Pricing a Job?

[matt1983]

Hi guys

ive got a question about pricing that ive always been a been confused about,

Say for instance a customer came to you for a relatively easy job that for arguments sake your fee for doing the job is £50

Your materials cost lets say £70 but your only going to be using a small amount of the material, do you still charge the customer the full £70 or do you charge them what it going to be used?

It might sound like a daft question but i get this all the time where customers already know the price of the materials that would be used so they always turn round and ask why the full amount has been charged, but my take on it is that im paying out £70 for materials that i may not use the rest of for months so im effectively out of pocket?

 

[Officebird]

I think it has to depend on what the materials are really. If you are buying them special as a bespoke job then you should charge them the full amount.

I obviously don't charge my clients for a full ream of paper if they are only having a couple of pages printed out, but if they wanted something printed out on shiny red A5 card that I had to buy especially I would charge them for the card as it would be unlikely I would use it in the future.

As long as you explain it to the customer up front and give them the option of sourcing the materials themselves I don't really see it as a problem. If they think you are too expensive because you are charging the cost of the materials then they will go elsewhere which is a shame but at least you won't be doing a job at a loss.

What sort of materials do you purchase?

 

[matt1983]

Im purchasing leather for a retrim job but its a very small job but the leather is expensive, its an odd colour so im not likely to use it again.

How does that work though if they pay for the full amount and its unlikely to get used again do you give them the rest of the material since they have paid for it?? or keep it on one side so they get it free next time?? or just keep the rest for another job that may come up so you are effectively getting the rest free because the customer has paid for the full amount

 

[RBS]

Im purchasing leather for a retrim job but its a very small job but the leather is expensive, its an odd colour so im not likely to use it again.

Explain him that. Its common sense, if you buy special leather, what are you going to do with rest whats left after a job?

I have had a bit different story. Customer wanted discount on CCTV cameras and said: buy in bulk, get discount and pass it to me! After I told him there a bout 120 different cameras and I cannot buy them and keep them in stock because every job needs different camera, so I have to order just for him exact amount.

 

[*Lexxy*]

for something specialist like that, definitely bill the customer the full amount you've had to pay for the materials & i'd be inclined to give them the remaining leather. much more likely to get repeat business & a happy customer to spread the word!

 

[matt1983]

Ok so what i'll do is bill for full amount and keep the leather in stock here incase he needs it again, its actually my landlord im doing the job for but since he didnt let me off any rent last year when i moved in (spent 3 weeks of the first month clearing out the crap from the old tenant!) im not going to be giving him any discount lol