing my stuff at a more reasonable rate. It's still probably lower than the pro will charge because I don't feel my quality is where it could be, but at least now I am not dragging down the market. The other thing is that even if I don't think about other smiths in the area, I am also dragging down my own future market. Once you start selling an item at a certain price, then it is tougher to raise it by a large amount later. Charge a fair price and give them a faire product that is the best I can make. It may not be perfect, but it is the best I can make, so I feel ok with the transaction. That's how I look at things now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they don't cringe when they write the check, you didn't charge enuff. Rich folks don't mind over paying for quality work, and they don't respect you if you don't charge enuff. You can get full on a fast food burger combo, and at a fancy steak house at twice the price, wonder how the fancy steak house stays in business?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...