Pricing?

[Ahzidal Engineer]

I'm a self-taught (so far) amateur luthier, and an older friend of mine asked me to do some modifications on his neck (My first job). He wanted me to sand his neck in order to make it asymmetrical and he also wanted me to convert it from fretted to fretless. So he brought his bass over and I started working on the neck. When I brought it over for him to test the feel, he asked me how much he owed me for the work. The first thought that went through my head was, "I'm getting paid for this?" and my second thought was, "Sweet, I'm getting paid for this!" and then the problem hit me: my third thought, "I have no clue what to charge him." I did the work and I'm getting ready to give it back, but, like I said, I have no idea what to charge him for it. Does anybody who does this for a living have any idea what this kind of work is worth? Thanks.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I'm a self-taught (so far) amateur luthier, and an older friend of mine asked me to do some modifications on his neck (My first job). He wanted me to sand his neck in order to make it asymmetrical and he also wanted me to convert it from fretted to fretless. So he brought his bass over and I started working on the neck. When I brought it over for him to test the feel, he asked me how much he owed me for the work. The first thought that went through my head was, "I'm getting paid for this?" and my second thought was, "Sweet, I'm getting paid for this!" and then the problem hit me: my third thought, "I have no clue what to charge him." I did the work and I'm getting ready to give it back, but, like I said, I have no idea what to charge him for it. Does anybody who does this for a living have any idea what this kind of work is worth? Thanks.

Just to make sure we understand - you converted a fretted bass to fretless, reshaped the neck profile, and the customer is happy with your work. Correct?

 

[GKon]

 

[Jisch]

I am struggling with the same thing right now, although more from a "how do I price basses" angle. I consider it from two angles as someone who is just starting to think about money and luthiering (I made up a word):
1) Friends - I'll do it pretty much at cost of materials, that way I get honest feedback and I'm making someone very happy.
2) Everyone else - $20 an hour to start, my limited free time is worth WAY more than that, but I enjoy the work and it increases my proficiency.

 

[Manton Customs]

.

 

[joelns]

I've done hobby type work for friends in the past. I typically would charge twice the cost of materials. However, for something that was almost entirely labor, $25 / hr seems reasonable for where you're at. If you do more and more of it, and it becomes more like a 2nd job, AND the work is top notch, then $50 / hr would be reasonable.

Note that this is my opinion only.

 

[truebenjaman]

I'd say the most important thing when doing business with a customer is to create an understanding about the services provided and the compensation received BEFORE getting to work.

 

[Manton Customs]

Thought I posted this earlier!

Lol Dr Evil.

By the sounds of it, if I was in your situation where I classed myself as an amateur, didn't do this for a living and it was for a friend with whom I hadn't talked money with, then I would do the job free of charge and welcome it as a experience/practice. Your friend will most likely be very pleased, spread the word amongs his band mates and friends, then perhaps you'll get something in the future out of it. He may also appreciate what you've done so much that he insists on giving you something

Even when you do this for a living (as I do), jobs for friends can still be awkward to price for!

 

[Ahzidal Engineer]

Just to make sure we understand - you converted a fretted bass to fretless, reshaped the neck profile, and the customer is happy with your work. Correct?

He was happy with the neck profile, but he hasn't seen the non-fretted version yet.

 

[Ahzidal Engineer]

Thought I posted this earlier!

Lol Dr Evil.

By the sounds of it, if I was in your situation where I classed myself as an amateur, didn't do this for a living and it was for a friend with whom I hadn't talked money with, then I would do the job free of charge and welcome it as a experience/practice. Your friend will most likely be very pleased, spread the word amongs his band mates and friends, then perhaps you'll get something in the future out of it. He may also appreciate what you've done so much that he insists on giving you something

Even when you do this for a living (as I do), jobs for friends can still be awkward to price for!

That's pretty much my exact situation.

 

[Beej]

Personally, I don't think I'd charge for this given the same factors outlined by Manton above. If your buddy wants to do something nice for you, then great. I'd probably let him know that your time is worth xxxx per hour and that if you were charging someone off the street, it would be approximately xxxx, "but for you my friend, because we didn't talk turkey, this one's pro bono." Let him sing your praises and think of this one as advertising.

To answer your original question as to what to charge, my example would be $50/hr plus cost of materials (probably another $40-50 or so depending on what I would have inserted for fretlines and epoxy vs CA). One thing I always did is provide a free estimate - that made nearly everything so much simpler in the long run...

 

[wraub]

For this job, there's not really much in the way of materials, correct? It's pretty much all labor.
For friends, I've done minor repairs/setups for beer (or similar) for like jobs. Jobs that need parts are usually priced to include them.
Non-friends are typically priced for necessary parts and a small labor charge, as I like doing the work. This charge will vary with the complexity of the job, but I always try to go as low as realistically possible for my time and trouble.

 

[Ahzidal Engineer]

For this job, there's not really much in the way of materials, correct? It's pretty much all labor.

That's correct, the only thing I had to buy was some wood putty and a wax pencil for darkening the color.

 

[Rodent]

That's correct, the only thing I had to buy was some wood putty and a wax pencil for darkening the color.

IMO a "wood putty to fill the fret slots" type of fretless conversion equals no charge, as it's not the 'professional' way to do this.

 

[wraub]

^^^ This.

 

[fhm555]

Be careful lest you wind up creating yourself a part time minimum wage jobby. Or was that a hob?

 

[ajschnitzelbank]

Advice I was given on photo work that I think may apply: write up a bill of sale for what you'd ideally like to charge, then mark it discounted.

For example, let's say you'd generally like to make $50 an hour, and this job took five hours. But, he's your friend and you do not plan on charging him. Write up a bill for
$50 X 5 = $250
- $250 discount
= $0 due

This is a way to establish your rates for future work (not just for this guy but also for other folks), instead of charging him nothing and creating a precedent you're worth $0 per hour.