A guy I know has a gift store, and he asked me (or I asked him, I can't
remember how I got into this mess) if I wanted to Dork up some
projects--they were "accent tables" now that I'm thinking about it--in
his store to be sold on consignment. Now I have 2 accent tables, 2 end
tables and an adirondak chair with ottoman and the guy is telling me he
has a customer who wants a bar, a bar-type round table (48" height) and
2 chairs to go with the pair of end tables I have in the store.

Keep in mind, these tables have been sitting for a few weeks with
little to no interest. All of a sudden, a guy wants a whole room of
furniture? Yeah, right. After some key questions get asked, I find
out that the guy wants a table to match one he saw at a furniture
store, and I go look at the one he's talking about.

For $500 (the retail price of this 3-piece bar set), I couldn't even
come close to building it. Solid wood, no ply, lots of, um, fancy-ups
(inlaid rope mold in the table apron, flower carvings in the legs, etc)
and 2 Windsor-style bar-height chairs. I spoke to the store owner
today, and told him that if the guy likes that set, go ahead and buy
it, because he doesn't even want to know how much I would charge for
it.

Now I know that there have been about 2 gazillion threads about how
much to charge for stuff, but I've decided that as long as this is my
side job (I had WANTED to keep it a hobby) and not my front job, I
wasn't going to work for nothing.

Having said all that, all of y'all who ARE Dorking for your front job,
having to compete against stuff like that, my hat goes off. I know
that custom work demands a custom price and all that, but you fellers
sure have to know what you're doing in order to keep your labor costs
down enough to make a living against prices like that.

-Phil Crow

wrote in message
I know
that custom work demands a custom price and all that, but you fellers
sure have to know what you're doing in order to keep your labor costs
down enough to make a living against prices like that.

-Phil Crow

That, and finding clients that appreciate the hand craftsmanship.

It was somewhere outside Barstow when wrote:

Having said all that, all of y'all who ARE Dorking for your front job,
having to compete against stuff like that, my hat goes off.

You don't - there's just _no_ way you can compete against that
imported Indonesian stuff. Just the body filler bill for the dovetails
would break the budget.

If you want to make a profit on it, you have to find a different niche
to play in. Going head-to-head on this stuff hasn't a hope.

Most people have no clue how much labor/skill/tools goes into anything.
They've never done it. I've bemoaned the fact a number of times &
then found myself in the same situation.

I wanted some curtains. I looked in Sears & thought everything was
ugly & it cost $50. I wasn't going to pay $50 for a couple of rags to
hang on a window! So I made my own.

I'd never done that before & was clueless. I wound up with about 12
hours in, spent $30 on materials & the bottoms of the curtains aren't
very even, but I like them. I now think that $50 for a set of curtains
that I like is a bargain! G Live & learn.

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message

You don't - there's just _no_ way you can compete against that
imported Indonesian stuff. Just the body filler bill for the dovetails
would break the budget.

If you want to make a profit on it, you have to find a different niche
to play in. Going head-to-head on this stuff hasn't a hope.

Noticed yesterday at Sam's that the teak rockers have been further reduced
to $139. These are large, extra wide rockers, well designed and not badly
put together, although a bit of joint tightening will probably be in order
sooner rather than later.

I have two sitting on my front porch that they have held up well for a
couple of years and are as solid as new.

That much teak would cost me over $200/chair ... at my wholesale price.

You're right ... there's "riches in niches", but there's no competing with
that kind of material cost and cheaper labor.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

Figured that out a few years ago with acoustic guitars. Couldn't figure out
why guitars cost so %$#@* much, had the opportunity and a one year
assignment to Panama without the family and said "lets give it a try." 8
months, $500 in materials and about 300+ man-hours later, I learned why
acoustic guitars (the good ones) are so expensive, of course a lot of the
time would be better spent if you do multiple items simultaneously, but
still.

Now, if a friend sees mine and asks what it would cost for me to do one for
him, I tell to go to one of the guitar shops find the most expensive guitar
in the place add about 25% to the price. If he is still interested, we will
talk.

You're right until you actually sit down and do it, you really have no
concept of what goes into a project (to do it by hand).

The ones I really feel for are the custom cabinet guys. I went to a dental
equipment mfg for a class once, they also make all those cabinets you see in
the dentists office. The guy in the cabinet shop was showing me how they
cut wood. Tell the computer which cabinets set you want, feed in the stock
listed on the stock listed on the screen. The machine cuts and marks all
the pieces and spits them out the other side, takes about 10-15 minutes.
Try that on a table saw!

John C.

"Jim" wrote in message
ups.com...
Most people have no clue how much labor/skill/tools goes into anything.
They've never done it. I've bemoaned the fact a number of times &
then found myself in the same situation.

I wanted some curtains. I looked in Sears & thought everything was
ugly & it cost $50. I wasn't going to pay $50 for a couple of rags to
hang on a window! So I made my own.

I'd never done that before & was clueless. I wound up with about 12
hours in, spent $30 on materials & the bottoms of the curtains aren't
very even, but I like them. I now think that $50 for a set of curtains
that I like is a bargain! G Live & learn.

"snowdog" wrote in message

Now, if a friend sees mine and asks what it would cost for me to do one
for him, I tell to go to one of the guitar shops find the most expensive
guitar in the place add about 25% to the price. If he is still
interested, we will talk.

Just last week a couple of guys at work saw something I made and was sending
out as a gift. The conversation progressed into 'why don't you sell this
stuff." I shoed them a picture of the Tudor bench I made and asked what
they though I could sell them for. They agreed that $275 to $300 would be
good. Then I told them the material was $300 and that labor was probably
20+ hours. Would they pay $1000? Nope.

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "snowdog"
wrote:

Figured that out a few years ago with acoustic guitars. Couldn't figure out
why guitars cost so %$#@* much,

Funny that - I could never work out why they were so cheap. And
violins are even cheaper !