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I am an architect and currently am begining my career (hopefully) as a professional woodworker. I offer to design/build built-ins, library units, entertainment units, furniture etc.. to my architectural clients. I have a regular job by day (all commercial architecture) and do side residential work myself (depending on how this goes that may change). When I price an addition/house for a client I take into consideration the client themselves, possible design changes, etc. So maybe I have my question already answered but here it is anyway. How do you price a piece be it free standing or built-in without going through the design stages? I am looking at it from the point of view that you need to figure out how much and what kind of materials you will use and that you can only achieve this from a finished design. I am trying not to invest to much time and effort into a design that a client will never want completed. How do you go about this?
Thank you,
Paul B. Cresti
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This < Obsolete Link > single left click link might serve as a starter for you. Slainte, RJ.
*Hi Paul,I've been doing custom built-ins for over 10 years and this is what works for me. If a project sounds interesting I will give the clients a few hours as a goodwill gesture. If that goes well I will ask for a design fee which ranges from $300 to $1000 depending on the scope of the job. This fee gets the clients full detailed drawings, a sample part (usually a door), and a firm price quote. It does not get them a place in line. That only comes with a materials deposit, usually 1/3 to 1/2 the total price.Instead of breaking down the project into parts and pricing everything ala-carte. I mentally build the project a number of different times. Sort of like "Week 1 I get the casework done. Week 2 I make and fit the doors." and so on. Throw in extra time for a comfortable installation and some unforseeable surprises and you have a good idea of the time frame. I have learned over the years that I end up with about 40% of the take, the rest going to materials and overhead. This varies job to job of course, but looking back at Quicken files from '91 on it's fairly consistent in spite of raising prices and getting faster. I currently bid at $1500 per week.Hope this helps. Good luck to you. Steve
*Steve,Your sample method sounds interesting. Do you give them a small scale sample door finished as per their design? The drawings, are they construction type drawings where if they do not chose to have you do the job that they can go to someone else and say "here build this"?Thanks,Paul
*Hi Paul,Yes, the sample will show the wood species, joinery, grain orientation, finish, and so on in order to get across how I envision the piece. The drawings are just elevation and plan view accompanied by a list of specifications. If clients have taken these elsewhere, I'm not aware of it. I tend to have too many weird, labor intensive details for any other shop to want to deal with. It's a risk though. I consider the design mine even if the project doesn't happen. The clients paid for my time, not the design.Steve
*Steve,As far as your design and pricing, do you take into account that the design may change? If that design does change and it affects your construction technique/time line/material quantities do you reflect that in your proposal? On my first proposal for a large library unit (large for me)I did invest some initial time and came up with a quick design my clients had indicated they wanted, I calculated the materials and the time it would take me to construct and install it. As part of my proposal, I also included design meetings to finalize it. I stated that any change that would cause a material add both qualitative and/or quantitative and/or a needed change to construction technique would incur a price increase. I am approaching this from my point of view of an Architect and I am not sure this is correct. What do you think?Paul
*Hi Paul,What you did sounds good. Sometimes I make such a statement, sometimes not. But when the requests come in for a change I'll usually say something like "Would you like a new bid or would you prefer the extras on a time and material basis?" Sometimes this statement stops them instantly. I prefer a new bid if the extras involve undoing work already completed, and prefer time ($50 per hour) and materials for things like extra shelves or 3 doors instead of two.Also, in the very first phone conversation I spell out the game plan. " I'd like to meet you, so we can sketch, gesture grandly, and visualize. Then if we all still want to go ahead I'd like a design deposit." This way there's no surprise request for money.Steve
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