Woodworking Hourly Rate

[rcarmac]

Just curious, when you are working on woodworking projects where you are getting paid, do you have an hourly rate you are trying to get.

If you are just pricing it per job, I would assume some hourly rate is being factored in.

 

[Graywolf]

Never less than $25 an hour. I generally price at per job basis but I do account for my time. You have to be honest with yourself about your own skill level before pricing. You also need to look at what other like items are priced at.

 

[Mike Davis]

I should be making $50 hour, I never do, except when I design textiles for huge corporations. People don’t value creativity, unique ideas, skill, solid construction, fine wood. They want cheap easily replaced glitzy plastic junk. The corporations are begrudgingly willing to pay because they make millions off my designs.

 

[Echd]

I am hardly a master of woodworking but I fully agree with Mike... most people don't want stuff that's truly difficult to make or that requires skill. They want epoxy pours, tiktok trends, and the hotness of the day on pinterest. They'll pay $50 for some stapled together (literally!) Plywood cutouts from hobby lobby. Seriously! My mother showed me her new plywood Manger scene from hobby lobby yesterday... it's got no glue holding it together, it's just stapled together, even on edges! She asked me if I could do anything to hide the staples. I told her it was a lost cause but if she had taken a picture of it and bought a sheet of 1/4" ply I could have made it in minutes.

If it's not something I'm donating or a job involving a lot of trial and error to develop something I might sell to other people, I normally say a minimum of $100 and charge about what I figure will be $50 an hour. I'll bend those for a good reason but for general purpose that's where I ballpark. It has to be worth my time and at least as valuable as my day job if I'm going to do it after hours. That also gets rid of the tire kickers who want, as an example of a recent request, a gigantic hardwood wall sign in the style of Jurassic Park with their kid's name on it inlaid with epoxy for color, but only want to spend $50.

I don't do it for a living so I can choose to be selective. I don't know how those who do actual craft, turning, and small scale furniture building for a living can get by.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

At Haywood Community College (where our first scholarship is going) we were baselined at $35 per hour, and that was before this last bout of inflation. If you include the time you have to spend cleaning up after your woodworking and finishing, maintaining your equipment, replenishing your consumed supplies and blades, running around purchasing materials and delivering, and some flat charge/hour for running your business, you have topped $50/hour for the time you actually spend making something. Now put a price on the hours every week you have to spend on social media advertising your work and promoting yourself to establish credibility. Guess what: you just priced yourself out of the market. You can't possibly make anything and sell it for less than $150, especially if you have to pay commissions to retail outlets who usually only take hand crafted pieces on consignment.

Making a living as a craftsperson or artist is an odds-against proposition. You have to be dedicated to your craft and willing to live life as a starving artist until you get your big break, which is never guaranteed. If you're just doing your woodworking as a hobby and trying to make a little pocket money, good for you, but your pricing will undercut the market for everyone who is striving to make a living.

 

[mdbuntyn]

A desired hourly rate should certainly factor into your pricing. Listen to the following podcast episodes for more information:

MFP 011: Pricing - Understanding Your Market - MADE FOR PROFIT

Today we’re starting a 3 part series on pricing your products. We’ll start with Understanding your Market. Before you can price your work, you need to know your product, your competition, and your customer. We’ll dive into each of these hit some of the high points to consider. Support us on...

madeforprofit.com

MFP 012: Pricing - Pricing Methods - MADE FOR PROFIT

Today we’re onto our 2nd part of our Pricing series. We’re going to talk about the nuts and bolts, the down and dirty, how to come up with a price for your products. We’ll walk you through several methods and give you some of the pro’s and cons of each to help you price your […]

madeforprofit.com

MFP 013: Pricing - Most Asked Questions - MADE FOR PROFIT

Today we’re going to finish up our 3 part Pricing series. We’re going to hit on some of the most asked pricing questions we’ve gotten since we began the podcast and give some more details on the major points we hit last week. Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/madeforprofit Key Takeaways...

madeforprofit.com

 

[Roy G]

I sold a few bowls and priced them at $5.00 per inch of diameter. A 12" diameter bowl would go for $60. Nowadays I give them as gifts. A lot less hassle.

Roy G

 

[Echd]

At Haywood Community College (where our first scholarship is going) we were baselined at $35 per hour, and that was before this last bout of inflation. If you include the time you have to spend cleaning up after your woodworking and finishing, maintaining your equipment, replenishing your consumed supplies and blades, running around purchasing materials and delivering, and some flat charge/hour for running your business, you have topped $50/hour for the time you actually spend making something. Now put a price on the hours every week you have to spend on social media advertising your work and promoting yourself to establish credibility. Guess what: you just priced yourself out of the market. You can't possibly make anything and sell it for less than $150, especially if you have to pay commissions to retail outlets who usually only take hand crafted pieces on consignment.

Making a living as a craftsperson or artist is an odds-against proposition. You have to be dedicated to your craft and willing to live life as a starving artist until you get your big break, which is never guaranteed. If you're just doing your woodworking as a hobby and trying to make a little pocket money, good for you, but your pricing will undercut the market for everyone who is striving to make a living.

I'm convinced that the only real money in craft work comes from social media or other outlets (such as instruction). Seems that every youtube channel or media outlet example of an everyman mcboringguy learning how to do woodworking or doing the kind of stuff I like to do either withers or turns into a nonstop tool review channel using donated tools, but little to no actual woodwork takes place... looking at you, 731 woodworks in particular. I enjoyed watching a guy quit his job and get into woodworking for a living on a normal human budget. Now it's a new video of Amazon affiliate links every day, and proudly wearing a title of "pocket hole king".

Or being a carpenter or finish carpenter doing craftwork on the side.

 

[FredP]

75 an hour for shop time plus materials. You have to figure in all incidental costs. Blades bits sharpening sand paper electric ect. If it's not profitable I don't do it. I try to figure out about how much time I'll have in and give a ballpark estimate. The customer agrees or goes elsewhere. The incidentals are part of the hourly rate.

 

[Oka]

Bit in the weeds - Ever wonder why rates are higher with established companies ? Here is a basic calculation to use for labor costs & material for a typical company preparing an estimate.

This would equal Labor Rate x 25% tax/insurance + 7.65% SS + Fica/futa 6% Or Labor rate + 43%.

So figure- 50/hr x 1.43 + Cost of material x 1.2 The 20% Markup covers the buying and delivering time (not really) but remember when running a business you need to cover the costs that you will incur. Estimating is the lost costs. However, if you document your estimates time in terms of costs, this is tax deductible.

So, 5 hours x 50.00 x 1.43 = 357.50 labor + 100.00 material x 1.20 = 120 dollars or 477.50 in total.

Another way to look at understanding market rate. Traditionally, rent/mortgage is calculated @ 27-32% of you gross monthly salary as a basis.

Considering Charlotte rent for a 2 bedroom apt/house is 1100-1500/ average, the median rate is 1250 converted into hourly rate would be 60/hr +/-

Just another way to look at where people feel the cost burden driving rates.

Union Carpenter rate is 45-51/ hour + benefit package. So, 90% union hourly labor rate is often used for side jobs without the benefit package costs.

So all the above meandering only looks at where rates likely should be, but does not look at actual rates people are willing to work for (desperation factor)

Me ? I am willing to pay 90/hr for a real qualified talented carpenter than 3 want-to-be's as that one guy will produce more and with less errors than the 3.

I have nearly 40 years of experience seeing that ring more true than not.

So, the 1st question is how good are you at what you do ? then price to your real level and skill

..... Like I said a bit of in the weeds ............. but food for thought .....

 

[wsrhue]

I prefer to think about pricing by the day or preferably by the week. If you are making multiple items a day, how many can you make per day. Or, how many can you make in a week. How many weeks does a project take. Figuring out how much you need to make in a month based on you fixed costs is easier. The goal is to work a 30 hour week, not a 60 hour week. After a few months working 60 hour weeks you soon get a better understanding at how long things actually take. You should also think about how much you want to make per year and then work backwards. Make sure to plan for time off.

 

[Bill_L]

I never mark up the cost of wood or anything else I purchase. And I always feel as though it takes me longer to make whatever it is I'm trying to make. That's not the customer's fault. So I struggle with pricing. But I'm not making a lot of custom made things. Mostly cutting boards, coasters, cheese boards, etc. Not a lot of woodworking skill in that (unless you get into some of the optical illusion boards where precision matters). This isn't my day job so I'll charge enough to cover expenses and then a little bit more. I know I don't charge enough and should charge more.

 

[smallboat]

75 an hour for shop time plus materials. You have to figure in all incidental costs. Blades bits sharpening sand paper electric ect. If it's not profitable I don't do it. I try to figure out about how much time I'll have in and give a ballpark estimate. The customer agrees or goes elsewhere. The incidentals are part of the hourly rate.

Keep in mind (1) FredHr = 2.5 to 3 Hrs for the rest of us

 

[Richo B]

In my field puzzle creations are very custom and can bring in more money. But we're also selling to a very niche audience. Not the common consumer. Though I haven't started doing commission projects myself, yet, a custom puzzle box can go for $500-800 and a puzzle cabinet over $1000 depending on what the collector is willing to pay and its size. But the downside is that it can take a lot of hours to design and build these things so the hourly rate gets very low and it may not be worth doing it at all. I've been approached to do the type of stuff you see on social media like burned wood flag gun cabinets and furniture but people just don't realize that not all woodworkers make the same type of things.

 

[Berta]

People ask me all the time “How long did it take to do that?” I don’t know! I don’t time it. I make what I want when I want. How do I price it? I look around for similar things on line. (Like Etsy) and price accordingly. Then I think about my venue. Remember, Etsy is also factoring in shipping costs.

 

[Ricksmi]

I agree with some and disagree with some of you, I disagree with the comment that people want cheap junk. I don't do "by the hour" work the jobs I commission for are with people who want high quality custom woodwork. Yes my market is a niche market but the folks I build furniture for demand the very best and want custom one of a kind work. A dresser for a bedroom depending on size starts at $6000 and take up to 40 hours or more, dining tables $5000+. I hate making cutting boards but I sell them at 300 dollars each for a end grain board (12x18") and sell roughly 5 - 10 a month. (While glue and finish dry you make a cutting board cause I hate sitting and waiting) I only make cutting boards from my scraps so when I finish a set of tables, bedroom set I make cutting boards and maybe some clocks. I firmly believe if you take the time and put in the work with the wood and finding the market you will get a good return. There is a gentleman up the road from me who only makes pen and pencil sets, he sells his basic pens at 75-100 dollars depending on type. this year he has sold over 500 pens at 100 each, you do the math. But once again find your niche and you can do well. Just saying...

 

[mpeele]

I keep it real simple, 10 X cost of all materials and I don't use cheep materials.

 

[Wilsoncb]

You can probably make a lot more doing YouTube videos…but I would rather make less doing woodworking. Either way, your pay will not be instantly on par with the industry average. Takes making less than you think you are worth until you get a reputation, or somehow manage to go viral. Focus on quality, on time delivery and continuous improvement.

 

[gamiller3rd]

Best way to make a small fortune as a craftsman is to start with a large fortune