Wear & Tear vs Price Points

[tchadwyk]

Okay,

So I am designing a new snow meter gauge with a gnome on top...its cute as ol getup and I'll share it once I cut one and make sure all is good, but thats not my point.

Here is the point. This thing is 7x34" and has 20 pierce points. They will sell here in Canada for $80 all day long and I'll do alright on them.

Now, my least complicated 23.5" monogram sign has 124 pierce points (that train design y'all have seen) and will only sell at $140. And thats IF the person doesn't want to wait for an $80 jobby from Ch...Chi....I can't even type it. Anyway...So I can make two of these Sgnome Meters...(clever right?) with 40 pierce points and make $20 more with less wear on the rig than I can for a custom monogram sign.

My question for you fine folk is this.... whats the point? Is the wear and tear on the torch worth the pain in the ass dealing with clients who want three or four type font options for less dollhairs worth it? Help me change my perspective here.

Thanks y'all and hope everyone is having a super joyful holiday season!

[acourtjester]

Tire kicker are a pain, turn it around on them by asking would they take less for doing more work in what they do. You may make up a wall chart the show time involved it doing a project, custom work is not like you walk over to a shelf and pull out what they want.
Art work XX per hour
Material handling XX per hour
Cutting time XX per hour
clean up and finishing XX per hour

[plasmanewbie]

Sgnome Meter....clever indeed and can't wait to see it!

Anyway as to your question I would just charge what you need for the job and if they don't want to pay what you need than move on.

If you feel it is costing you more in consumables than its worth, charge more or don't do it.

As for wear on the torch there really isn't any it's just the consumables that wear so charge accordingly.

[beefy]

For the customer it's all about perception, i.e. what value something has to them and what they perceive it's worth to be.

For me, part of the art of business is finding those products that are quicker, easier, and cheaper to make but will sell for more.
But at the end of the day, just work out your time, effort, material/consumable costs, etc then work out a price that keeps you happy.

If it won't sell at that price, abandon that product and move on to the next one. You got to make it worthwhile otherwise you'll end up abandoning the business instead of some products.

[adbuch]

Tire kicker are a pain, turn it around on them by asking would they take less for doing more work in what they do. You may make up a wall chart the show time involved it doing a project, custom work is not like you walk over to a shelf and pull out what they want.
Art work XX per hour
Material handling XX per hour
Cutting time XX per hour
clean up and finishing XX per hour

Great suggestion Tom! That's exactly what I do - basically time and materials (and I consider consumables to be "materials"). Same as quoting a cnc machining job - I include cost for cutters, etc.
David

[adbuch]

For the customer it's all about perception, i.e. what value something has to them and what they perceive it's worth to be.

For me, part of the art of business is finding those products that are quicker, easier, and cheaper to make but will sell for more.
But at the end of the day, just work out your time, effort, material/consumable costs, etc then work out a price that keeps you happy.

If it won't sell at that price, abandon that product and move on to the next one. You got to make it worthwhile otherwise you'll end up abandoning the business instead of some products.

Keith - I very much agree! I've got some products that take about twice the effort and machining time and only sell for a little bit more than some others that take only about 1/2 the time. But I just take "the good with the bad" and end up doing all of them and it sort of averages out. Fortunately I get much more demand for the quicker parts than those that take twice the time.
David

[tchadwyk]

Thanks Folks. Appreciate all ya'll taking the time to write a response. It all makes a bundle of sense of course.