Viewer Comments:
Tell me about the job. What was the cost and how did you sell it. It is good looking work. Just more interested in how the client hired out the job. Did you get your original price?
$106,000, and actually the job grew in cost from about $80k. The client simply added and added, and that's a good thing! Lots of widgets not shown - built in small sub z fridge (one of the additions), lots of communications etc. I was contacted by a design firm, and worked for them with Mark Barr. Thanks.
I should clarify - I am so accustomed to seeing this as the whole job, that I forgot I only posted images of the cabinets. For $106k, we built and 18' conference table, these 2 sets of cabinets, and a reception suite.
More pictures here:
http://www.turnercustomfurniture.com/turner-Custom-Furniture-Portfolio.html#corporate
106k??!! are you kidding me? for one conference table some overlay cabinets and a reception desk? wow i need to find some people with that kind of money to burn...
geoffstiles- It is almost a given that the good people on this forum almost never know the real value of the work they do - just as they don't know the real costs of that work. I suspect this is because we are all shop rats that come to the business as a result of our fabrication skills and not our knowledge of the markets we work in. Also, many shops have no fee or concern for real design - whether they do it (and are qualified) or contract it out. Design does add to the cost, but is also a necessary part of the whole. $100K is one hundredth of one percent of a billion - Same as $10 is to one earning $100,000 a year.
dave-
While I can appreciate your attempt to educate this humble and ignorant shop rat I must reiterate that 106k for the work shown in the two post of conference table and overlay cabinets (of course excluding the reception suite not pictured) is beyond ridiculous. The shop rate where I work can go as high as $75/hour and still we'd never get away with charging that. I'd be interested in knowing the cost of each individual piece, i.e. the cost of the conference table alone, the cost of the overlay cabinets alone etc. I figure that conference table must run somewhere near 75k which is really pricey. My point is that good design and flawless execution need not cost an arm and a leg.
Good design and flawless execution are worth whatever the market will bear.
Way to go Doug. Beautiful work.
Gentlemen,
I once had an Econ prof who said that the fair selling price of your product has absolutely nothing to do with what it cost to make it.
It is the very highest price the market will bear. If you can manufacture it for a dime and sell it for $100; more power to you!
Doug, I want you selling for me.
the only problem i see with your economic philosophy is that it doesn't differentiate between true quality and the illusion of quality. the market is unfortunately quite uninformed, (as an example read the blistered cabinet thread off the main page) and you will understand that whether it be china or the u.s., cabinetry is about the lowest common denominator, which is probably why huge outfits do so well even though their product is cnc'd garbage...
p.s. i wasn't suggesting that doug turner's work is garbage, but rather indicting the industry of cabinet manufacturers as a whole...
Im not sure why we are getting bent out of shape when a cabinet maker makes a good profit on quality work. Im sure Doug could have sold this job for $70k, but why do that when the client is willing to pay $108k? Im not really in the mood to give away profit these days. If you really want to see some outrageous pricing check out some of the european imports. I just lost a kitchen to a european import that was more than double my price. This manufacturer is selling a powder room cabinet with a mirror for $56,500. yes, that $56,000! My take away: how are these showrooms educating, marketing, and selling their products to demand that price? The only reason Im ticked off is that Im not able to do it (yet :) )
Sorry, here is the $56,500 powder room cabinet for sale at a discount of $22,600!! http://www.studiobecker.com/PDFs/Makassar%20Powder%20Room%20Display%20Sale.pdf
Thanks, those of you who lent some support. I say this as I blow my nose on a $100 bill, having really gotten one over on the poor saps who bought the furniture. I regret publishing my price on this job. It will never happen again. By the way, my clients paid a good bit in expedite charges, which had to be paid to the CNC shop, the stone people, the metal guy "stop what you are doing now and work on our job...". But of course, it's still "ridiculous", and the fact that I made some money is an affront to all hard working people. By the way, to further irritate a few people, the carpet below the table cost $15,000. Also, I am pretty sure the company paid more for the furniture. $106 is just what we charged the designers. Don't worry though, I now have little work now and have gotten the sound economic thrashing I deserve.
I love it when a deserving shop gets to make some money. It really should happen to all of us, every day, every job. We are all so busy trying focus on the pricing algorithm that we forget that the world views us s I suspect that many of us loose work by being too low rather than too high. At least if it is too much money, the perception is it is good, perhaps too good to afford. However, if it is half or a quarter of the published price, then it is suspect and shoddy - not worth any price.
Does anyone really think your phone calls cost your cell phone carrier anything at all like "labor + materials + overhead"?
Now, Doug - could you hand me one those C notes? I need to light my cigar.
Thank you. Yes, exactly. I also didn't mention that these designs went through weeks of modifications, then a few weeks more - I literally designed the whole job a few times. Too many cooks, but that's the way it worked. The price also included a couple of small sub Z's, built into the cabinetry - which cost a few thousand each.
Here's your hundred, and a few extra for the kind words. I have plenty stacked in the firewood pile..
Doug,
Good for you on this job, finally someone may actually be making money in this business, though I bet not as much as geoffstiles might be thinking. Kind of makes up for all the jobs that we do design work on that go to someone else or the jobs you spend time quoting that a shop down the street does for half price. More power to you for being able to get jobs like this and for having a designer with clients like this.
Keep up the good work.
Bob
Great work Doug! Thanks for posting!
When do you start the chairs? I could sub them for you... 10 grand each :p
Doug - After reading these posts I went back and looked at the conference table post and realized the scope of the table and what you created. How does one put a value on the liability of creating a work of art. Your work reflects a wonderful sense of balance. Take a deep breath - Life is Good...
The conference room table is spectacular. From the pictures I think you earned every penny, great job!
This is not like selling a car. There is no Kelly blue book for woodworking. What you make is worth exactly what you sell it for. Clients in my area probably wouldn't pay that for it.
For what it is worth, I think your pricing nwas right on the money, although I never would have posted the price. Every now and then I will take a look at some pictures others have posted here, and my general thought is that they need to go to an apprentice school somewhere. This is a difficult business, especially in the upper ends of it. It is always the same when "master cabinetmaker wannabes" look at this level of work they always think it is easy and they too could do it if they had a chance. They can't. It;s not easy. To work like this takes expensive equipment and skilled cabinetmakers that don't come cheap. I was grateful to see your work and hear of your pricing structure. Keep it up, you cannot stay in business at this level for long charging some cut rate price.I have been working in this business for a few decades. I price out work to be able to produce what great designers want with the quality they want, to pay my guys and myself, and to still be here year after year without having to beat everyone down in price to do it.
