How much can I sell my intarsia woodwork for? This is the question I get asked all the time. So I know at least some of you are considering trying to sell your work.

So how much are they worth?

First days: a typical scenario

You have started with an exciting new woodworking skill called Intarsia. You can’t get enough of that. Your family and friends are really impressed with the things you are doing. So each new piece easily finds a home.

You are happy to give your finished pieces to your family and close friends. But then friends of friends start wanting pieces. It occurs to you that while you certainly enjoy doing them, there are costs involved in addition to your time. And even if you don’t feel like you need to be paid for your time, it would be nice to get some sort of reward for your work.

mid-intarsia crisis

Well, maybe it’s not a crisis, but now you’re starting to think it might be good to sell some intarsia pieces to recoup the costs. And how much easier it is to get the boss to agree to a new machine in his shop if he is showing a return. “Well, dear heart, I have already won a few shillings and with that money I can buy a new one – insert your preference here – so I can make my intarsia even more efficiently and then I can easily make that new coffee table you’ve always wanted and so deserved.” Woffle woffle woffle.

The big question: “How much are they worth?

“How long is a piece of cord?

The Golden rule. “They are worth what customers pay for them”

Which doesn’t really tell you anything. So let’s take a look at a couple of pricing scenarios.

The academic approach

A Master of Business will direct you to do something like this. First calculate your total cost of production.

material costs

* Wood including any waste – $ Very little

* Plywood backing – $A small amount

* Hangers from a framing store – a few cents

consumables

* Sandpaper: $ more than you first imagined, but still not much

* Glue – a few cents more

* Varnish or oil finish – $ a few dollars

General expenses

* Workshop rent: It may be your garage, but someone had to pay for it at some point.

* Telephone

* Electricity

* Broom to sweep

* bla bla bla

Marketing

*Cost of stall at local flea market/bum sale

* Travel cost to get there

* Your time sitting behind the stall all day.

Revenue

* The cream on top that you deserve on top of your salary for running your own business. And now the big one.

Plowing

* Your local mechanic charges $50 (or $60 or $70) an hour to fix your car. And it’s probably the first-year trainee who’s done the job anyway. It took you 84 hours to make your masterpiece (you’ve carefully noted the hours) and it looks fabulous. You’re not greedy, so maybe $20 an hour is fine. That makes $1680 plus the $50 for all materials, etc. $1700+. You probably won’t get it at the local flea market.

Okay let’s be less ambitious and work for $5 an hour, I don’t really need anything, this is just a hobby. And I’m sure I must have got those hours wrong, let’s say it was only 40 hours of work. So $200 plus a little more for materials, let’s say $220 total. That sounds more reasonable, so regardless of the business administration degree, what we’ve actually done is guess the price. Surely there is a better way. You are right, there is.

a part
Sitting all day in the sun at a local flea market hoping that a punter with $220 in his pocket will walk by is fine once in a while, but it’s not a regular, reliable stream of income.
Oh, you say, but if you take your work to a local gallery, they want 40%, or 50% or more for themselves. And all they have to do is hang it on the wall, I had to put in all the effort to do it. Shock.
But if you go the gallery route, you don’t have to walk around all day, every day, looking for clients. They do that. That’s what you pay them for. And they have to spend the money to make their gallery look good, not you. We always try to do quality carpentry to be able to interest the best galleries in the country. Way to go. Happy to pay their share as long as they keep them in trucks.

The two month rule

I take my finished woodwork to the local craft gallery and talk to the owner. After some discussion, we arrived at an agreed starting price and percentage. Listen to the owner. If they are good, they know their market. Your beautiful intarsia hangs on the wall. Hopefully it will be the first thing the client sees when he first enters the gallery.

* If the work is sold in less than two months it is too cheap.

* If it takes much longer than two months to sell it, it’s too expensive.

* And you guessed it, if it sells in about two months, the price is fair.

The first time I did this, I wore 2 frog intarsias on Thursday. They both sold out that weekend. Priced too low, but he knew there was a market.

Ok, now you know the price you can sell them for. But maybe you only make $5 an hour based on how long it took you to make the first one.

So what have you gained: the knowledge that you can’t expect your customers to pay for your inefficiency.

So what can you do about it? There are many ways to optimize your production. You will make your 20th frog much faster than your first. As you gain more experience, all sorts of shortcuts will come to you. But that is another article.