Putting together a general pricing guide for hand engravers...

jerrywh

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
1,032
Location
Baker City , Oregon
I for one refuse to subject myself to anybody's price guide. I charge what ever I want and it is usually high.
The quality and styles very so much that a price guide for our profession seem futile to me. The going rate will not apply to me. I once started a discount auto repair business. Huge mistake. I soon had every freeloader in western Oregon.
 

Sam

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
10,490
Location
Covington, Louisiana
I understand what you mean Jerry, but there are so many engravers out there who are just starting out that have no clue as to what others charge. As I said in another thread, the reputation of the engraver comes into play and that affects price. Someone who routinely gets their work published, wins FEGA awards or other notoriety, and has customers beating a path to their door can pretty much charge whatever the market will bear. For the rest a guide of some sort seems like it would be a good idea.
 

dlilazteca

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
2,659
Location
Laredo, Texas
Charge what the customer is willing to pay, and that will change with experience, recommendations, and the quality of your work. Start somewhere, take in consideration all the prep and refinish work that can be involved not just the engraving time, and any other time such as answering emails, calls, and even design time if the customer wants to be in charge, remember time is money.

GunEngraver.com Custom Guns Knives and More PAYMENT PLANS Available
 

jerrywh

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
1,032
Location
Baker City , Oregon
I understand the concept. A lot of beginners and others think that us engravers are getting rich. Many don't know the reality. A new person needs to know about what a average engraver might make. I would never do this just for money. It's the love of art and beauty
 

SamW

:::Pledge Member:::
::::Pledge Member::::
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
2,426
Location
Castle Valley, UT in the Red Rock country
There was a fellow by the name of Dan Heim in FEGA 20 plus years ago who came from an engraving family. When he started the family business would not let him work on anything but lettering. He got so good they would not let him do anything else, at least for a long time. I visited his shop in the L.A. area in the 90's and Dan told me he did a lot of lettering on firearms and was so good and fast that he made some $275 PER HOUR! Put that on your price list...(HEHEHE).
 

Diacutter

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
85
Location
Kansas
First item will be "categories".

I'm guessing lettering and monograms come first?

Then various "styles" in various materials. IE - precious metals, grades of steel and such?

Suggestions?


Brian

Thanks for doing this Brian. I find this very interesting.

Dave
 

Brian Marshall

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
3,112
Location
Stockton, California & Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico
Sam, like any other time/price based list... if you beat the time (mechanics guides are usually overly generous) you make the bucks.

But in our case beating the estimated time may also affect the visual outcome/quality - so that complicates things quite a bit...

I can see that putting this together is gonna be a long and complicated process - and that there will always be those who say "no way".


BUT, I was one of those who said "no way" when Geller came out with his guide for jewelers - and then one day I watched one of my trade accounts use it.

Sooooo, I decided to risk the money and buy one for our retail store.

WOW! Within the 9 remaining months of that particular year, we saw an increase in profits of a little over $15,000!

Worth every penny and then some - besides the ease of take-in and estimation that it provided.


Brian
 

Riflesmith

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
210
Location
Hutchinson, KS
Just my 2 cents. Script lettering is $5 a letter, that tends to cover layout. Small block lettering is $10 a letter, also covers layout. Once lettering gets over 1/4" tall it goes into the decorative category and gets charged by the hour. $120.00 minimum.
 

Sandy

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
683
Location
Kansas
Is there a section in the Geller guide that has engraving in it?
 

Brian Marshall

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
3,112
Location
Stockton, California & Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico
I don't have an up to date copy... we closed the store and the trade shop 12 years ago - so I can't answer that.

If it does, it will probably be based on manual pantograph or computer assisted lettering as most jewelers don't have access to "resident" hand engravers.

Plus, whatever it does have is probably gonna be limited to what an average jeweler would come across? Nothing to do with knives, guns, musical instruments or helicopter parts.

Very few of them get requests for hand engraved facsimiles of a signature for example - and if they do and they know of a hand engraver they will either ask for an estimate or simply refer the customer directly to the engraver.


Brian
 

Archie Woodworth

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
293
Location
Northeastern North Carolina
Great idea .... this would be a good resource for the engraving community.
IMHO I think a section in your document on sales technique would be beneficial. In addition to ones engraving skill; educating the consumer (process/time/work necessary to produce quality) is a key element to maximizing ones profit.
 

Eric Olson

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2010
Messages
221
Location
Louisville, CO
All right, I'll go first. I know one size does not fit all,
and a few years ago I got really irritated at a semi-pro jeweler who was always asking me how much he should charge for so-and-so.
Anyway, here's a starting point.
I recently quoted a a client who wasn't really sure what he wanted, so I had to offer some choices.
For lettering I started at $6/ letter for block style, $8/letter for script and $20 & up for large and/or shaded letters.
I quoted $250 to engrave a military insignia, which I could find on line and didn't require any design work (I posted a photo a week or so ago).

I start at 600 minimum for anything with significant gold inlay (who wants 1 inch of wire inlay??).

I charge $350 for a leaf pattern on a wedding band up to 4mm, 250 to detail the edges.
Of course a complete list would be next to impossible, but it's a start.
 

allan621

:::Pledge Member:::
::::Pledge Member::::
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
362
When I was in Philadelphia the engravers would get together once a year and go over the standard price list. Which almost everybody agreed to abide by but almost no one did. But the important part was that it created a general guide to build your prices around. The newer guys would charge less than the list but not too much less and the older more established guys just charged more anyway.

I'm getting ready to retire from general engraving and start an online business doing something different. But when I did a lot of mail order engraving for jewelry stores I would let them set the price. I know it sounds crazy but I usually received more money than I would have asked for. Of course, I was careful of who I dealt with.
 

Southern Custom

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Mar 8, 2013
Messages
1,026
Location
Baton Rouge
You might ask for the working engravers here to pm a general idea of their pricing structure to you Brian. It might be of help to get an average or find out what are the highs and lows in pricing for various types of jobs. Lettering, gold line work, basic scrollwork, jewelry engraving , gun prep, etc. It may have little bearing on large custom gun jobs, it could be a useful tool for many.
My most recent quandary involves a retail jeweler wanting an example of an engraved Spyderco for his case. Knowing he will mark it up beyond what I would normally charge my customers, I tried to figure out what my bottom line could be so the final price wouldn't be too outrageous.
I also engrave for several local jewelry stores that will double my price on lettering, ring engraving etc. Do any of you use separate price structures for wholesale work?
Good luck with it Brian, and if you would like any input let us know.
Layne
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
93
My 2 ,italian, euro cents,
I am, as of now, the only up to date "resident" engraver in the city I live in. Most of the work is jewelry related and people aren't much willing to shell out 5 dollars a letter, the accepted Italian rate for an inside ring engraving is about 10 euros per RING (that's just about 10$).

Needless to say, after 5 years, I can cut the inside of a ring pretty damn FAST. According to the chronometer on my bench the amount of time needed is around 12 minutes

One of the last costumers I "fired" had the guts to tell me that I should charge less since she includes the engraving in the price of the wedding band she sells..

Inviato dal mio XT1032 utilizzando Tapatalk
 
Top