Design Fees

[danmosheim]

I justed posted this same question in the 'projects and past mistakes' section but I thought it was also relevant here. I would appreciate any input anyone would care to give either directly from here or on my blog ... Thanks ...dan The question is as follows:
I'd appreciate a few comments regarding design fees and how much design work a craftsmen should do for 'free', 'to get the job', and when should the customer pay up front for design work? Big jobs, kitchens, libraries, no problem. People understand complex designs take time and are usually willing to pay no question. Smaller jobs like a coffee table, dining table or chest of drawers, that's where it gets tricky for me. And, with the recent economy, it seems people are amusing themselves by asking for prices on things they might want to have if you build them for them REALLY cheaply. So, do we do a sketch and then ask for money? A sketch, a scale drawing and a firm price? What's the custom over there? I have posted more details of a recent incident I had on my blog at
http://dorsetcustomfurniture.blogspot.com/2009/05/to-deisgn-fee-or-not-to-design-fee.html
It's only occasionally a problem, but when it is one, it's pretty annoying, so I'm looking for a policy to post on my website ... Any ideas? Thanks for your input .... dan

 

[danmosheim]

Thank you all for your comments ... I have just posted my 'new design fee' policy to my blog. After I think about it a little more, (and maybe receive further comments), I will post it to my website. Here it is ... for more details, visit my blog ... thanks .. dan

Design Fee Policy

Over the years I have always considered the interpreting of my customers’ ideas, both potential and repeat customers, part of my job description, and, unless it was obviously going to be a major undertaking, (a library, a large entertainment center, a kitchen) a free service to them. In the past most of my customers came to me by word of mouth with some background from the person who referred them to me and this ‘free design’ policy was a fine one. With the rise of the internet as a referral tool, more and more people come to us, (thankfully), but with no introduction and no in person visit to our shop where they can plainly see the nature and scope of our business. As a result, sometimes the design process has the potential to get out of hand as it’s very easy to say, ‘I’d like an estimate on a coffee table sort of like this, but maybe like that … Nooooo.. that’s not what I had in mind …. ‘ in an email. I recently had a 34 email exchange with a potential client regarding a small project that sucked up an unbelievable amount of my time. It was a ‘rush’ job and I always thought I was just ‘one more email’ away from the resolution of it. I was so sure I even made sample inlays in abalone and mother-of-pearl before receiving a nickel from them. (WHAT WAS I THINKING?) Anyway, the process came to an ugly end and left me pondering how best to avoid this in the future. After a little more consideration, I will be probably be posting this policy to my website and will refer potential new clients to it if it seems appropriate.

Here’s what I’ll do for free :

Have a meeting or two of reasonable length, say an hour or so, at my shop or at their house close by …. No Charge …. More than ½ hour travel time from my shop, meetings MAY involve travel time reimbursement. The client will be informed in advance and the charge will be assessed at my discretion, probably depending on how the meeting seems to go.

Provide concept sketches and one CAD scale drawing … No Charge

If design is ‘close’ but not finalized, I’ll provided a non binding ESTIMATE of the project’s cost including shipping and installation. No Charge

If we move on from there without at that time, a formal agreement, I will request a non-refundable, but applied to the total cost, design fee that seems appropriate to the project at hand, most likely a two to four hour fee amount. If that is used up, we probably have a problem and we’ll have to take it from there with a new design fee agreement ….

I hope this is clear and that it will help both me and my customers to understand that design is not something that happens but is a sometimes complicated and time consuming process. And, time is really all we’ve REALLY got..