hourly rate for woodworking

[goaliedad]

Here's my question- what is fair hourly rate for woodworking? I've been building some bookcases for a guy- he has paid for all material and supplies up front. I have kept track of my time. These aren't anything too fancy- pretty straight forward. Solid oak, glue up most of the panels, simple router details on face frame and shelves. Shelves are all on pins. Stain and varnish. These have been on my schedule- mostly a couple of hours in the evenings, more on the weekends. What's fair per hour?

I know someone is going to say this should have been set at the beginning. When I looked at the job the I told him I had no idea how to price labor. He said what ever I wanted- by the job or hour- whatever I wanted.

 

[jjcc246]

You can charge a flat fee and make sure you include your material of your own you used and of course your electric bill. I usally charge between $18 and $20 an hour. Some people look at that as a lot of money per hour so that's why I try to figure out in the beginning how long it will take and give them a flat price. If your delivering and setting up I would go up to $25 to $28 per hour. If your doing it as a time killer for yourself and enjoy the work you can be a nice guy and charge $10 an hour just so you don't feel like your wasting your time. But whatever you charge, if you charge at all, enjoy yourself or get into a differant past time.

 

[biffnh]

I charge $25 per hour for most work, sometimes in the winter when I have more time and the people are not in a rush I will charge less. Usually I give them an upper most price for labor - beyond which I would not charge, but I would charge less if my estimate is too high. I usually try to make my estimate fairly realistic so that they have a good idea ahead of time and I don't get caught charging less than my time is worth.

 

[goaliedad]

thanks guys- that confirms what I was thinking. My customer is a Doc- my wife is a nurse. Nice guy- easy to work with so I wasn't concerned about not having the price set in the beginning.