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How much to charge

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2K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  shawnmasterson 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've got my first paying gig, a friend is havin their first baby and they asked me to refinish the bassinet she had when she was a child.

It is solid wood with about 30 spindles, I am not sure how much to charge for this. They already bought the stain. Thanks for the help lumberjocks.
 
#2 ·
charge by the hour

no one here knows your skill level aside from the odd pen

maybe charge per spindle, refinished, what you would charge for a pen ?

oh ya, I forgot……. never work for friends or family and expect to be paid, and or treated fairly, and or keep your friends and family with any expectations of of keeping the "friend" part ?

I think its bad "Karma"

sometimes doing things for free, pay off ten fold, especially with friends and family

jus sayn : )
 
#3 ·
Yeah, what he said. If you charge them then set a price that is pretty high then you can tell them that you will keep track of your time and if it comes out lower you will charge that amount. If it is higher then you have set the top price. Maybe they will be happily surprised.
 
#5 ·
I told them they can pay me what they thought was fair after the project was done. I'm not looking for much enough to cover my supplies, anything beyond that is cake. They are having me design a couch table using black walnut that her grandfather milled many years ago, I think the advice is sound this will be very low cost if not free and make it up on the custom couch table.

I don't do this for a living just to support my hobbies. Thanks for the advice and I welcome it.
 
#8 ·
This one sounds dicey, but it sounds like you're right on by covering your supplies and keeping your fingers crossed for any extra. I second the notion that the final price should be most of the time lower than the estimate, people prefer to be pleasantly surprised vs. the alternative.
 
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