Colt Custom Shop Engraving Price List - 2014

Haraga.com

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Please excuse my ignorance but does colt operate an facility that houses their own engravers?
 

Sandy

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The question isn't about how much they charge for the engraving. It is wether the will servive through the end of the year.
 

Roger Bleile

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Please excuse my ignorance but does colt operate an facility that houses their own engravers?

Yes, they do. Jan Gwinnell and Steve Kamyk work in the Colt factory. George Spring also engraved at Colt for over 30 years but recently retired. To my knowledge Smith & Wesson is the only other US gunmaker who employs an in-house engraver. All the rest rely on out-workers and contractors for their engraving.
 

Andrew Biggs

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When you employ someone, the rule of thumb you should aim for at absolute minimum is a 300% markup on the employers wages. In other words, if you are paying them $20 per hour, then at minimum, you should be charging them out at $60 per hour.............this is just the baseline to cover overhead, administration, time off work and mistakes. Obviously this increases depending on overhead, reputation etc etc..........then there is that little word called profit to take into account.

If you are charging out less.........one of two things is happening. The first is that you are making little or no return on your financial outlay. Or at worst, you are financially better off not having that person work for you.

You also have to take into account the employees speed. Some are fast and others not so fast and some as slow as a snail. If you are having predetermined prices then you have to average all this out and come up with a full retail price. Not an easy thing to do as some of it is math and some of it educated guess work based on previous experience and record keeping.

According to their price list a 3 letter monogram costs $120. I am amazed any self employed engraver would do it for less. Think of the time spent with the customer talking about their project, jigging it up, layout and cutting. Then when the customer returns, more time spent..........it is surprising how many trades people and artisans do not understand these simple business concepts and spend their life working for little more than they would earn at McDonalds.

The same applies for the 3 initial on the backstrap at $147 or a fully engraved gun of American scroll at $2147. Why sell your work cheap?.............unless it is cheap work.

I would encourage people to try this out.........next time a customer asked you for a whatever job..............bang on another $50 or more depending on how big the job is. Yes, a couple will walk away and look for the cheaper guy. But most will pay up. That becomes the normal price and what people expect to pay. Otherwise you are selling yourself short.

Keep in mind that that extra you are charging your customer goes into your pocket..........otherwise it stays in your customers pocket. Always remember that you are in business to make money.

Perhaps a few engravers should take a real close look at the Colt price list and think to themselves.......if they can do it, then so can I. Talk yourself up, not down :)

Cheers
Andrew
 

Haraga.com

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Same thing here Andrew. Wages are around 30% of the shop rate with the exception in the oilfield where wages are about 20% of the billed rate. Contractors that work offsite are 50% of the shop rate as they are responsible for all of the taxes, unemployment and workers comp. here you are better off to take the 30% rather than the 50%.
 

zzcutter

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Well said Andrew,
Being a retired Business owner, sometimes no matter how much you ask is never enough when all the dust settles at the end of the job. We should all want them to ask this and more it only helps us get more for our work. The engravers that sell themselves short not only hurt themselves but all in the trade. ZZ
 

Gemsetterchris

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There are trade & retail prices for every business.
Having work done "in-house" has a romantic ring to it & in some cases is necessary ( some watch servicing for example).
Other than that, It's possible to get an "as good" job done from a competent freelancer.

So, if Mrs.Smith has her diamond set via "the retailer or manfacturer" it'll cost her more than dealing through me, (even though I do the work anyway).

A lot of companies here in Finland use sub-contracted outworkers, due to the fact that It's too costly to employ since it costs them x3 (whatever the salary).
 
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Martin Strolz

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Yes, they do. Jan Gwinnell and Steve Kamyk work in the Colt factory. George Spring also engraved at Colt for over 30 years but recently retired. To my knowledge Smith & Wesson is the only other US gunmaker who employs an in-house engraver. All the rest rely on out-workers and contractors for their engraving.

Some decades ago Leonard Francolini was working in the Colt Custom Gun Shop. Roger, do you know when he left Colt?
http://www.francolini.com/

...meanwhile I looked it up in your splendid book on page 135. It was August 1979.
 
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Big-Un

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After seeing their price list, I think I'll up my prices until the customer winces, then stay there for a while. Also, I'll keep a copy posted in the studio for reference, just to give the customer something to think about. Right now I'm about 60% of the standard Colt rates and have too much to do for my comfort level, so maybe a rise in prices will bring the work load back to an acceptable level, for me anyway. Can't hurt to try.

Bill
 

Andrew Biggs

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The best business advise I've ever received was not long after I started my sign business.

If you are going to go broke........then do it trying to make a buck!!!!

Think about the leverage that a 20% rise in prices have. That means $100 becomes $120. $200 becomes $240...spread that over a lot of smaller jobs over the course of a year and it becomes a significant amount in your pocket. All of a sudden that house project or workshop upgrade becomes feasible or a trip to Disneyland with the kids.

Don't forget that we have prices going up around us all the time. Inflation, groceries, insurance and all the rest of it...and the tax man takes his bite as well.

It's all about self confidence and the ability to look the customer in the eye and just say your price............ Then zip the lips!!!!

Cheers
Andrew
 

Roger Bleile

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...It's all about self confidence and the ability to look the customer in the eye and just say your price............ Then zip the lips!!!!

Cheers
Andrew

Many years ago I worked at an antique shop and the owner taught me that after you give your final price, shut up. He said "the next person to speak loses the negotiation." He was right every time.
 

Thierry Duguet

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What price should you charge a customer? What ever the customer is willing to pay. Overhead is almost irrelevant, Colt does not calculate a minimum cost for their engraving they impose the highest price then can in function of their work load and in function of what the market can bears. Engraving value does not necessarily depend of the quality of the work but more likely on the perception of its value by the client, this perceive value, of factory work, will depend greatly of the fact that a factory engraving is seen as a good potential investment.
Actually there is no need to even speak of engraving, look at the price of a SSA, cheap to make, and cheaply made the quality of the gun does not justify its price, its price is determine by its appeal, its name recognition, and (mostly) by what people are willing to pay for one of it. Think about it why would clients pay a freelancer the same price than a factory work when they know without a doubt that the second is a better investment.
 

Barry Lee Hands

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Well said Roger, I might add that Colt collectors are not Gun Dealers.
If its not in the blue book, dealers don't know how to price it.
And dealers buy almost all collections, Good dealers know the market, look at the bluebook, and do comps on recent auctions and then they set the aftermarket price.
 
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Big-Un

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Many years ago my wife and I had a candy shop, one where we made custom lollipops and arranged them in traditional floral type arrangements. We learned to maket ourselves on "perceived value," what the customer thought of the product. With penny suckers all around us, we sold lollipops for $2.50 each on the average and much more for more elaborate ones. I did all the cooking and molding of the candy and she did the arrangements. An example of "perceived value," we sold three dimensional candy roses in the same type arrangements as florists for the same prices....$50.00 and up per dozen depending on the color and flavor. We, as artists, must never underestimate our value as such and charge accordingly. Our clients appreciate value and are willing to support it.

Bill
 

Chujybear

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Robert Davidson says "when I quote a price, if the customer is still standing, my heart drops (because I quoted too low)"
 
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