Had someone want me to give an estimate on a quilt
12-15-2010, 06:47 PM
#102
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NC
Posts: 2,066
Originally Posted by Jan in VA
There are some of the best comments here I've ever heard! Wonderful sentiments, valuing your own work.
Remember to print this out and keep it at hand for future 'questioners". (And as it is, it's behind the times fabric price-wise!)
What It Really Costs To Make a Quilt
QUEEN SIZED, MACHINE PIECED, HAND QUILTED
MATERIALS:
Fabric 12-16 yards @ $9per yd. $108 - $144
Batting $25 - $40
Thread $8 - $16
Total $ invested $141 - $200
LABOR HOURS:
Piecing 20 to 60 hours
“Setting” (designing your quilt) 10 to 20 hours
Quilting 100 to 750 hours
Total hours invested 130 to 810 hours
TOTAL COST
Paying $1 per hour (Would you do this type of work for $1 an hour?!)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor $130 - $810
Total $271 - $1070
Paying minimum wage $7.25 (by law in 6/2009)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $942.50 - $5872.25
Total $1083.50 - $6072.25
Paying skilled labor wage $20 per hour (Don't you consider yourself trained and skilled in this craft?)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $2600 - $16,200
Total $2741 - $16,400
(Found on the Internet 1995; unknown author)
Jan in VA
Remember to print this out and keep it at hand for future 'questioners". (And as it is, it's behind the times fabric price-wise!)
What It Really Costs To Make a Quilt
QUEEN SIZED, MACHINE PIECED, HAND QUILTED
MATERIALS:
Fabric 12-16 yards @ $9per yd. $108 - $144
Batting $25 - $40
Thread $8 - $16
Total $ invested $141 - $200
LABOR HOURS:
Piecing 20 to 60 hours
“Setting” (designing your quilt) 10 to 20 hours
Quilting 100 to 750 hours
Total hours invested 130 to 810 hours
TOTAL COST
Paying $1 per hour (Would you do this type of work for $1 an hour?!)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor $130 - $810
Total $271 - $1070
Paying minimum wage $7.25 (by law in 6/2009)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $942.50 - $5872.25
Total $1083.50 - $6072.25
Paying skilled labor wage $20 per hour (Don't you consider yourself trained and skilled in this craft?)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $2600 - $16,200
Total $2741 - $16,400
(Found on the Internet 1995; unknown author)
Jan in VA
12-15-2010, 07:12 PM
#104
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Adelanto, CA
Posts: 4,044
I like the suggestion he go to a LQS and get estimates from them or get cards and call for estimates. Then when he finds that they want more and he comes back to you, you can tell him NO.
Or like the other gal said ... want a bear rug etc... that was funny, and so true.
There are people out there who do know how much time, energy and money go into a quilt and are willing to pay with a smile and gratitude.
I have the feeling nothing will make him truly happy. Tell him he might find one at Kohl's or Sears or Pennys that he likes for the price he is willing to pay.
Pass this one up.
warm quilt hugs, sue in CA
Or like the other gal said ... want a bear rug etc... that was funny, and so true.
There are people out there who do know how much time, energy and money go into a quilt and are willing to pay with a smile and gratitude.
I have the feeling nothing will make him truly happy. Tell him he might find one at Kohl's or Sears or Pennys that he likes for the price he is willing to pay.
Pass this one up.
warm quilt hugs, sue in CA
12-15-2010, 07:26 PM
#105
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Adelanto, CA
Posts: 4,044
Tell him to look at this website ... David Taylor .. and the prices he wants for quilts.
http://www.davidtaylorquilts.com/gallery.html
Maybe he'll be humbled or not.
warm quilt hugs, sue in CA
http://www.davidtaylorquilts.com/gallery.html
Maybe he'll be humbled or not.
warm quilt hugs, sue in CA
12-15-2010, 07:45 PM
#106
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Snohomish, Washington
Posts: 2,031
Originally Posted by raptureready
It's because what YOU do isn't as important as what HE does.
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
12-15-2010, 08:32 PM
#107
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: leavenworth, ks
Posts: 3,093
Walk away from this man!!!
Have a friend who would like a tablerunner from me. Said she'd pay for it. I figured it at about $25 for fabric, batting, backing and thread (probably low balled.) I then added $50 for my time, labor, etc and came up with $75 for the price. When I told her my estimate, she looked at me like I had grown a 2nd head and told me she'd never pay that much money for a tablerunner. I told her that I thought I was being reasonable and then she pointed out that the quilting was just a hobby and I shouldn't charge for a hobby. My answer was that I like to get paid money, occasionally, for a work of art that I've created. Mind you, this friend has paid me money for cakes I've baked for her. We don't speak much anymore and DH just said "Good riddance" to her. My mom also thought my price was unrealistic. She said I should just charge for the materials. Sorry, but my time and effort is certainly worth something is what I said to her. Now she wants a wallhanging with the primary color being a true dark red without it being too orangey or too brown and no wild print/pattern but not a solid either. That is headache in the making for when I start looking.
Have a friend who would like a tablerunner from me. Said she'd pay for it. I figured it at about $25 for fabric, batting, backing and thread (probably low balled.) I then added $50 for my time, labor, etc and came up with $75 for the price. When I told her my estimate, she looked at me like I had grown a 2nd head and told me she'd never pay that much money for a tablerunner. I told her that I thought I was being reasonable and then she pointed out that the quilting was just a hobby and I shouldn't charge for a hobby. My answer was that I like to get paid money, occasionally, for a work of art that I've created. Mind you, this friend has paid me money for cakes I've baked for her. We don't speak much anymore and DH just said "Good riddance" to her. My mom also thought my price was unrealistic. She said I should just charge for the materials. Sorry, but my time and effort is certainly worth something is what I said to her. Now she wants a wallhanging with the primary color being a true dark red without it being too orangey or too brown and no wild print/pattern but not a solid either. That is headache in the making for when I start looking.
12-15-2010, 08:55 PM
#108
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Some where in way out West Texas
Posts: 3,041
Billy ,those are the exact words my brother would tell people when they wanted him to do work for them. He is a retired Contract Welder and a super good one at that, and I am not just being prejudiced either. He started out on a pipeline welding and moved back home to Tx. and worked in the oil field for 40 + years until two years ago. He would have tool pushers on the drilling rigs and supervisors on the pipe lines in the oil field and any other work that needed to be done, wait on him to finish with one job until he could get to theirs. Many of the companies had their own company welders, but wouldn't use them if they could get my brother.He would probably still be working except for major health problems, had to have almost all of his colon removed two years ago because of colon cancer. This was his famous comeback to those who wanted something for nothing "If you have to ask the price I charge you can't aford me."
In the 70's when I baked and decorated cakes for the public, had a lady call and want one for her daughter's wedding, ask my price, I ask the size and number needed to serve and told her what I charged for a plain cake,extra for a really decorated and fancy one. My price at that time for what she needed was $125, plain.She said that was too much,and ask why I charged so much. Her DH was a locksmith, and I explained that he not only charged for the parts he used but also the labor and I thought he was too high. If she had car repairs they charged for parts and labor, and so did I. She said guessed she would have to check with someone else,and get back to me. I told her go ahead, but don't bother calling me back, because I wasn't interested in doing her cake.
Sometimes you just have to let people know that your time and effort are worth more than a "grain of salt" and they are paying for parts, labor and expertise. Let him look elsewhere for a quilter and really get to pay a lot more or get a very poor job done. Better yet, let him go out and buy one from a store that is made on an assembly line or made overseas where labor is cheap and so is the fabric.
In the 70's when I baked and decorated cakes for the public, had a lady call and want one for her daughter's wedding, ask my price, I ask the size and number needed to serve and told her what I charged for a plain cake,extra for a really decorated and fancy one. My price at that time for what she needed was $125, plain.She said that was too much,and ask why I charged so much. Her DH was a locksmith, and I explained that he not only charged for the parts he used but also the labor and I thought he was too high. If she had car repairs they charged for parts and labor, and so did I. She said guessed she would have to check with someone else,and get back to me. I told her go ahead, but don't bother calling me back, because I wasn't interested in doing her cake.
Sometimes you just have to let people know that your time and effort are worth more than a "grain of salt" and they are paying for parts, labor and expertise. Let him look elsewhere for a quilter and really get to pay a lot more or get a very poor job done. Better yet, let him go out and buy one from a store that is made on an assembly line or made overseas where labor is cheap and so is the fabric.
12-15-2010, 08:59 PM
#109
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Southern Indiana
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by raptureready
It's because what YOU do isn't as important as what HE does.
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
12-15-2010, 09:05 PM
#110
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
Originally Posted by hperttula123
Originally Posted by tjradj
Originally Posted by raptureready
It's because what YOU do isn't as important as what HE does.
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
Since he's a hunter tell him you'd like to have a real bear skin rug. Would he please go to Canada, get a permit, kill one, have the meat processed, the head and skin made into a rug and give you a price for that. He'll start listing the costs of everything including his time off from work. Then tell him that you just want a small bear and couldn't he do it for $200?
Yes it is true, non-quilters just have no clue what is involved in making a quilt. It doesn't help that mass produced products are available for the price of a comforter.
If your "customer" doesn't want to pay for quality, refer him to your local Walmart and walk away.
What you create is valuable.
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