How To Price Custom Furniture Woodworking Business by Woodbrew
In today’s blog, I am going to share with you guys how you can price your work, because I know that’s one of the primary things people struggle with when they’re getting started. So let’s Go!
Expenses
Basic things you need to know first when pricing your woodwork. You need to know your actual material cost or at the very least estimate the materials.
Days and Hours of Work
You can just work as usual as your working hours. Roughly estimate how many hours you work daily, then just multiply how many days you work, on that specific project. Mostly days of work range from 3 – 5 days and if it is a big project it can take 7- 14 days.
How Much Do You Think You’re Worth?
How much do you think you are worth? You can base it on the cost of living near you. But for me, I personally start my rate in the $60 – $80 an hour range, but it depends on the technical challenges of the project. If the project requires a lot of CAD and CNC I will bump it up more to $80 an hour because that equipment costs money and doing all that preparation costs more time and money.
You need to check your quote first before sending it to the client. Bear in mind that you have to be realistic if you want to actually get business. If there are two of us working then that’s $160 and additional hours.
Expenses + hourly rate = an absurd amount for the project.
When I say the absurd amount I don’t necessarily mean no one would pay it. But if it means the average person wouldn’t pay it then I’m gonna ask myself, “Okay how much do I want to do this project and how much is the return going to be? Is the shop currently overflowing with projects or not?” Then I’ll make an adjustment to that total sum number down to something that I can live with.
Or in some cases adding additional costs, maybe they want it really fast or my shop is slam full and the only way I’m really going to decide to take it is if they pay us more money or they’re willing to wait for a long time. But take note, if you really want to make money you’ll need sometimes to lowball to get that project. I don’t mean doing the project for free but just be realistic.
You really need to base your hourly rate based on the clients surrounding you. Even if you see someone online say that they have an $80 hourly rate and the clients pay for it, it doesn’t necessarily mean clients in your area can also afford those rates. Again, you need to be realistic.
Adjusting Your Hourly Rate
Adjusting your hourly rate to fit into someone’s budget can also be a good thing. If I lower my hourly rate I typically add around 20% to the total cost. It can help cover some costs like taxes, glue, and any other random little things. Remember we are at the mercy of the people who are willing to pay whether you like it or not.
Some people in the comments may say that you need to stick to the prices, and do not undervalue yourself. Etc. but you also need to remember that you have to make sacrifices as you build your portfolio up to a point where you actually can demand those prices and get them.
But if you’re not there yet and you’re just simply rating yourself too high then you’re just not going to get that business. That’s the way it works. You’re going to get a few clients but you have to deal with it. It’s a hard truth.
What You Do Before You Price Your Work
Pricing your work to me should be almost a guarantee like you should have almost enough information to have a really good idea whether or not the client is going to say yes or no to that price.
Here are some simple tips that work for us, screening your clients so you don’t have to waste your time on them.
Do Not Judge A Book By Its Cover
Do not just assume that people may have or may not have enough money to pay you, because a lot of time you’re going to be wrong. In fact, that’s one of the biggest life lessons you can learn not only in the woodworking industry, but in life in general.
Start A Dialog With Your Client
This doesn’t have to be over the phone, It can be via text, email, or Facebook messenger. Just start with questions like, what are they looking for? Can you send a couple of photos of what you want to do? Afterward, you can ask them if they have a budget for this project and say it like this, “Do you have a budget set in mind for this project so that I can design something that fits within that budget for you?”
Usually, some people might give you a working budget but some people might not, in this scenario you can give them a budget that you made in the past. So you don’t end up wasting your time with them and them with you.
These dialogs are suitable only for your new clients, if they are returning once, you have the idea of this working price is feasible for them or not. You can just go directly and design something for them then give them the working budget. Don’t worry because your effort will not be wasted, they will come back to you someday and you can give that design you made for them before.
When dealing with commercial clients, usually they have a working budget on their mind and they are asking for quotes so they can compare prices between multiple people, and they don’t want you to ask about their working budget.
Professionalism
The way you can set yourself apart from everyone else is your professionalism, but it does not necessarily mean your formality or informality.
Some people don’t want to be hit with all of these professional email signatures and all the cc’s and the 5 pages long legal paper and other extra stuff just to start the project.
A lot of people are just looking for that small town business owner to help them. Most people just get to with us through messenger, they’re not sending us an email or calling us. They just want us to know something about the brand or the project in an informal way.
You can also send your client a photo, without any explanation just send them the photo and inform them like you would with a friend. “Hey this is the update about your our project!” People like that, and gives them an idea of where are you at right now.
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