How much would you charge?
 

I started redoing the interior in my 78 ford truck a while ago, first time Ive done basically a completely custom interior and have been posting my progress on another forum. Still have a ton of work to do though. Anyways I got a lot of good feedback and had a lot of guys ask about doing some work for them. I figured why not since Im running short on cash for my project and its good practice. Lately Ive been doing some dash pads and Im curious about how much a shop would charge in labor to do this. Obviously I havent been doing this for very long and I cant do it as perfect as someone whos been doing it for years, but theyre coming out pretty nice. So could someone give me an idea of what youd charge. I have a feeling Im not selling them for enough. It takes more time than I was expecting to fix cracks, landau foam the top and sew a six foot seam. Ive sold 4 so far.

Heres the ones Ive done for customers. The orange thread wasnt my idea, But it turned out nice.lol. Working on a red one right now. These are all done in symphony vinyl.

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0858.jpg

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0857.jpg

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0853.jpg

I can start up a thread if anyone wants to see how my interiors coming along, but Im not really close to being finished. Ive kinda stopped because Ive decided to do a few things to it that I wasnt expecting to do, and I dont have the cash right now. heres one of the panels I finished up a little while ago.

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0804.jpg

You would normally charge by time and materials. If you're doing it from home and have no other overhead it would be less than an upholstery shop would charge. If it was me, I'd get at least $150,....... more if the cracks took a long time to repair.

You did a nice job on the dashes and the door panel, you should charge accordingly.

Perfect, thanks. $150 plus material cost is exactly what I was shooting for. Im curious about how much my door panel would cost to have someone do also. Its abs and fiberglass, the armrest is fiberglass too. How much do custom shops charge to do one off door panels.

Once again, charge time and materials. Your ABS and fiberglass panel will cost a lot more to do than a normal door panel. I use PVC foamboard for door panels, and that's a lot less expensive than ABS. You would probably have to get $700 for the pair, including material and labor.

id like to see how the rest of your interior is coming along. you do very nice work man!

For my truck this is really the only other piece Ive finished completerly, other than door panels. Trying to save up by doing work like this to get it done. Been doing a lot of wiring in it the past few days, power locks/windows, Alarm/keyless entry. Did the sub enclosure around a year ago, need to recover it though.

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0600.jpg
http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0611.jpg
http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0446.jpg
http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0448.jpg

Heres some more pads I finished up a week ago.

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0878.jpg
http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0882.jpg

i really like your work man! :thumbup:

the headliner looks great, simple but very clean!

haha and i really like that 2 tone dash pad! might have to use that sometime!

how long have you been doing upholstery?

I basically just started messing around with it. Havent been able to do seats yet, but I will eventually. Im more into the custom fabrication part of it. Panels, consoles, dashes. Ive done metal and fiberglass stuff since I was a kid. Im learning the upholstery part and finding Im actually pretty good at it, probably because Im so picky, I think that helps.

haha yeah i hear you. its alot of fun to build something that wasnt there before and usually when most people think of it being made, they picture it coming from a factory. with the skills to fabricate with fiberglass and/or metal, the possibilities are endless. and yeah, upholstery, or any kind of fabrication definitely is not a field where one who is lazy or not critical of their own work, can expect to excel

Nice work!

Jon
http://1972vega.wordpress.com/

I always have problems quoting prices as well. its much easier on a job type you have done already but when a new/different job comes in I have trouble pricing. I am pretty good at material estimations but the time part gets me. Sometimes I blow through a project and sometimes it takes a couple tries before I am satisfied(we're all picky!).

location has a lot to do with it as well, I know I couldn't charge half what I do here in the big city as I could in my small hometown for the same job. maybe shop some local upholsterers and see what they would charge to "duplicate" one of your door panels.

edited, forgot to give you props on the work. tremendous job man, looks great, I would be proud.

Thanks. Thats exactly what I was going to do when I finish it up. Go around to local shops and see how much they would charge. Only problem is I dont think any local shops around me can do this type of work. I live in the bay area so theres gotta be someone that can do this. If anyone knows of a shop that does this type of work in the bay area let me know, Id like to check them out!

Good work.
Just keep your prices where you manage to eek out a few bucks for yerself after th' bills are paid. You'll do well.

BTW, I have a '76 ford pickup in dire need of door panels, headliner, seat, and dash pad. :D

Well Im always looking for work. Just finished up another ford pickup dash pad today and Im working on some ford pickup custom stock door panels. If your ever looking for someone to do some of that interior work for you Im your guy. Just message me. Ill get some pics of the door panels Im working on, theyre coming out pretty cool.

Huh ???
 

Your upholstery work looks very nice,where are you located? :)