What do you charge for machine time / your labor?

[msmollin]

Hey gang,
So my M2 is running great, and word is starting to leak out amongst a larger group of friends (friends of friends, etc.) and I'm starting to receive requests for jobs, some custom, some pretty bog standard (I want a Dalek! Ok... pick one of the 32 versions on Thingiverse).

S3D gives a pretty good estimate on material cost but I'm kinda lacking on what the "costs" are for machine time and my labor costs, since most times I get a nice STL file that I spend 10 minutes orienting and playing with support options on, but then sometimes I get it wrong and have to restart the print... you know how it goes.

Any thoughts? What do ya'll wind up charging friends / friends of friends?

I also need to figure out a better way to tell my friends that there are actual costs associated with this as well

[jimc]

to put this simply......knowing what the material cost via s3d then add in for labor whatever you feel its worth and will make you happy in the end. if you feel like its not worth your effort then its not going to be and just walk away. its not your day job and you dont need it to pay the bills.

[msmollin]

Wise words, sir. Always unsure how to handle stuff like this because I have my own projects as well. Prioritizing is annoying sometimes

[chad]

I have been playing with this. What I did is set the price per kg of filament to $1000 in s3d.
so this part:
Build time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Filament length: 7182.5 mm
Plastic weight: 21.59 g (0.05 lb)
Material cost: $21.59

You can obviously scale this up and down at will.

Just a thought...

chad

[insta]

I actually started a business around running my printers. I maintain an ONI H-Bot, two M2s, and I'm adding a delta and custom large-format machine. I keep a stock of around 40kg worth of plastic and extrude my own as well for bulk stuff (black ABS mostly).

My quotes are $10 setup, $0.12/cc, $1/hr machine time. It's low from what I want to charge (probably more per machine-hour), but my accepted quotes drop off dramatically any higher than that.

[ednisley]

my accepted quotes drop off dramatically any higher than that.

I hand the model to Shapeways, pick their cheap nylon process, and quote that number. It's amazing how few people want an ugly plastic tchotcke at that price... [grin]

For sure, it's not worth my time to undercut Shapeways!

[insta]

my accepted quotes drop off dramatically any higher than that.

I hand the model to Shapeways, pick their cheap nylon process, and quote that number. It's amazing how few people want an ugly plastic tchotcke at that price... [grin]

For sure, it's not worth my time to undercut Shapeways!

My rates are variable, depending on how much I want to work with that person. Corporate customers are usually thrilled that I'm like $4,000 cheaper than the other quote they got (generally some SLA vendor), and I'm usually not thrilled to find out afterwards about that gap. It's kind of funny, the bigger the budget, the less they expect ... the corporate customers are generally like "yeah if you wanna get me that part sometime this month thats cool. Only $80? Awesome. Use whatever plastic you have extra of." whereas some of the residential customers are like "I NEED THIS 700 CM^3 PART IN TWO HOURS AND THATS ONLY 4 BUCKS RITE???!1 OH ALSO I NEED FULL COLOR AND DELIVERY TO 17 MILES AWAY. I'M PAYING WITH COLD CHEESEBURGERS."

Like I said, my rates are variable. Somehow my machine time just went up to $20/hr...

Then again, I had that happen once. A guy was being a pain in the ass so I just made up a big number to make him go away, and he was like "meh, kinda steep. Whatever, go for it". It took me by surprise as well, but I printed his parts, and it seemed to adjust his expectations. He's one of my best customers now.

[hybridprinter]

business to business is way easier than dealing with individuals

[hybridprinter]

especially considering that a Shapeways SLS part is going to look multiples better than these desktop machines. Trying to run desktop machines for income is a quick path to poverty.

my accepted quotes drop off dramatically any higher than that.

I hand the model to Shapeways, pick their cheap nylon process, and quote that number. It's amazing how few people want an ugly plastic tchotcke at that price... [grin]

For sure, it's not worth my time to undercut Shapeways!

[willnewton]

All your friends and family will want whatever you are willing to give them for free, because they value your time at $0/hr. When you say, "This only costs $0.25 in plastic to make". They only hear the $.25 part and are offended if you even ask for $5 for a copy, because "You said this only costs $0.25" If you do not charge for the work you do, then your work has no value in the eyes of others.

If you are not doing this for a living, then don't give away the time that you should be paid the most for. I don't mean your "at work" time. I mean your personal, well earned, not-at-work time. Time that your real job would be paying you overtime to take away from you. You just give away your priceless family/personal time? Bad idea!

If you want to be a professional, then charge a professional rate. If you do not, then you will be treated like a vending machine. The M2 is amazing, but it does not come with a free CNC technician, a free 3D designer, free electricity, free storage, free marketing, free maintenance, free design software, or free shipping. It costs money to just let it sit there and do nothing!

Now, I am not going to tell you what to charge, because EVERYONE will have differing rates. I will give you something to think about though. Around here, a guy can get $35-40 to cut my yard and weed whack and it takes about an hour. This is job that a twelve year old can do with no specialized knowledge or equipment.

So with a highly specialized piece of equipment, using highly specialized knowledge, doesn't it stand to reason that you should make more money per hour than the lawn guy? If you are not charging more, then you should just go cut grass in your free time.

There are only two prices in my shop- full price or free. I have varying shop rates ranging from $40 to $60 to $100 hour depending on what manpower, tools, and skills are required to finish the job.