What to charge

[AJ Negvesky]

I have been using my CNC to cut out and engrave presents and just for fun. I have a camp that wants me to carve basic signs to label the buildings and paths for the campers. I have no idea what the going rate for something like that is do you charge by the letter or by the sign. An example of the sign would be 6" X 17" with 2.5 inch high letters. with the letters "GROUP 5" on it.

Any ideas or help on how to price this would be great.

[TchTchr]

AJ,

I was wondering the same thing. My signs are 6" X 18" same size lettering with a person's first name on it.

Someone must have an idea what is a fair price to charge.

[iwantone]

Just a thought, but Jack000 from the forum here, designed a website http://carveit.ca/ to do just that for his own business, but you could probably contact him to see what calculations he used to determine the machining time (based off of feed and jog speeds). Here is the link to his thread on building his website if you haven't seen it http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87965

[Sbthomas13]

What you're going to charge depends largely upon the costs of materials, design time, machine time, and the finishing time. You have to figure out how much you want to make per hour; be fair to yourself and don't undercharge. My friend and I tried to start a woodworking business making jewelry boxes and humidors...it was all good until we realized we were both making about $1 an hour after materials/supplies. Fun > Yes! ...Profitable > Definitely not.

I'm going to start making 2' x 2' signs out of 1/2" MDF. The piece of MDF costs about $2.50; the paint, sandpaper, and other supplies around $2.50; and it would take me about a half hour to design it/generate toolpaths, 1/2-1 hour to cut, and 1 hour to finish. So if I want to make $10 an hour I would charge $5+$25 = so $30 per sign...which I would say is a pretty fair price for the type of product I'm making. I could probably charge more but I'm going to start out with this price. The signs are pretty basic with some simple v-carving and I'm sure I can speed up the time it takes to make them after I get the hang of things which will increase profits.

If you really want to get a lot of information on pricing work I suggest:

Amazon.com: The Woodworker's Guide to Pricing Your Work (9781558705814): Dan Ramsey: Books

Amazon.com: The Woodworker's Guide to Pricing Your Work (9781558705814): Dan Ramsey: Books

My friend purchased this book and it had a lot of great information. -

[Stewey]

Do NOT be too cheap- that will only hurt the industry & devalue yours & others' work.
$10 an hour is too cheap.
Look at the time, money & overheads invested in the machine, plus the experience in driving the software, the design knowledge, the time spent in learning the ropes, the experience in knowing what finishes to use & why...


Go to the dentist. If you need a filling, the price is $xxxx
If you decide not to have anaesthetic, he'll still do the drilling, and still charge you the same- no discounts.

The work/job is worth a certain amount, and if you can do it faster because you have a better or faster machine, that does not make it suddenly worth less money.

[Sbthomas13]

Alright, so I guess I just explained how not to price your work...
I'm new to this and I just wanted to get some items sold and experiment with what people were willing to pay before I started increasing my prices.

I never thought of how me being too cheap would hurt the industry/other CNCers. So what should I charge per hour?

[Stewey]

If your work is good, try $120/hr and see how you go!

[yngndrw]

Originally Posted by Stewey Do NOT be too cheap- that will only hurt the industry & devalue yours & others' work. $10 an hour is too cheap. Look at the time, money & overheads invested in the machine, plus the experience in driving the software, the design knowledge, the time spent in learning the ropes, the experience in knowing what finishes to use & why... Go to the dentist. If you need a filling, the price is $xxxx If you decide not to have anaesthetic, he'll still do the drilling, and still charge you the same- no discounts. The work/job is worth a certain amount, and if you can do it faster because you have a better or faster machine, that does not make it suddenly worth less money.

Thank you, that is an excellent post.

Originally Posted by Sbthomas13 So what should I charge per hour?

I think what he was basically suggesting is that you work out the cost of the part excluding your time, then add your profit margin. (As a percentage of the cost.) Your wage then depends on how many you can produce and sell in a day.

Also don't forget supply and demand - If you are making a product that people want and others cannot supply fast enough to meet the demand, you can afford to charge more.

On the other hand, when starting off you need to get a name for yourself.

[eloid]

Originally Posted by yngndrw Thank you, that is an excellent post. I think what he was basically suggesting is that you work out the cost of the part excluding your time, then add your profit margin. (As a percentage of the cost.) Your wage then depends on how many you can produce and sell in a day. Also don't forget supply and demand - If you are making a product that people want and others cannot supply fast enough to meet the demand, you can afford to charge more. On the other hand, when starting off you need to get a name for yourself.

material + overhead +machine setup +profit....

get your self a wall power outlet plug....Kill A Watt™ P4400 Energy Meter

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...45&cat=1,44047
you know how ac your using on you cnc....

[ViperTX]

What I would do is have your material cost and add delivery time say $10.

Then take your machine time and charge $40 per hour.

Now add your time and charge what you would like to earn plus 50 percent. Your time is the time that it takes you to design and setup the machine.

Don't undercharge...you can always offer a discount, but people are resistant to price increases.

Paul