Pricing your Woodworking

I’d like to talk about a woodworking pricing tactic that can potentially save you a lot of heartache. This approach is a little different than the usual pricing methods in that it starts with the final product and works backward. I’ve found that this simple exercise can help eliminate potentially unprofitable projects from your lineup before you invest time and effort designing and building prototypes and creating marketing materials. 

Research market prices to ensure a new project is worth your time

When you first discover a promising customer project, it can be tempting to jump right in and start looking at design options and building costs. But I recommend putting the sketchbook aside for a bit and spending some time investigating existing market pricing for the project. Your potential sales price is far more important than the design or material costs when you’re considering whether to move forward with a customer woodworking project.Understand price ranges will help you pick profitable projects
Once you have a project in mind, determine the existing price range for similar items and get an understanding of the differences between the low, medium and high-priced models already available. Jump online and do a Google search for your project idea. As you search, note any variations in the project name that come up and search on those terms too.

I recommend clicking on the Google Images tab as you’ll get a quick look at pricing as well as lots design options.  As you examine the range of quality, features and designs available, consider your personal skill level as a woodworker and determine where your potential offering might fall within the existing price range.

As you research pricing, don’t get discouraged if there are low-priced options available for your project idea - there always are. The high end of the price range is where you should focus your attention. Ask yourself, if you can meet or exceed the quality, features and design of the higher-priced versions. If you’re confident you can, then I recommend you start sorting out your own design, materials and building costs. Here’s a sample customer project
Let’s look at another customer project I developed as an example - the potting bench. When I first looked at existing “potting benches” on the market, the prices ranged from just under $100 to well over $500. Looking at the different bench options, I realized I’d be able to build a bench that met the specs of the higher-end models on the market.

As a small shop, I could even personalize each bench for each customer without much extra effort and set my benches apart from the other higher-priced options. After I had a rough understanding my potential sales price, I started to research material costs and consider my build time. But first, I made sure there were premium-priced potting benches on the market before I moved forward with my own bench design and cost calculations.