Furniture refinishing/pricing question

[Mike Wilkins]

I would much rather build from scratch than refinish furniture. But at least I get a good education on how not to build a piece of furniture by repairing and refinishing an item.
But I have a question on pricing such work. There are no price guides that I can find to provide guidance on pricing refinishing work. I did provide a past customer a cost to refinish an item, and realized that I really short-changed myself later. Now I am being accused of over-pricing someone. Since this type of work is labor-intensive, it is difficult to provide a set-in-stone price.
If anyone out in web-land has any insight on this, I will remember you in my will. Thanks.
Mike, trying not to get shafted in eastern NC.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Hello, Mike...trying not to get shafted in eastern NC

this is Richard....who has shafted himself before in central TX

You sound like me: You'd much rather build it than re-do it. But you let yourself get talked into it and were clueless what to charge and when you did you found just how labor intensive it is and how much time it ate and ended up making a quarter an hour.

First of all, I know of no guidelines for setting a cost of refinishing. The only thing I know to try would be to find someone who does refinishing and outline the prospective job and see what they have to say. The people who do it can have a good bit of capital outlay in equipment that makes their job easier, too (dipping baths, respirators, etc).

You say you are being accused of overpricing a job. If you have priced up front before starting a job and the prospective customer can take it or leave it then it's impossible to overcharge. If you charge a thousand bucks an hour and a customer accepts they are not getting overcharged. I know, I know, you don't want to work that way....and neither do I. Most of the time, anyway. I have priced myself out of a job because I didn't want to do it, but then I worry about the word getting around that I charge too much and nothing will come my way.

The best thing I can say is to carefully explain to a potential customer how labor intensive refinishing is (especially if you're not really set up to do it) and therefore why the cost can be so high.

Lots of help, huh? Sounds like mainly a rant on my part, I guess. Good luck with the dilemma.

[Ellen Benkin]

I agree with Richard. If you set a price and the client doesn't like it, they don't have to use your services. Refinishing is very labor intensive and you usually run into problems that were not anticipated. I'd rather have a refinisher say the "worst case scenario" price and not be surprised at the end. Charge time and materials and tell them what you expect the highest cost to be. Then it is their decision.

[Mike Wilkins]

Thanks guys. Looks like the most effective method is to provide an up-front price range, outlining the minimum-maximum charges. Explain the labor intensive nature of this kind of work up front, and hope for the best.
I would still rather build from scratch.

[J.D.Redwine]

Check these links:http://www.mirrorresilvering.com/str...finishing_.htm http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...ng&btnG=Search

[John Mihich]

I took a look at those stripping prices and they are pretty fair. I charge for 100% of my materials - I charge for a gallon of stripper, even if I only use a portion, mineral spirits - 1-2 quarts, sand paper by the sheet, steel wool, etc. It adds up to be about 50-60 dollars per piece. Sometimes, if the piece is small I'll prorate the stripper. Then I charge about $20 per hour. A dresser, orginal finish, will take about 4-6 hours. This will be a ready to finish product. I do this as a hobby so I don't have to include business expences. I always finish the project also so I add a few more hours to finish and charge for the finish, stains, dyes, etc.

[Joe Chritz]

You could always figure a ridiculously high charge and offer to lower it is the project goes faster. That way you have a top charge to avoid overcharging and the option of lower costs to the customer if the project goes smoothly.

I haven't done much refinishing but what I have makes me realize it is something worth farming out, at least for me.

Joe