News:

Welcome to the Renaissancefestival.com Forums!  Please post an introduction after signing up!

For an updated map of Ren Fests check out The Ren List at http://www.therenlist.com!

The Chat server is now running again, just select chat on the menu!

Main Menu

Are these estimates reasonable?

Started by LadyStitch, September 26, 2014, 02:48:19 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

LadyStitch

I know it has been talked about before but I'm running into it and need a second option. 

"Katie" has been asked to make a custom garment for someone.  Cost of materials is $100, hours to make it  8-12 hours.   Her non craft friends are telling her that she should only charge $200 total for the item.  I commented that Katie is underselling herself that she should be charging cost + 2-3x cost for labor = $300-400 for the item.  When I was again told I was full of it, I responded she could always charge by the hour. Even at $15 an hour she would have to charge $220-280.  After other craft people chimed up it was decided she had to at minimum have to charge $300.

In your opinion, are the cost estimates reasonable? are we full of it? Thoughts?
It is kind of strange watching your personal history become costume.

isabelladangelo

Tell her to conduct a market analysis.  It sounds like a big job but it isn't.  Look at comparable outfits out of comparable materials - how much are they?  Look at different sellers of various levels and cross compare what their prices are.  Is she above or below their average work?  I've seen some people who have been sewing only a year that have produced jaw dropping work.  I've also seen work produced by people that claim to have been sewing "forever" that is medicore at best.  She needs to be honest with herself and figure out if she's as good or better than what is out there and price accordingly. 


PollyPoPo

Speaking as a non-craft, non-seamstress elf (I can sew a tunic, maybe), ABSOLUTELY, the estimate is reasonable -- more than reasonable, going by what professional garb makers charge for individually made items.  It's not an off-the-rack, mass-produced outfit whipped out on a serger in a couple hours.

Unless it's being done as a personal favor to a dear friend, the seamstress should be paid, not just for her time, but her expertise. 

A quick Google search will bring up hourly charges of $10-$20 per hour for a seamstress depending on geographic location.  Add in the made-to-order, custom-design of type of work that garb is, and the per hour charge goes up, way up.  There is no longer a seamstress, but an artist. 

The cost of materials plus 2-3 times that amount is similar to the 1/4 ratio often used by crafters.  $1 cost-to-make = $4 sale price. 
Polly PoPo
(aka Grannie)

Rowan MacD

  I make most of my own garb, but I still buy certain items; especially if I like the other person's work better than my own.
   Lady Kathleen is my favorite source for Partlet blouses, and I have had a couple of other items made by her.   Some people would say she is expensive: I say she is worth every penny-All of the garments she has made for me are extremely well constructed, long wearing and of the finest materials. 
  The same goes for certain venders like Moresca.
  Some folks quail at the thought of spending $200+ on a bodice-but if you want quality, you pay for it.
   Not all hand made items are worth the same amount of money. 
   If the item is not well constructed, of good materials, by someone who knows what they are doing-then no, I would not consider paying someone 2-3x the value of the materials to make it.  For that amount of money-I expect a seriously bang up job, especially if it's a big ticket item.

  As Isabella said: Consider the market.  Some (ok, a lot of) people prefer cheap over well made. 
    I won't lie:  As a quality-first shopper, finding a quality-first vendor is getting harder. 
   The market is flooded with cheap, and cheaply made, knock offs that you will be competing against, and your asking price will be compared with those.  If you can stand the idiots trying to talk you down, then press on. 
   Prepare for an uphill battle trying to convince them your work is better; especially if they wouldn't know quality workmanship if you smacked them across the face with it.
   I would do as Isabella recommends: compare your price to what is out there, in comparable materials and workmanship.  If you don't think that what the customer is wanting to pay you is worth your work,  turn them down.  Expect to do some homework: Most quality seamstresses providing custom work do not post their prices on a website;  you may have to submit a description of what you want and wait for them to send a quote.
   

What doesn't kill me-had better run.
IWG wench #3139 
19.7% FaireFolk pure-80.3% FaireFolk corrupt

Lady Kathleen of Olmsted

First of all, I am deeply humbled, Rowan, by your endorsement. I was not expecting that.

Secondly, the costs a seamstress charges is based on many factors such as overall overhead such as additional materials, supplies,  utilities,  what is charged by other vendors, etc. What is one's time worth? Do they work from home or have a shop? What is their overall experience in a particular area of sewing? What is their quality of product and are they recommended often?

Katie should charge per hour that her experience and sewing quality allows her to charge. Anything less than $20 an hour is underselling. I personally know of several well known vendors of garb  who charge $50 an hour or more  and they have more business than they can handle. But then, they have high overheads as well.
"As with Art as in Life, nothing succeeds like excess.".....Oscar Wilde

Hoowil

I've got a few friends that have asked e to help out with garb, either making new, or refitting old (I'd rather build from scratch). This isn't the first time, an they're all familiar with what I can do, so this is something that I could use too. Its interesting, I remember almost this same conversation coming up a few years back, and I think that the starting price was around materials, plus $10-15/hr for labor, at your higher time estimate. But that was over five years ago.
If you are doing it as a favor for a friend, charge (or don't) appropriately of course. Otherwise, you need to keep in mind what you could do if you weren't doing it. How much is your time worth to you?
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with catsup.

DonaCatalina

I check around shops in my area to keep abreast of tailoring rates before I take on a project. Right now the average is $12.30 per hour.
The very minimum "Katie" should charge for this project would be $247.60.
If "Katie" feels that she can offer a discount to a good friend. $10.00 per hour puts it at $220.00.
But I would call that a sister-in-law rate.
Aurum peccamenes multifariam texit
Marquesa de Trives
Portrait Goddess

LadyStitch

She decided on the $300.  I saw her work and it is good work. To get the look she has to match/ line up prints, and other things it requires extra effort.  She did some market research and to get the design the person wanted out in the general market was comparable. 

Thank you for your feedback.  At least I was on the right track in my thinking. 
It is kind of strange watching your personal history become costume.