Upgrade Charge for 3mm Edgebanding

3-millimeter edgebanding is a little more expensive, so maybe you should charge a little more. June 15, 2014

Question
We recently picked up a used Holz-Her 1435 bander that has 3mm capability. We've been running some samples and have it pretty well dialed in. However, we've never done it on a job before and I'm sure running a lot of it will have its pitfalls. So, I'm not real sure on what to charge for the upgrade from our standard 1mm banding. Does anyone have any insight? Also, before everyone jumps on me, I'm not a new guy coming in here asking for LF pricing on cabinets. We know what we're doing, this is just a new twist for us.

Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor H:
I charge the same except for the cost of band. It takes the same machine time and makes a better looking product with a nicer feel.



From Contributor O:
We do charge more for 3 mill but not just for the material. It does take a little longer at the machine because the sides need to be run first then the setup changes to round the ends of the top and bottom edges.


From contributor M:
It depends on who your clients are. If they are residential like mine, I'd say to use the 3mm de facto at a certain upgrade level as part of a package. Nickel and diming every possibility doesn't seem to yield good results.


From contributor L:
It does take a little longer to get the corner rounding right on. Whether you do an upgrade charge for it or not depends on how you price. Our program is set up to always have a setup fee for every operation. It may only be five minutes but considering you will do thousands of setups over a year's time it is worth the time to tweak everything on a bander to be nearly perfect so no hand work is required.