Okay, ya gotta love it! I certainly do and I tend to be hypercritical of my own work. Only thing is that I have GOT to figure out a better way of quoting prices for spindles.
I would love to have some feedback here actually. Personally, I feel that pricing artowork out at $10.00 per hour is really reasonable. That's what I typically shoot for when I do custom orders. Of course, there is some variation, but overall, I do try to be reasonable on both ends; yours and mine.
Guess how many hours it took me to complete the spindle you see above? No idea? Six hours over two days since I couldn't sit for more than 3 hours straight painting without my neck hurting and eyes crossing! LOL!!
So with our "reasonable" $10.00 per hour, this spindle should price out at $60.00 right? Nope. I quoted it at $30.00! So I am making $5.00 per hour, the same amount my 13 year-old daughter makes when she gives a riding lesson! ACK!!! I know some teenage babysitters who make more than that!
It's certainly not the fault of the person who ordered the spindle and I don't expect them to make up for my mistake.
I would love feedback from any and all of you as to how I should go about pricing spindles. Should I just quote the $10.00 per hour and then you take your chances as to how many hours it really takes me to paint the spindle or should I keep trying to give estimates? I hate to overprice my spindles and make them unreachable for everyone who wants one.
I have always tried to make sure they are affordable. It's one reason that I have not gone to any custom turned spindles since that would really inflate the prices and make them super expensive. Plus, the ones I am making right now spin great! I use two of the "Ravens" all the time these days and I really love how they spin.
I have been having this debate with myself ever since starting this venture. Any input would really help.
Thank you all!
Peace & Joy,
Jen
Speaking as one who has an order pending.... you deserve a reasonable rate for your work. You work is worthy of what you can get for it. Don't undervalue yourself! If someone wants it badly enough, they'll find a way to afford it, even if it means they have to ask Santa! If your spindles spin well, and the artwork is both ART and WORK, well, as broke as I am, it's worth the wait. Charge what you think is fair.
ReplyDeleteJMO.
Cheryl
I'm with Cheryl. (Hi, Cheryl! We're Guild-mates.) As the owner of 4 (5?) of your spindles, I think you underprice them by a *lot*. They are art and should be priced as such. You don't see Sheila Bosworth or Greensleeves or the other spindle makers pricing their work at $5 an hour. I could see underpricing while you were building a customer base, but Jen, YOU HAVE ONE! People love your spindles and your paintings. You need to charge more than teenage babysitting wages. Tell customers it will be $10 an hour & give a guesstimate on the # of hours; maybe quarantee it won't go over a certain amount. That gives you and the customer some insurance. JMHO YMMV.
ReplyDeleteJen I also agree. As someone who has three of your spindles and knows they spin great I think you more than deserve it. My opinion would be to offer soft quotes or really just stimates and request some kind of deposit. Maybe like half of the estimate or something. That way if it takes longer and the buyer renigs you still have something to show for your work and can offer it up in your store and still cover your time and effort.I would also say give a quote that relies on more time than you think it will actually take. I like the other idea of giving the max # of hours you will take (though I'm sure that will be hard!) That will give you a buffer and also would seem really great to the buyer if it takes less than that. Like the others have said- it is art and work, something that should be well compensated for- especially custom orders!
ReplyDeleteyou know the wood work alone on some of these spindles is worth 30.00, so the hand painted artwork is worth much more. even though it is expensive, the 60.00 you would have quoted was reasonable. however if you know that this type of work is going to tend to get expensive, you can photograph the finished painting and add the photo of the painting on the spindle aftwards. your customer will still be getting the beautiful picture at an affordable price, unless they specify want an original hand painted spindle. you should copywrite each painting and save a photo in your data base and then if someone offers to buy the original spindle, then charge them the correct price.
ReplyDeletegood luck! your spindles are beatiful. i hope you work out something you and your customers feel is good for the both of you.
$10/hr is totally reasonable, and I think if you clarified it up front, people would be more than willing to pay that.
ReplyDeleteI, also believe that the $60 you would have quoted was reasonable. I would pay that for the beautiful job you've done!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I will say that I would be nervous by not knowing how much the final cost would be--as I am on a pretty tight budget. Would a range work? Where price is guesstimated based on detail? I'm not a painter, so I'm not clear on this sort of thing, but perhaps a scale of difficulty, based on how long similar paintings have cost, time-wise?
They are lovely, and I look forward to seeing more!
You definitely deserve a decent rate per hour - considering your experience & quality, $10 per hour seems low to me. Especially for an original, custom piece! Perhaps if you estimated high, if it came out that it took less time - pleasant surprise. I'm sure you put every bit of work into your painting that men like Bosworth do the woodwork, and it's surely not worth less.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you for all your comments! I have always been afraid to charge too much for my work. It drives my husband insane. LOL! But like I have always said, I really want peopel to have these and enjoy them. I will definitely take some of the suggestions you all have made.
ReplyDeleteAs for an open ended quote, no I would not do that. I am also on a fairly tight budget and I would never want to have a surprise of that nautre either.
I have gotten some great feedback from all fo you and I really, really apprecaite it!
Thanks!
Jen
Speaking as the person who ordered this spindle, (and found the artwork), I am very pleased with it as it will make an outstanding present for my daughter! I have learned through the years that sometimes we underestimate ourselves in business, so we end up every now and then 'eating' our time. It is not easy to price art or handwork as some will pay and some will not, as well as handwork normally sells higher in metropolitan areas than it will in rural areas.
ReplyDeleteI would like you to know that Jen and I have made a deal on this spindle and I am not ripping her off or holding her to the original price estimate. I am an artist myself and have had to 'eat' a few sales since the buyer would not negotiate. I would not do that to anyone else.
Page
Yes! To ALL. Page never, ever tried to "rip me off" in regards to this spindle! It was totally my fault because my estimate was low.
ReplyDeleteJen
Jen, that is probably my favorite spindle you have done to date! And you have painted some beauties as you well know. I think the more and longer you are at this, the better you are getting! The detail work is incredible. My sister would LOVE this. Too bad she isn't a spnner, just a horsewoman like us.
ReplyDeleteHi LIsa,
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Well, I CAN paint other things besides spindles! LOL!!
Cheers!
Jen