[kcortese12]

I have been running a lot of long STL files. Some of which are over 8 hours start to finish on the cnc. I need to know what you charge, and how do you calculate the price. Most of my work is fairly small, from 8“ x 22”, to 12” x 24”. My cnc work area is 34” x 34”. I am tired of selling myself short.

 

[difalkner]

My shop rate, including CNC time, is $50 per hour. Sometimes I charge that, sometimes I don't. Because I'm so OCD and detail oriented I may spend three hours on something that I know I can do in one hour if I don't try to make every piece end up looking like I'm building a $10.000 guitar.

Often I'll charge by the piece; ya' know the kind; there's just no way I can charge my full shop rate on some jobs so I just take my best guess on what the piece is worth and go from there.

David

 

[kcortese12]

My shop rate, including CNC time, is $50 per hour. Sometimes I charge that, sometimes I don't. Because I'm so OCD and detail oriented I may spend three hours on something that I know I can do in one hour if I don't try to make every piece end up looking like I'm building a $10.000 guitar.

Often I'll charge by the piece; ya' know the kind; there's just no way I can charge my full shop rate on some jobs so I just take my best guess on what the piece is worth and go from there.

David

Thanks for your input.

 

[OCEdesigns]

This is kind of how I do it too. I can get very detailed in the sanding / finishing that if I charged my true time I would have to sell a 12 x 24 sign for $500 LOL
All my one off custom pieces get a price tag based on my design time and machine time. I just did a 12 x 48 sign that was almost 5 hours machine time. Design time was not too much and finishing was easy. I sold it for $125 to a good friend but would have normally sold it for $200 minimum.

 

[kcortese12]

This is kind of how I do it too. I can get very detailed in the sanding / finishing that if I charged my true time I would have to sell a 12 x 24 sign for $500 LOL
All my one off custom pieces get a price tag based on my design time and machine time. I just did a 12 x 48 sign that was almost 5 hours machine time. Design time was not too much and finishing was easy. I sold it for $125 to a good friend but would have normally sold it for $200 minimum.

Thank you for your input.

 

[kcortese12]

I am thinking of making some nice shelves with a space below for coat/hat hooks. I will be designing some this week, and will show after I complete one. I will be using different themes to accommodate different interests. All the pricing help is appreciated.

 

[JOAT]

Whatever you can get. And what sells well in one town, may not in the next town.

 

[ger21]

You'll never get paid for your time when doing 3D carving, because they just take too long. So all you can really do is charge as much as the market will bear.
Basically, I'd say follow what David said.
But if you are doing this for a living, you shouldn't be doing jobs where you are not making any money. And if you are serious about making money, there should be a profit margin above and beyond the hourly rate.

And be sure to charge for your materials + 25% markup.

 

[Gaffboat]

Here's a link to an easy pricing calculator. It's far from perfect, but it will help you get a handle on your actual costs and give you a suggested price. You may have to join the CNC Workshop Academy Business Information Facebook group, but that's easy. Log into Facebook

 

[BalloonEngineer]

What the customer will pay should have little relationship to how long it took to cut or material costs if you select the right customers . The round sign is 36” diameter MDF (~$20?), 30minutes, the “finicky” cutout (the only CNC work) was maybe 5 minutes out of some leftover 1/2” Baltic birch. The negotiated prices in the photos. These were both custom versions of the client’s own logos.

 

[difalkner]

The pricing on those, Richard, are due to the finishing after the construction and CNC time. Those look excellent, btw.

David