What do you charge? Share your experience

Hi, I know silly question but what do you normally charge your customer for laser cutting/engraving?
I know it various, but we've just recently started providing such service for other individuals/companies.
For example you need to cut/engrave some sort of things from MDF/PLY, to make them look nice we mask them on front and back to avoid burnt marks/flashbacks but should we?
Should we charge extra for this? Also once masked should we remove the masking tape from final pieces? It takes quite a while if there are lots of small pieces and details.
Do you let customers into your workshop or keep them at the reception? Haha...
It would be great if you could share your experience with what you deal on a daily basis?

No customers in the shop.... ever. I have a pickup and drop off location. What to charge per hour, what is your labor, material and overhead costing you?

>>to make them look nice we mask them on front and back to avoid burnt marks/flashbacks but should we?<<

Yes. You don't want to put out sub-standard work just because a client is not willing to pay you what you need to charge to make a reasonable profit. Your work is your "business card" and you don't want to put out bad "business cards" that other potential customers will see.

Sometimes when customers are balking at a price it can help to break the bill out into itemized lists so they can understand the effort and expense you are putting out. They can choose to do some of the work themselves if they want to save money but only offer them options that allow them to do work that most likely won't affect the quality of the final product. For example, if they want to do the weeding, that should be fine to make optional. Masking that is required to produce quality work should not be optional.

Nope to letting anyone in the work area. Mainly because I don't want the liability of them somehow injuring themselves in some way or accidentally breaking something.

Just one person's opinion though and I will be interested to hear other people's thoughts.

I do my best to work for commercial customers so I don't have the issue of people coming to my house. I have only one grade of work---the best I can do.

I price my work according to what I perceive the market to be. There are add-ons on some things--for example control panel labels. Bevels, tape, magnetic tape etc.

Everyone has always been welcome to come into this house for the past 48 years. Can't engrave 'while you wait' firearms unless they can come in ;)

I enjoy people's first foray into my basement, I really should have my GoPro set up to capture the looks on peoples faces when the reach the bottom of the stairs and see what's down here. 9 out of 10 times their first words are "holy ****!

This place has always been an industrial engraving shop but with a fair share of one-off 'street' work. These days most one-off work I can take care of just inside the front door, but a lot of the industrial work takes some discussion, and that's always been done here in the basement, or out in the garage since my 'expansion' :)

Pricing? I estimate time and try to get better than a buck a minute. Sometimes I end up getting 6, average is about 2, the higher amounts cancelling out the 'wow, shoulda charged more for THAT job' jobs..

As for the question of masking wood, take into consideration the amount of time and material it takes TO mask the wood, and to remove all the pieces afterward. You might save time making several light engraving passes that won't stain the wood in the first place. And even if the engraving takes longer than the masking process, when the machine is running, you're free to make money doing something else. When you're sitting at a table for a half-hour doing tedious grunt work, you're NOT...

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Originally Posted by Kev Williams

...the higher amounts cancelling out the 'wow, shoulda charged more for THAT job' jobs...

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lol We all have those from time to time. Seems no matter how long we do this, every now & then our brain either ceases to function while quoting a job or some other force of nature causes a job to be more than it should have been.

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Originally Posted by Bill George

No customers in the shop.... ever. I have a pickup and drop off location. What to charge per hour, what is your labor, material and overhead costing you?

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This is a good point, Bill. We tend to let clients into a workshoop as it is easier to show different materials and options but I think the best way would be to make some stands to display them and put at the reception.</p>

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Originally Posted by Tim Bateson

lol We all have those from time to time. Seems no matter how long we do this, every now & then our brain either ceases to function while quoting a job or some other force of nature causes a job to be more than it should have been.

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I had one a few months ago that the guy I pay $13.50/hour to run my lasers made more on the job than I did... Can you say "grossly underestimated in a huge way"...

Ivan & All -
When it comes to figuring out what to charge for things, I&#39;d just like to add this thought. Once I set a mark-up that covers the basics (set-up time, work-time, material costs, S&H, etc.) from there I determine what I feel is the &quot;perceived value&quot; to the customer! For it&#39;s this &quot;perceived value&quot;, not a standard markup, that turns a $5 Home Depot granite tile into a $89 sale! Whereas, even at a 4x mark-up, that&#39;d only come to $20; right? How would you feel &#39;bout paying $30 for a stone grave marker, &#39;stead of $400?- sure you&#39;re saving money, but would it have the feeling? - just my thought for the day. BILL

Rather than start new thread, wanted to ask opinion from those here that might have experience in similar job. I've mainly been doing one offs, have had a couple of industrial type jobs but were small parts that I could easily move and quickly position and engrave, plastic and metal. Satisfied with the pricing I gave and value that customer got. And so far they seem to have too.

Now new potential is a much larger part, about 10 pounds each, fiber laser time will be a minute. And there will be several hundred to do. So I'll be moving a litteral ton of material to laser and another ton to completed area. So should this be a large part of the project cost, or not. It will definitely be physical work. I'm guessing it will be a minute each to pick up position correctly and then remove after lasering.

Comments? Tia

Of course, you have to take it into account. Not to mention that they may deliver the material in a container you have no means to handle. I can think of 2 large, heavy, high dollar, jobs that I referred to friends in the business because I could not physically handle them.

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Originally Posted by Mike Null

Of course, you have to take it into account. Not to mention that they may deliver the material in a container you have no means to handle. I can think of 2 large, heavy, high dollar, jobs that I referred to friends in the business because I could not physically handle them.

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Or when they deliver them in boxes, products in individual packaging, like cling wrap or zip lock component bags and it takes you longer to open the box and then bag and then put it back in the bag and then box, then it takes you to engrave the part. Time to open and repack part- 2 minutes each. Time to engrave - 3 seconds.

"Perceived value"-- problem is, it's based on YOUR perception, not necessarily your customer's ;)

Some examples-- customers who don't bat an eye to pay $1500 for a couple of cases of mass-produced Hydroflasks, but for some reason, they just can't seem to afford $400 to have them custom engraved, and want to haggle. But hey, I haggle. Because the customers I drop my prices to, come back. One new customer just loves giving out trinkets with his biz name and logo on them. I just finished up a couple dozen water bottles for him, and right now I'm etching both sides of some cheap mini-leatherman knockoffs for him, quite cheaply. Because, while he may think they're a good 'perceived value' at 2 or 3x my current price, he might not be so quick to come back with more stuff to engrave. But he's so happy with my price as is he's out looking for more stuff to bring me! And even my lowball is worth $150 in about 45 minutes.

What am I charging? .........

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Originally Posted by Gary Hair

I had one a few months ago that the guy I pay $13.50/hour to run my lasers made more on the job than I did... Can you say "grossly underestimated in a huge way"...

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The laser equivalent of "Hold my beer and watch this" just before waking up in the emergency department :) been there...done that :):)

I'm not sure if this fits this discussion but I have three different rates I charge for the same signs depending on the area of the state my customer is located. All three areas vary considerably in the cost of doing business, although It doesn't affect my costs to manufacture I still feel that I am within a reasonable boundary to adjust my fee to fit the destination and its a common business practice for commercial work.

Just some food for thought.