Measuring up on Saturday, quoting on Wednesday
The couple want a dining table in English walnut, 2.2 metres long, with a trestle base and a breadboard end detail they saw on Instagram. They want to know roughly what it costs before they commit to a design fee. You have three similar enquiries this week, plus a run of kitchen doors to finish and a delivery on Friday.
Pricing it means working out how much timber in cubic metres or board feet, allowing for waste and grain matching, checking what your timber yard is charging for walnut this month, adding the finish, fixings and hours at the bench, then writing it up. You do it on Wednesday night. By then the couple have had a price from a maker who replied on Monday.
Every commission priced from zero
Makers know how they price. The rules are in their heads and in last year's notebooks, not in anything that can be reused.
- Timber volume is worked out by hand from rough dimensions, with a waste allowance that varies by mood.
- Timber prices change and old quotes do not reflect them.
- Hours are estimated from memory of similar pieces, which may not be remembered accurately.
- Hardware, finishing materials and delivery are added individually and sometimes forgotten.
- Only the owner can price, so quotes wait for the owner's evening.
What slow quoting costs a workshop
Enquiries for commissioned furniture are often from people comparing a few makers. Quick, clear answers win conversations. Slow quotes lose work quietly. Pricing in a rush also means underpricing: a table that took far more bench time than allowed, or a finish that needed more coats than planned, and the only person who notices is you, at the end of a long week. And quoting in the evenings is time taken from rest or from the bench.
A quoting tool built on how you price
- We sit down with you and write down how you price each type of piece: tables, cabinets, chairs, built-ins, beds. What drives the hours, what the waste factor is for each timber, which details add time.
- Your timber list is set up with current prices from your yard, by species and thickness, and easy to update when prices move.
- Hardware and finishing items are set up as lists per piece type, so hinges, runners, fixings and finishes are never forgotten.
- To quote, you enter the piece type, main dimensions, timber and options such as breadboard ends, drawers or a particular joint. The tool calculates timber with waste, materials and hours, and prices them at your rates.
- You review the result, adjust anything that needs judgement, and produce a quote in your own style, with a range for early conversations or a firm price once the design is agreed.
- Won and lost quotes are kept, and actual hours can be recorded when the piece is finished, so your hour estimates improve.
| Part of the quote | Worked out today | With the tool |
|---|---|---|
| Timber | Cutting sums on paper | Calculated from dimensions with your waste factor |
| Timber price | Ring the yard | Current list |
| Hardware and finish | Added from memory | Standard list per piece |
| Hours | Remembered from past pieces | Your rates per piece and detail |
| Writing up | Evening at the kitchen table | Draft produced for you to check |
Quoting that fits around the bench
You can give a considered ballpark within a day of an enquiry, and a firm price quickly once the design is agreed. Quotes are consistent, so two similar tables cost roughly the same unless you choose otherwise. Other people in the workshop can prepare quotes for you to check. And over time, recording actual hours shows which pieces you underprice, which is worth knowing before the next one.
Is this how your quoting goes?
- You price commissions in the evenings or at weekends.
- Customers chase you for a quote.
- You have finished a piece and realised you undercharged.
- Only you can price the work.
- Timber prices in your quotes are out of date.