What would you charge for this?

[Nigel Burden]

Not woodworking related, but I am a retired driving instructor, and the issue of pricing comes up quite frequently amongst ADIs (DVSA Approved Driving Instructors). A realistic hourly rate would be in the region of £40 per hour. Most ADIs are charging around £25 per hour in this area. It wasn't helped by one charging £16 per hour, that was three years ago. Bear in mind that to charge for driving tuition you have to by law, have taken and passed the DVSAs three exams. They are, a hundred question theory test, a pass was 85%, a driving test, and then the killer, a test of instructional ability. Most could pass the first two without too much problem, but the last was the one most failed on. Three fails at any one of these and you had to go back and retake all again. All this, and yet this guy was charging £16 per hour. This meant that even the top grade instructors were struggling to charge anything more than £25 per hour.

Nigel.

 

[AJB Temple]

Moved

 

[owen]

You work on average over 120-hours a week and never take holidays? I’d make your money quickly, you’ll be dead soon!

Aidan

Where does 120 hours a week come from? I work between 45-50 hours every week. I am young ish, (31) and I enjoy working so why not? I understand overheads etc, but what overheads would someone have who's going to just bash a melamine topped table together in a garage that makes it acceptable to charge £45 an hour?

 

[TheTiddles]

Where does 120 hours a week come from? I work between 45-50 hours every week. I am young ish, (31) and I enjoy working so why not? I understand overheads etc, but what overheads would someone have who's going to just bash a melamine topped table together in a garage that makes it acceptable to charge £45 an hour?

100,000/15=6,666/52=128

 

[owen]

100,000/15=6,666/52=128

Sorry, I meant if I earnt £45 an hour as suggested by someone else.
100000/45=2222/52=42.7

 

[Bristol_Rob]

£100 Min

 

[TheTiddles]

Sorry, I meant if I earnt £45 an hour as suggested by someone else.
100000/45=2222/52=42.7

Oh I see. But earning £45 and charging £45 per hour are very different things too
Aidan

 

[Deadeye]

£300
Half day apprentice; half day qualified (2x)

But the chips are a shocker.

 

[MikeJhn]

I'd be embarrassed to charge anything for that top, put it down to good will and hope to get more work from them later where you can show how good you are.

And I would have at the very least got hold of some White Enamel paint and touched up the chips.

 

[Sad Pangolin]

Explain? Based on the hours I work that's over 100k a year

Consider watching on Youtube on the Essential Craftsman channel "five mistakes most contractors make". One of the things he goes into is pricing: If you get all the bids you quote on, you're asking too little.

Simple figures: if you work 2000 (paid) hours a year at £15/h you make 30K gross. Now if you work 1500 (paid) hours a year at £45/h you've lost some horrible jobs for cheapskate nitwits, but you have a better quality of life (a quarter less work = 10x more free time as there's only 24h/day and your overheads of sleeping/washing/cleaning/eating stay the same) plus 67.5K.

With the better money you get better tools (e.g. a spare/ fewer breakdowns = more productive; and a Feyn vibrates so much less than a cheapo multitool which is less wear on your tendons = less RSI = longer life in better shape and less noise = less hearing loss = happier life as people around you don't think you're ignoring them on purpose when you didn't hear). With better tools comes better work, as you're not eking out the limits of the tool/ stretching the possible, and/or you're fresher (arms less numb from vibrations, etc).

If links allowed to newbies: --- the man is no oracle but very thoughtful and obviously skilled over a wide set of things (especially, he knows what he doesn't know). Edit:

put it down to good will and hope to get more work from them later

He also warns very convincingly against this, unless it's really meant as a charity.

In the services world (hotels/B&Bs, restaurants, and especially photographers) and fashion (crafts, jewelry, clothes) the whole "influencers" world has thoroughly soured this: Gimme your stuff free and I'll praise it to my (500 or 5million) followers --- strong backlash against this developing as very few see this "exposure" turn into any kind of sales.

 

[thetyreman]

he's talking about carpentry work though, and it's in the USA not UK, I've seen some of his vids and he knows his stuff, our economy and ways of working are different, including what we can charge per hour.

 

[TRITON]

Last shop was in, which was about 12 years ago, the boss was charging customers £250/day for each of us on site. Working as cabintmakers.

But what to ask is always the question, and theres never really an answer to that.
eg. A sideboard in exotics, details, sturdy and reliable will cost anywhere from £3500, to £17,000 OR MOREdependenmt on where the maker is. I've sold an oak cabinet in Scotland for £2200 and during a London show the same thing we sold for £5800

I sometimes wonder if its just down to how brass your neck is