colin durie on fri 18 feb 05
I just am about to start a tile company. I am not sure how to go about c=
oming up with a price. I was thinking .04 in^2(inches square) and .08 in=
^2 if it was more complex a design. Also a $1 per tile for glaze making =
a supplies and $1 per tile for firing and repair kilns. Also cost fo cla=
y per pond and $10/hr for labor. What do you all think of this pricing =
structure? Is it to must or not enough? I need help on this!!
If you see this message John Singer tell me what you think. Thanks Colin=
M. Durie. I'm sorry that I missed you all this year where is the NCECA =
this year? I hope I can go this year.
Paul Lewing on fri 18 feb 05
on 2/18/05 1:00 AM, colin durie at colinmd180@MSN.COM wrote:
> I am not sure how to go about c=
> oming up with a price. I was thinking .04 in^2(inches square) and .08 in=
> ^2 if it was more complex a design. Also a $1 per tile for glaze making =
> a supplies and $1 per tile for firing and repair kilns. Also cost fo cla=
> y per pond and $10/hr for labor.
Colin, I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you seriously thinking
of charging 2 cents and 4 cents for tiles and then adding charges for
glazing and firing? That price seems absurdly low. Also, people do not
want to hear that complex a pricing structure. They want a flat square
footage rate. I'd check on the Internet (go to www.tiles.org) to see what
other people are charging for similar work.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Diane Winters on sat 19 feb 05
Hi Colin,
Welcome to tilemaking. As for pricing, that's affected by every aspect of
your entire production operation, as well as what your finished tiles are
like and what market you're selling to (for example wholesale or retail?
geographic market with high cost of living and incomes to match? residential
customer or public arts project?). You haven't provided enough info to give
you much guidance.
Many hand made tiles, especially the decoratives, are sold per piece. I
sell even my field tiles on a per tile basis, and neither home owners nor
tile showrooms I deal with have ever shown any surprise at that. Some tile
makers who operate on a larger scale than I do, as well as muralists and all
commercial factories price per square foot.
You've mentioned your labor, materials and firing costs, but remember that
your price has also got to cover your rent if you rent your studio, tools,
equipment maintenance, insurance, office supplies, promotional costs,
business travel, self-employment tax, etc and all your labor on matters
other than actual tile production (possibly as much as 1/3 of your time).
The problem is that when you're just starting out, you don't yet know what
some of those costs will be. And you won't be nearly as efficient and
productive at first as you'll have to learn to be to really make a go of it.
So, you're bound to make pricing mistakes at first and you'll eventually
make adjustments along the way.
As a starting point, look around at what other tiles comparable to yours are
selling for. By comparable I mean the sorts of tiles that are now being
bought by exactly the same customers who would realistically be interested
in your tiles. You don't mention whether you'll be selling direct or for
resale. If you anticipate selling wholesale, look in tile showrooms
offering handmade tiles and in whatever retail stores might carry your sort
of tiles - the tile maker is probably getting half the price you see. Now
figure out, if you were charging the same price as what that tile maker is
receiving, how many tiles you'd have to make per month to cover all your
anticipated business costs plus whatever you need to live on. Can you
realistically produce that many? (Are you sure? Don't forget to factor in
your loss rate due to warpage, bad glaze behavior, etc. I went through a
truly nightmarish long period about two years ago when I was losing 1/3 to
1/2 of every kiln load; this was after I'd already been in business for 8
years). If you can produce enough tiles that you can afford to sell at
roughly the same price as your competition, then go ahead and do so. If
not - if your production methods are too time consuming to do that, or your
overhead costs are too high, then you'll either have to pare them down or
charge more than your competition.
Then try selling your tiles and see how things go. When I first started out
and was talking with tile showrooms and retail stores I was completely
straightforward about that fact that I was newly in business, not sure about
my pricing, and that in the future I might have to adjust it upward, or that
alternatively I might be able to lower it. All the people I dealt with that
way (I may have been lucky) were very understanding and helpful. After all,
they'd once been starting out and unsure of such things themselves.
Good luck in your (ad)venture
Diane Winters
in beautiful Oakland/Berkeley by the Bay
Susan Fox-Hirschmann on sat 19 feb 05
In a message dated 2/18/2005 7:44:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
PJLewing@WORLDNET.ATT.NET writes:
> I am not sure how to go about c=
> oming up with a price. I was thinking .04 in^2(inches square) and .08 in=
> ^2 if it was more complex a design. Also a $1 per tile for glaze making =
> a supplies and $1 per tile for firing and repair kilns. Also cost fo cla=
> y per pond and $10/hr for labor.
Colin, I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you seriously thinking
of charging 2 cents and 4 cents for tiles and then adding charges for
glazing and firing? That price seems absurdly low. Also, people do not
want to hear that complex a pricing structure. They want a flat square
footage rate. I'd check on the Internet (go to www.tiles.org) to see what
other people are charging for similar work.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Paul is correct...people do not want to hear complex structures for pricing
tiles,: a good rule of thumb seems to be by the square foot. When I took an
architectural ceramics class with Peter King many years ago, he said he priced
his that way, tho he prices his per square foot installed.
I price my tile work $325 per square foot not installed.
As ceramic designers and fine craftspeople, we are doing custom work,
designs, colors, etc, so why not charge custom prices? And by the way, none of my
customers has ever complained about the price, which I feel is fair for the
amount of work involved.
Best of luck
Susan Fox Hirschmann
Annandale, VA
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