Pricing Your Stained Glass Projects – Part 1

$ PRICING YOUR STAINED GLASS WORK
By Martha Hanson / Paned Expressions Stained Glass Studio

©2008 Paned Expressions Studios, Inc.

Undoubtedly, the most frequently asked question by stained glass hobbyists today who are thinking about selling their work is “How do I price my work?” The more accurate question should be

“What should I charge to make sure I’m not losing money?”

Well, there are probably as many ways to calculate pricing as there are of “doing” stained glass. In this piece, I will try to present a “cafeteria” type method from which you may pick and choose and still come up with a profit in the end.

NOTE:

All prices used are fictional and are for example only.

First we will examine your costs since these must be accounted for in all pricing:

•TIME / LABOR: Includes not only working on the panel but deciding on a design or designing the window, constructing the window, cleanup, and installation.

•MATERIALS: Pattern, Glass, Lead/Solder, Chemicals, Framing, Grinder Bits, Cutter Heads, Glass Saw Blades

•OVERHEAD COSTS: Utilities, Depreciation of Tools, Rent, Travel, Advertising, etc.

TIME / LABOR COST CALCULATIONS

Let us first examine the Time/Labor calculation. Simply put; how much do you want to be paid per hour to make this window? To calculate this, choose a typical panel you want to do. Start the timer from the instant you print the pattern and end the timer when you finish the installation of the window.

Only run the clock while you are actually working on the panel. Say you choose a 150 piece window.

The equation to figure time per piece, and that’s the factor we seek, is as follows:

Time it took to complete the window = minutes/piece

Number of Pieces in the window

Say it took 15 hours to complete this 150 piece panel. That’s 900 minutes divided by 150 pieces or 6 minutes/piece. If this seems to be your average time per piece calculated over both easy and difficult cuts, you may continue to use this as your calculator for the Labor portion of your costing.

Remember, this includes the entire time it took you to finish the window; from printing the pattern to installing the window and everything you did in-between these steps. Don’t leave anything out of the time factor.

Now say you get a commission for a 16 sft/1250 piece panel (78pc/sft). You would multiply your 6 minutes/piece factor by 1250 pieces = 7500 minutes or 125 hours. If you’d like to be paid $10/hour for your work you would cost the labor portion of the window at $1250. This portion of the costing, as you can see, depends totally on what you want to be paid and what you feel your time is worth. If you have employees, this becomes a set fee calculation based on what they are paid per hour + payroll taxes + benefits.

You should begin to see how important this part of your costing calculation becomes and how this, whether you are doing this for a hobby or a business, this far exceeds the costs of the materials you once may have thought to be the most expensive part of your window.

Part II is next: 

MATERIALS COST CALCULATIONS