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3 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

How much is a builder's time worth?

Are you asking rhetorically or looking for a factual answer?

The few kits I've built for people I charged double the cost of the kit and supplies for a basic assembling of the kit from the parts in the box. Aftermarket stuff and scratch building or heavy modification was charged extra depending on what exactly was wanted and how long it took.

You're not going to make a living that way (I wasn't expecting too) and I honestly got sick of it for how little I was getting out of it. I'm sure I was making pennies an hour, I never gathered the numbers to find out. 

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On 3/16/2020 at 7:06 AM, mikemodeler said:

They are worth what ever someone is willing to pay. I see lots of kits on eBay listed over and over without any bids because the pricing is too high.

I agree, if he finds a buyer then they agree on what it’s worth. I have no idea how much time he has in it...

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15 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

How much is a builder's time worth?

 

12 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

Are you asking rhetorically or looking for a factual answer?

The few kits I've built for people I charged double the cost of the kit and supplies for a basic assembling of the kit from the parts in the box. Aftermarket stuff and scratch building or heavy modification was charged extra depending on what exactly was wanted and how long it took.

You're not going to make a living that way (I wasn't expecting too) and I honestly got sick of it for how little I was getting out of it. I'm sure I was making pennies an hour, I never gathered the numbers to find out. 

I will start by saying that we are under appreciated as artists, because what we do is an art form.  Some are paint by numbers kind of artists, others are Rembrandts and Picassos.  Distinguishing between them is subjective, after all art is in the eye of the beholder.  From that perspective asking price is what you think your time and skill are worth.  Selling price is what someone else thinks your time and skill are worth.  I have done more than a few commissions and they have sold for good money.  Several well into the thousands.  

I always chuckle when I am at a show and someone who sees these as toys comes up and asks me "How much to build....."  I use a base estimate of the kit plus $50 an hour.  After all, is your time worth as much as the plumber or truck driver?  Often, they are shocked and walk away with an incredulous look on their face.  Frankly, I don't enjoy building commissions.  It seems too much like work with deadlines and expectations other than my own.  Most of the commissions I have built are something new for me that I would enjoy and do on my own, so I get that out of it. If it is just a build of something that doesn't interest me, I charge way to much  as a kinder way of saying no. 

I know the guy who build the trucks had more that 10 or 20 hours into them so is his time worth $25 to $50 an hour?  Depends on his skill and the buyer.  Personally, I don't think he is out of line, but then most of the people who build on this board think their time is worth $0 per hour because they do it for fun.  It is like the rancher who shovels horse manure because he loves raising horses.  It is his time and he doesn't value it.  But if you have to pay someone to shovel it, that sees it strictly as a job, they ain't going to come cheap, because they don't enjoy it!

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5 minutes ago, Pete J. said:

Frankly, I don't enjoy building commissions.  It seems too much like work with deadlines and expectations other than my own...

Absolutely. I've had people ask to buy built stuff of mine that was displayed in a hobby shop. But I would never take on commissions.

Yesterday, along with working on an eBay sale, I got some work done on a 1/24 ICM Model T, a big project that's taking a lot of time because I'm slow. And doing quite a few mods to the kit. 

Then I decided I wanted to do something simple that could only be built one way, right out of the box.  Or the blister-card, in this case.  No mods or re-working.

I went into the stash and grabbed an Airfix 54mm figure from 1975 (the French Foreign Legionnaire 1908).  So far I've done the parts clean-up and some assembly.  It was an absolute joy working on that thing.  I got so wrapped up in sanding, gluing and filling that little figure that I nearly forgot to eat dinner.  

 

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