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Hand Carved Fox....Step x Step
- Thread starter mrchips
- Start date
Thanks for the compliments everyone!
I just got back from a trip to OR so I've been unable to get to answer those two questions...........
1st, on the painting question, I apply one primer coat and two top coats (all acrylic laytex). I only sand after the primer coat (220 grit). That's the steps on the background.
On the carvings, it's bascially the same except I usually apply two primer coats and sand with 220 after the second coat. The carved letters get 2 primer coats as well, sand, then 2 coats of 1Shot Speed Dry Acrylic Clear, then size and gild or paint with 1Shot enamel (2 coats).
Pricing? $20 per sq ft for materials (thats about $500 profit on a 4x8 sheet). Then I charge per letter. A basic 3" letter carves in less than 7 minutes.....8 per hour = my shop rate. I figure the same for the priming and finishing for each letter.....about $20 per gilded letter. I made a little chart so i can give a complete quote in under 1 minute.
The carved images are hours x my shop rate. I pretty much can nail down the time for the carving (hour wise) based on over 32 years of experience in this biz. On new carvings, I'll usually add a fudge factor of 10% overall.
My prices are generally a little lower than the big shops charge but I'm totally geared to small signs now, where for the big shops, they are a PITA.
I have always been quite anal about keeping time records so I don't cheat myself or get too lazy. I still actually run a stop watch on the majority of the signs.
Hope that helps.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
I just got back from a trip to OR so I've been unable to get to answer those two questions...........
1st, on the painting question, I apply one primer coat and two top coats (all acrylic laytex). I only sand after the primer coat (220 grit). That's the steps on the background.
On the carvings, it's bascially the same except I usually apply two primer coats and sand with 220 after the second coat. The carved letters get 2 primer coats as well, sand, then 2 coats of 1Shot Speed Dry Acrylic Clear, then size and gild or paint with 1Shot enamel (2 coats).
Pricing? $20 per sq ft for materials (thats about $500 profit on a 4x8 sheet). Then I charge per letter. A basic 3" letter carves in less than 7 minutes.....8 per hour = my shop rate. I figure the same for the priming and finishing for each letter.....about $20 per gilded letter. I made a little chart so i can give a complete quote in under 1 minute.
The carved images are hours x my shop rate. I pretty much can nail down the time for the carving (hour wise) based on over 32 years of experience in this biz. On new carvings, I'll usually add a fudge factor of 10% overall.
My prices are generally a little lower than the big shops charge but I'm totally geared to small signs now, where for the big shops, they are a PITA.
I have always been quite anal about keeping time records so I don't cheat myself or get too lazy. I still actually run a stop watch on the majority of the signs.
Hope that helps.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
Brandon708
New Member
wow that is so nice. Great job!