chair project

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TracyP

Administrator , Forum Moderator
Tracy
Nice looking chair Michael. Good luck on the sale of the chairs.
 

Ken Massingale

New User
Ken
That's a nice chair.
I wouldn't advertise price reductions. Customers look to the the craftsman to value their work, IMO reducing the price tells me as a customer that the price was too high initially.
Set a price that is fair to yourself and the customer and let the chips fall.
(and this comes from experience, I have been guilty of this myself, but hopefully have learned better)
 

ErnieM

Ernie
Corporate Member
Michael,

Except for harpsichords and restored pianos, I've never built anything for sale - so take this with a grain of salt. It seems to me that your chair is priced too low. I have no idea how long it takes to make a nice chair like the one in your ad, but unless you can knock it off in two or three hours AND get the wood for free, I don't see how you can make any money.

When I started tuning pianos 45 years ago, I put an ad in the local Pennysaver ( a weekly magazine where people could advertise their services ) and priced my work VERY cheap. Turns out, it was never cheap enough for the readers of that publication. Looking back at those days, I realize now that I priced myself so low because I didn't think I was worth more. I was right! It took several years, and the help of many older technicians, to get my skill level to the point where I felt comfortable charging the going rate. In the meantime, had I continued to run these ads - which I didn't, I could have been labeled as a cheap tuner who did second class work - a reputation that's very difficult to repair.

I think many craftspeople tend to undercharge their work, for many reasons. It's not difficult to find out what the "going rate" is for a chair like yours. Look it up on the internet - make sure the quality of your work is comparable or better than the competition (and I'm sure it is), and charge
accordingly.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Ernie
 

davejones

New User
Dave
I too think you are pricing it too low. I have seen many Adirondack's priced in the $300-400 range. That may have included the footstool, but even if you sold for $150-200 you would beat most people on price.

Nice looking chair, by the way!
 

Bigdog72

New User
Geoff
I agree your pricing is to low...but...you are up against some stiff competition. I thought I would make Adirondack type furniture for sale until I was walking through a Tractor Supply and found an Adirondack chair there for $59.95. For cedar!!! I don't think I can buy the wood for that!! I have seen chairs in the $175 to $250 range but the folks that frequent CL often won't pay that kind of price. Before anyone gets there nose out of joint about my reference to CL, all of my stationary tools came from CL and I low balled every one of them.
 
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