Quoting Fiberglass

Let's get serious here guys. Unless your catering to movie stars, rock stars or the rich & famous most people in on this forum are not going to have customer's coming into their shops wanting to spend $ 10,000 on labor ( which equals 83 hours if you charge them $ 120 an hour or 166 hours if you charge them $ 60.00 per hour ). Not sure about you but what can you honestly finish in a month by yourself ? On the flip side of this if the going rate is $ 120 per hour and everyone is willing to pay for this then charge this as it's the going rate.

Don't undercut yourself by doing jobs that are huge right off the hop, start by learning how to pace yourself with smaller jobs and learn to calculate times for sanding, construction & finish. All in all, if your marketable area is low installation prices ( like my area ), you can't expect customers to come into your shop and pay you " pimp my ride " prices and be happy with it, but at the same time know your boundaries and if you can't compete .....don't or you'll loose your shirt.

Thank you for the info, I have had people come in with wood boxes and wanted a full fiberglass job for 3 subs and two amps... out of all that I quoted him about 800, he laughed and left, is that too much or not enough, Im really not sure.

Jack

NOT enough. man that seems  really cheap. Did he want it finish sanded and sprayed to body color? I love it when people laugh at my quotes 9 out of 10 times they come back with some half assed install that looks like a ten year old did it with play do.  By calculations after materials you'd be figuring about 13 +/- hours.  Maybe I am off a little (some say alot) but fiberglass takes time to do it right and look good. Just my opinion

It was a cheap quote, the market here just wont spend big bucks on custom stuff. But oh well I suppose, thats why I am opening up my own shop out in glastonbury ct. It is just a shame because the more practice you get, the better you are and if I have nothing to practice on but my own vehicle, well i can only get so good. Thanks for the info guys, I will keep all of this in mind with my own shop.

I would make a note when finding out the cost of living ratio for your area.  Feel out other competitors as well.  Your competitors also will, in time, contribute to your sucess as well, so dont ever let them feel like your ignoring them.  Reason: They will, one day, send you a job they cant do or dont want for some...whatever reason.  Here in Arkansas, there is not an insane need for a mass of bling, however, there are PLENTY of sly rides.  The autos in this area are everything from streetrods to mini-trucks to tuners.  Being Arkansas is known for the Natural state, automotive builders around here build clean simple rides and have the patience and capacity to build some of the most twisted stuff you have ever seen.  There is some serious money this area, but people are reserved.  And all that reserve spurs alot of money on what they really, really, really want.  So, sooner or later, thier pockets pop and.....you get the idea.  You better know your area to stay busy and be consistently marketable.  I stay very busy at $35-$60/hr for most fabrications that deal with fiberglassing, and thats for glassing only, which may be only for 2 hours, the rest is body work related (body filling to paint prep), so the price does NOT fully reflect the cost of fiberglassing.  Steel fabrication is all another story which will not be discussed at this time.  You need to stay real for what your doing, because fiberglassing does not use a $3500 MIG/TIG welders, or Plasma Cutters, or presses, or CNC machines, or ect.....just YOU and some inexpensive brushes.  Do charge for your woodworking time, but for your woodworking price.  Dont price gouge, let your price reflect your ingenuity / imagination / practicality and mostly integrity of your overall service and delivery of your end product.

Um, sorry, my 2¢ turned 9¢...but I hope it helped in some way.

JD