Latest Project - Oak Coffee Table

[Slim]

This is a coffee table made for a friend of the family.





Breadboard ends pinned on with walnut dowels (Mutley does the quality control )



Tenon's pinned as well for continuity.



It's finished with danish oil.

This being only the second piece I have been commissioned to make, I am not very sure what to charge. What do you think would be a fair price? Wood cost about £100 and it took approx 20 hours to build.

Many thanks

 

[DomValente]

Nice table Simon.

The wood cost you £100.00, what about the glue, sandpaper,Danish oil,rags.
We would need to know if you're working from home and if this is just an occasional piece you are making, or do you have fully fitted premises.
If the latter is the case and it took you 20 hours, which in the commercial world seems a long time then £700.00.


Dom

 

[Slim]

Thanks for the reply Dom,

I only have a home workshop and this is just a piece someone asked me to make for them. Up until recently, I only ever made furniture for myself and family, hence why I am unsure what to charge.

 

[DomValente]

In which case Simon and as long as you don't intend to go into this as a business you must charge whatever your conscience will allow but more than your pocket can afford.

Dom

 

[Slim]

Conscience? Whats one of them then?

so, £15,000 then, cushdi... :wink:

 

[tulsk]

£200 and a pint labour, John

 

[santiniuk]

Really nice piece of work.

It's great to see good quality furniture these days.

Cheers

 

[mailee]

I would second that, 200 greenies. i normally total up all of my materials and then double the price on most jobs and it seems to work well. :wink:

 

[Gary S]

Looks great - I plan to build one soon and I hope mine turns out as well as yours. I really like the walnut dowels - might have to copy that... :roll:

If it took you 20 hours and your wood and parts cost best part of £110 then charging £200 equates to £4.50 per hour labour - you wouldn't work for that but to be 'paid' to do a hobby is no bad thing, especially if it's for a friend.

If you're happy with that then I'm sure your friend will agree £200 is very good value - you should tell them it took you 20 hours.

It's difficult isnt it - if you tell them it's £400 they'll think you're taking the mickey but if you charge for the timber alone then you're being taken advantage of.

Let us know how much you charged and how it went down...

Cheers

Gary

 

[PowerTool]

Excellent piece of furniture,Simon - nice design and lovely choice of timbers.

I have the same problem trying to price my turnings ; my ballpark figures are generally cost of all materials,plus labour at £5/hr - this makes something like a 6" diameter,2" high bowl approx.£15 (£5 materials + 2 hours labour) although again,it's a hobby and not a living.Saw a turners website recently where their costing was diameter x height x 2,which would make the same bowl £24.
So at £200 (which sounds like a very fair price) your labour is earning you £5/hr - the question is,are you happy at that ?

Andrew

 

[tulsk]

Simon, I don't know about you but I hate sticking my hand out. I usually let the wife sort that bit out as she doesn't have any problem!
As woodworking isn't my primary income source there isn't any pressure as such to turn any significant profit, but I discipline myself to make sure the hobby is totally self financing. To that end if I had just handed over that splendid piece I would be thinking of any renumeration in terms of a nice plane or sets of chisels etc.
I do agree with the above suggestion of making the recipiant aware of how much time as gone into it as they can relate this to a fair rate, bearing in mind we can only "suggest" as we are not vat registered (well I'm not anyway).
The other danger as has already been hinted at, is selling your time too cheaply in which case there is a danger of becoming muggins, with a queue of folk at your door, it is a balancing act. My advice is just to stick to family and very close friends FWIW.

After saying all that whatever you charge your friend is on to a winner because that is a lovely table. I prefer simple functional designs such as this where the wood can speak for itself (! sounds a bit arty for an old collier) so I would be chuffed to have it in my lounge- congrats , John

 

[bobscarle]

Simon.

I have exactly the same problem. As a hobbyist I can afford to charge only for the price of the wood.

I recently made a kitchen table for my brother from oak. The price I charged him was £145 which is what it cost me to build it. From their point of view, this was exceptionally cheap compared to the £600 ones they were looking at. But then I started thinking, is that really all it cost? Yes the timber cost that much but with so many joints I used a lot of glue. The drawer bottoms were made from 6mm ply that I had "spare". The sandpaper was already in the shed. 3 things that I bought, not for the project, that I had not considered. There must be a few others as well, heat and light for one.

I think that it is an excellent idea to price a piece at what it cost then add some to buy yourself a treat. Add in all the bits including the stuff you had "just lying around" as you will have bought this once.

Whatever you do, make sure that you are happy with the price. I do not mind giving my time for free as it is not my source of income. I know that this is not an option for some as they must earn a living.

Just my thoughts on the matter

Bob

 

[woodbloke]

Nice table - as a hobbiest woodworkier I think that around £5 per hour is about right, so £200 or so seems a fair shout - Rob

 

[Slim]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

I am delivering it this evening, I think I may charge £250. You are right that it is good for a hobby to be self financing, With that in mind, I have been after a Leigh DC1600 dovetail jig. When you subtract the wood and consumables from that price, it will only cost me £100.

It's amazing the endless ways in which you can justify your next tool purchase, isn't it. :wink:

 

[MarcW]

Hi,

I just read this excellent thread and found very good ideas. Thank you!

I can add maybe this experience made during the last job. A friend of my girl-friend wanted some special purpose made maple shelves for his yet unfinished house. I didn't dare asking him money except that for the wood etc., because I know those first years in a new house can be financially hard times and we could cope with only ten hours. I only asked him to assist me and help me where he could. The first evening we planed by hand a 4cm thick and 3m long board and he realized how hard to use a fore plane is. At a moment he was embarrassed to have asked me. I smiled kindly, said there was no problem and passed on to the jointer...

I think often people do not realize what it means , how long it takes and the sweat that goes into. And if we not tell them, they'll never know. So for me this thread encouraged me to take 5 GBP per hour and to not feel bad by doing that.