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I Forge Iron

thought you might like to see my clock


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Thats why I asked about who perceives the value. I always thought the maker did as in "thats what the market will bare" Case in point, I'm working on metal spinning. I spun 5 pcs yesterday that "should" have taken about 1 hr. but it took me 2. I'm still learning so I base my sale price not on how long they take but what I feel they are worth. I figure, I'm being paid to learn.

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My wife was wearing one of my wrought silver neck pieces the other day and a woman asked her if she would sell it, she said she'd call me and ask. I told my wife to ask $250 for it as I didn't want to sell it. The woman just handed her the money and just walked away as happy as if she were in her right mind. I had $25 worth of silver in it and about 2 hours of forging time. That woman certainly had a different perception of value than I had. If I was intending to sell it I would have priced it at around $150 not $250. "Perceived Value" is very different between the sexes and social/economic classes of society.

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So Grant, how do you determine what they perceive the value to be. And what do you do when their perceived value is lower than your perceived value.


How'd we end up down this path? Determining the perceived value can mean building the perceived value or weighing the customers options.

Much artistic stuff is sold by the artists ability to build value. Much industrial stuff is based on available options. I've done some bending jobs that "had" to be done and I was the only one who could (or knew how to) do it. I've had jobs that turned $500.00 per hour because I could do them and it was still the best option for the customer.

One forging job I used to do a lot was keel bolts for Coast Guard (wooden) Minesweepers. These were 1-1/4 silicone bronze with a 2-1/2" countersink head around three feet long. The yard had been buying 2-1/2" bronze and turning them down. I started making the heads by upsetting the end on 1-1/4" and beating them into a header with a sledge. So, how did I price them? By the 15 minutes it took me to do each one? No, I just determined what they were paying for three feet of 2-1/2" silicone bronze and charged them that! They saved a ton of machining. Perceived value.
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but if you build their percieved value of it then it might get a bit more realistic... people here (everywhere??) want to buy cheap crapola... if they want it badly enough then maybe that could over ride the tug of something inferior and cheaper.. i have to be honest - i think pricing is a total nightmare that i wish didnt exist! at least the hourly thing is kind of tangible. i admire your 'out there' approach tho.. i just want the customer to really want the work..!

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Beth, don't judge what customers will pay for an item by your standards,

If they had the skills to make them, you wouldn't have a customer.

Unless you are planning to market mass produced items then that is competing with the 'crapola'.

Concentrate on making the unique items and deal in exclusivity and quality. Thats what people will pay for.

Individuality is our speciality and we are making tomorrows antiques, not just fashion statements. Quality lasts and sets items aside from the general stuff available, even the hand forged Chinese imports that are just fabricated into wrought iron pieces

One of the reasons ironwork is not as popular this year as it was a couple of years ago is because the fashion / media industry dictates otherwise.

Price is after all a comfortable arrangement between yourself and your clients, Don't sell yourself short

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Ya just gotta bring more to the table than the competition. One of the biggest places I've seen blacksmiths fall flat was in "on time" delivery. Really hurts your value when word gets around. Also people doing the same thing as ten other blacksmiths. Nothing drives down price like seeing ten guys all with similar dinner bells. You gotta be distinctive! You wanna get paid better than average, you gotta BE better than average.

In industrial work, customers seem to really like "single source". If it's got to be heat treated, machined, plated, painted, X-rayed, what ever. They will often pay you more than getting those things done themselves. And that way they only have one person to come back on, rather than trying for figure out who is at fault too. That's worth a lot to them.

Another mistake I've seen is people want more work. I've seen people lower their prices to get more work and end up doing more work for the same money! What you really want is less work and more money. So, if you're missing a few jobs, don't worry about it. If you're getting most of the jobs, your price is too low. Price is one thing and one thing only...........a tool used to control demand!

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  • 1 year later...
I've seen people lower their prices to get more work and end up doing more work for the same money! What you really want is less work and more money. So, if you're missing a few jobs, don't worry about it. If you're getting most of the jobs, your price is too low.



Hi Grant. Could you perhaps elaborate a bit on this? I have heard it said many many times now, that you should NEVER turn down jobs, as it helps you stay afloat during down times and that people will go elsewhere. However I'm primarily interested as to the price for work correlation.
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