What does $2 per piece sound like?

[George Brown]

Gentlemen, would like your opinion. Quoting a job, consists of cutting 30 pieces (per set) of 3/4 plywood cut on the cnc, each piece about 1.5 ft x 3 ft (various sized triangles), then bevel cutting each side of all the pieces with various angles on the table saw. Customer supplies the plywood. They are promising about 5 sets every two months. What does $2/piece ($60 per set) sound like?

Thanks All
George

[Phil Thien]

How did you arrive at the $2 per?

Isn't it going to take a lot of time and put a lot of wear on the tooling for $2 each?

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

What does $2/piece ($60 per set) sound like?

Sounds about 5x not enough. How long will it take to do all 30 pieces complete? You should be getting at least $50/ hour minimum.

[Mike Heidrick]

$12-$15ea min

[Paul Gallian]

you say ?What does $2/piece ($60 per set) sound like?" -- it SOUND like a lot of time and work for very few of these $$$$$

[james mcgrew]

pre cut the bevel with an90 degree bit at a set depth then profile the perimeter cut,, why use the table saw

[Dan Hintz]

I hope that price doesn't include materials!

[George Brown]

No, the customer supplies the plywood.

[George Brown]

pre cut the bevel with an90 degree bit at a set depth then profile the perimeter cut,, why use the table saw

Jim, don't quite follow what you said. I understand using a 90 degree v-bit to cut the pieces instead of a straight bit, but what do you mean by "then profile the perimeter cut"? The perimeters will be various non-standard bevel angles, how do I profile it to the correct angle?

Thanks
George

[George Brown]

How did you arrive at the $2 per?

Isn't it going to take a lot of time and put a lot of wear on the tooling for $2 each?

You're right, it is a lot of wear on the cutters/saw. I have not given him the quote yet. Was trying to quote a price that I'd think he would be willing to pay. Doubt if he would pay even $10 per.

[Dan Hintz]

You're right, it is a lot of wear on the cutters/saw. I have not given him the quote yet. Was trying to quote a price that I'd think he would be willing to pay. Doubt if he would pay even $10 per.

Don't approach jobs based upon what a client is willing to pay if that value is less than the cost to run it with a profit. The guy down the road may only be willing to pay me $10 to cut out a design, but if it costs me $60 in time, it's a loss.

[Jim Underwood]

I don't even want to turn on my machine for less than $100...

[Russ D Wood]

I have a hobby machine so I no longer do it to pay the bills. However, when I was paying the bills I had taken the time to figure out my standard shop rate for any job. It came out to be $55 per hour. This was based on MY costs associated with electricity, heat, etc,. I also figured out a long time ago that no matter how simple or hard, EVERY job took an hour minimum, sooooooo a 1 hour minimum was established. Now that I run my machine for fun I still get those 'every once in awhile' jobs that somebody wants me to cut for them. Guess what, $55 per hour, 1 hour minimum. If they are supplying the materials then they also buy a new cutter in the price of the job. If I'm to high they walk away, if not, I still make beer money and have some fun too! Just my 2 cents worth. Russ

[Phil Thien]

Don't approach jobs based upon what a client is willing to pay if that value is less than the cost to run it with a profit. The guy down the road may only be willing to pay me $10 to cut out a design, but if it costs me $60 in time, it's a loss.

What he said.

Many a business failed doing busy work.

You have to watch your opportunity time.

Time spent doing unprofitable busy work could be otherwise used exploring other opportunities to find profitable work.

You could (for example) spend some time updating a web page. Or making various marketing packages. Or cold calling (yikes).

[Bob Savage]

Good advice in this thread. Figure out what you need to turn a profit (the $55 min an hour is a good one) and give him the price. If it's too high let him have somebody else do it.