how much to charge for woodworking work

[Locutus]

Whatever you feel your time is worth.

[David]

That should at least cover the electricity. :)

Dave

[Frank Ketchum]

Do you have a job? What does it pay per hour? You can base it roughly from there taking into account the value of your free time. I only ask to reimbursed for materials when building something for friends. I don't charge labor. I explain it thusly: "Woodworking for me is enjoyable. I am not about to turn it into a job and stop enjoying it."

[Toller]

It depends on how much free time you have, how much you enjoy doing the work, and how good you are. If you are a busy person, do good work, and have enough woodworking of your own to keep you busy, charge $50/hour. If you have a lot of free time, need a project to do, and are still learning, charge $10/hour. Etc.

[Cyrille de Brébisson]

Hello,

I have started to do some simple woodworking for acquaintances, and they keep bringing me more requests from themselves and friends, and I am starting to have real issues pricing my services and wanted to get some advices knowing that the "client" choose and pay for the wood (ie: the price is only labor and tool wear) and that I am by no mean a professional.

How much would you charge per hour? $10, $15?

regards, cyrille

[Locutus]

By trade, I am a software engineer, so I am the person my familiy and friends call whenever they have a computer problem, or need a website developed etc.... what I do is just tell them they owe me one. :)

So far I have had drywall work done, a shed built (well, they helped me build it), automobile repairs, gravel hauled (I paid for the gravel) and probably a few other things I am forgetting.

It comes in handy being able to call in favors when you need them. :)

[todd]

I've done some work for an acquaintance where I built two custom tables. Personally, I'd forget about trying to figure out an hourly rate. In my experience as an intermediate-level woodworker, I'd be very depressed if I figured out the amount I charged for labor and divided it by the number of hours it took to find my hourly rate. Instead, decide the amount you want to clear out of the deal to make it worth your time. If your real concern is generating additional money to cover tool expenses, I'd bet you could find something else that could generate $$ faster than woodworking. As a computer network consultant, it would be *way* easier for me to pick up some side work for $500 than to generate that much profit from woodworking. YMMV.

todd

[Leuf]

Another way to come up with a price that avoids using hourly costs is twice the cost of materials for friends, three times the cost for everyone else.

-Leuf

[Doug Schultz]

If you are too busy with that kind of work then you are charging too little. If you are not busy enough then you are charging too much.

Doug

[cm]

$40 per hour or more.

cm

[Cyrille de Brébisson]

hello,

A whole lot more than I can charge a friend, I am a R&D manager...

that is what I do for close friends, but it's hard to resist the temptation when the other offers to pay you and there is that nice tool that would be great for that job that they are asking, plus these other tools.... drool....

yes, but tools are not cheap, and you could do some stuff with your wife instead...

regards, cyrille

[Frank Ketchum]

Well, when new tools are the incentive, that is a different story.

"Gee, I would really like to build those picture frames for you but I really need a 24" drum sander to do it. They are on sale this weekend!"

[AlohaCliff]

If you want to be business-like, you have to consider your overhead. Not just electricity, but wear and tear on machines, an allowance for maintenance, costs for consumables (like saw blades and sharpening expenses), etc. How much do you have invested in equipment? Do you feel like you should get some return on your investment in addition to a fee for labor? What if you screw up something and have to buy more wood, who pays for the mistake?

If the answer to all these items is no or not me then you will get more work than you want or need. To keep from being taken advantage of you must charge at or near market value for your work.

Cliff

[Steve Peterson]

It depends on your goals and capabilities. I would like to make the hobby pay for itself and have some fun. In general, I charge 3x the cost of materials, after I have planned it out. My shop (garage) doesn't allow much efficiency, so I don't try and don't charge by the hour. I can adjust up or down as makes sense.

Steve

[Dave Balderstone]

The couple of times I've charged for my work I've quoted on a per job basis after figuring materials and time, and then logged every task and the time it took.

I was looking to get $25 - $30 an hour. The reality was about $15. That tells me that

a) my expectations for the market are high

b) I'm a lousy estimator

c) I'm not as good/efficient a wooddorker as I think I am when quoting

d) all of the above

But it depends on who you're quoting to. A few years back, a neighbor (my son and their's were school chums) asked if I could modify the cabinets where their fridde fit. It wasn't a big job, but at the time I didn't have a blade for the circ saw I trusted for cutting melamine, so I told them I'd do the work for the cost of a blade.

Suddenly, the modification wasn't that important to them. They wanted a freebie, plain and simple.

;-)

[CW]

Your boss feels the same way. Do the right thing, demand a pay cut.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

For friends, $0 per hour. I don't do any work for money. I refuse to make a hobby a business because it is not fun any more.

If I wanted to make money at it, I'd have to charge a minimum of $30

[Mike Marlow]

Ahhh - the barter system lives other places as well. We're big on bartering around here. I'm a software sales guy myself these days but was a Systems Engineer for several years before moving into sales. That makes me the go-to guy in our circles for computer problems as well. On top of that I am the guy that does a bit of a lot of things. Woodworking, construction, wiring, autobody repair, auto mechanical repair, I can operate heavy equipment (backhoe, bulldozer, etc.), and some other stuff. Things I hate to do include sheetrock finishing, plumbing, masonry, anything that requires a ladder, and some others. It sure is nice to have a few of those ya-owe-me's in your back pocket when some of these tasks roll around.

[B A R R Y]

I've never bought into that at all.

So, if you build the identical item from painted MDF, at @ $0.75 bd/ft, and highly figured cherry @ $11 bd/ft, you'd charge different labor numbers? You'd be working for peanuts on at least one of the projects.

Also, I can put many more hours into a fighly detailed mini-chest than I can in a California king sized bed. Compare the materials costs in those jobs.

To charge truly profitable "labor" (in ANY business), the only correct way to figure it is to calculate _all_ overhead costs, including but not limited to utilites, tool & shop upkeep, salary, incidentals, productive and non-productive time, and of course, PROFIT, as an hourly shop rate. Chances are, you only need to do this once, and fine tune it occasionally.

Don't forget, the best time to raise prices is when you're booked solid, not when you "need" to make more. Let the cheaper work leave when you're booked. Got open time? Attract new work with a sale!

Now, if you're doing it as a sideline, simply figuring out a flat rate (or a new tool, barter, etc...) what you'd like to get for a particular project is fine, regardless of material costs.

If you use the second method because you truly don't care about the money, do yourself a favor and DON'T keep track of time. If you do, you'll probably find out that you don't pay yourself minimum wage.

Barry

[jd]

depends on the situation. I'm retired now, so income from the shopis really just beer money (or tool money....). My goal is to keep the shop self-supporting, and to maybe make enough extra to cover some materials for the occasional thing I make for myself or family.

When folks want me to build them something from scratch, I usually tell them to take a loof at a high end furniture catalogue (I keep a few in the shop), and find something simialr to what they're looing for, then add about 10-25% to get a ball park price range (this is for customers, not friends). I use pompanoosic mills, Ethan Allen, and a Maine craftsman who's name escapes me right now.....

For folks that want to learn how to do it themselves, I charge a flat $25/hour plus lumber (I supply sandpaper and normal expendables. dependingon their finish, they either can use somethign I have on hand, or buy their own....). I always point out that this will almost ceratinly end up costing them more than if I just built it for them. This is also what most of my "income" business is now.

For friends, it really depends on the job and circumstances. I've had friends come to me when they were on hard times, and really needed something for themselves or thier kids - they're not looing for anything fancy, but something to coer a need. Usually in those cases and have been able to find enough stuff to make it for them. I also have friends that insist on paying full price - they can afford it, know what the stuff I make is worth, and understand that it is not necesary, but is appreciated.

YMMV

--_JD