Help with cost to charge please

Picture of cupola shown in this attachment is for the vent of a pizza oven I am building for a customer. The cupola is fabricated out of 3/8th aluminum with the exception of 3/16 aluminun for the top ring that slopes inbound at the top for attaching the roof to. To get a feel for size of the unit it spans 30 inches at its widest span between two of the 6 corners and each of the 6 sided panels is 15 inches in width and about 21 inches high.

Welding is a hobby for me and I have no idea what to charge for this component of the project. It also took me way to long to do and to be honest is a bit out of my comfort zone. If my partner and I build future projects like this one I may want to get it fabricated from a professional. So my question is......any feel out there as to what a fabrication shop would charge for this unit if I just showed up with a drawing and asked them to buy materials and weld it all up?

Just some ball park figures will help me.

If anyone is interested the link below will show the documentation of the pizza oven build in progress.

https://picasaweb.google.com/waynebe...42PompeiiOven#

why not just take the drawing to a shop and get a quote on it...then add 10% for your take aftewr you pay off the fab shop

if you charged $1 per tack and $1 per inch of weld, and added the material cost (all the material, not just what you used charge for scrap and all), plus time for cutting it out, do you get anywhere close to a price that is fair for the ammount of time you had in it?

I have the same problem you do, I never know how much to charge. It has to be a ballance between making money and happy customers.

I can definitely help you with that....But tell me, how much time it took you. How much for materials? I can give you a good ball park. Just guessing though, I'd say about 350-400.00 all total. I'd say just guessing you have maybe 150.00 in material...the rest is for labor, and aggravation.

I have a woodworker friend who has very strict and often non-conforming views on capitalism. He believes in charging the customer the same amount per hour as the customer makes. His idea is that this makes his work affordable to a great many people. He also thinks it is fair that someone who makes a small income should not have to work weeks for a piece of woodwork that a high wage earner might pay for with just a couple of hours of effort.

He seems to end up working for a lot of waitresses and babysitters, never for Doctors or Dentists!:D

Mark its unbelievable how close you are to what I am looking at for our quote and costs. We have quoted 400.oo for the cupola fab including materials.An added copper roof is an extra change order to original spec. So far the aluminum is at about 180 bucks. If I can get a pro to fab this for this price next time I will get some one to do it for us. I am glad I have done this one as I have learned a lot but I may hire someone to do it so I can get on with the job of making pizza ovens. As a fabricator I am getting about 2 bucks an hour which is fine as welding is still just a hobby for me and enjoy doing things for myself but I will never make a living at this.........wayne

That's the type of stuff I have done for the last few years, fabbing up stuff so I have a pretty good idea when I go into something what I am getting myself into.
Honestly, something like this would look really good done with a spool gun mig. It would make it a lot faster and a lot better. This type thick material will work well.

I do take in consideration someone's ability to pay, but I also have to balance the aggravation that is involved, especially with small projects I get brought to me, like repairing boat fenders with cracks, broken bed rails, rewelding a hitch, or even a deer stand that shouldn't have ever had a person in it. My minimum charge is 20.00 to break out the welder. I typically figure on 40-45 bucks an hour, and if it is a lot of work, I will knock the charge down to about 35.00 or just figure a out the door price. A person that knows what he is doing, will always come out, and the customer will too, if there is an hourly charge, instead of a per job charge. But don't count on a lot of people to want to work that way. If its a inconvenient job, with lots of dirt, grime, and stuff, I will make an per job charge, because well, I probably will regret doing it, and when my wife is calling me to come home for supper, and I have to eat it cold, and it has to be ready for the morning, and when I come out of the shop at 2 am in the morning, it better be worth it.

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Originally Posted by worntorn

I have a woodworker friend who has very strict and often non-conforming views on capitalism. He believes in charging the customer the same amount per hour as the customer makes. His idea is that this makes his work affordable to a great many people. He also thinks it is fair that someone who makes a small income should not have to work weeks for a piece of woodwork that a high wage earner might pay for with just a couple of hours of effort.

He seems to end up working for a lot of waitresses and babysitters, never for Doctors or Dentists!:D

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seriously, unless he is retired and just doing this for fun, how does he keep the lights on. I know what I charge, what my machinery costs, how many hours I can bill in a day. I would imagine on average I charge double what my customer base makes in hour at a normal 40hr week job. I have a lot of overhead to be able to make money, all they need is their lunch pail.

His wife is an OR nurse!

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Originally Posted by worntorn

His wife is an OR nurse!

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bingo, so doing it for something to do pretty much.

I would look at how well you are set up in your shop. If you can easily transition from cutting the parts, fitting, to welding, and do you have the needed tools, or enough tools to get by (which can take you longer to build something). I would add materials cost times 35% and I would calculate at 10% overage on materials just in case. Figure in shop supplies, grinding blades, saw blades, etc to do the job. Figure out how long it takes for you to weld 6 inches and try your best on time. Also I would look at the prices of pizza ovens, they are not cheap!

http://pelletheads.com/index.php?topic=5607.0

http://www.norcalovenworks.com/Outdo...FS-R-36X28.htm

http://www.housewaresonly.com/omcan-...hannelid=FROOG

http://www.appliancesconnection.com/...ml?ref=froogle

Sean,
Its been my experience, looking at what something sells for will get you messed up, especially when you are manufacturing part of it. I always try to figure what I can do it for, then make no apologies. Whether it is high or low, if I have figured my cost correctly and know what time it takes, then that is the price I give. Also, I have figured, on average the amount of consumable material I will use in an ordinary hour and added it into my hourly charge, so it will stay fairly standard. If its something exotic, then I will add a little higher per hour charge on it.

Thanks for the input folks..............for what its worth this is the latest photo of the cupola. I think it will look good when its all up and running. I will post a pic of the completed unit with its copper treatment etc............wayne

Wayne,

Something like this gets easier and quicker to build. A few jigs and you will be able to put one together in less than an hour.

True that, but sometimes I find you may not charge enough!