Always remember
Hofstadter’s law

Edit: lost abitlity to get link to work

😀

60 to 80 hours for that one I reckon; drawers take time to make and mdf isn’t the best for them.

No, all drawers would be solid with router-cut dovetails.
Thanks all. Lots of help there.

+1 this is way too cheap. Agree you should double your hours and add contingency. You will still be way cheaper than the other options.
Good luck

MDF– you not machining it are you ?

£30 minimum– and add a few hours for contingency–you should quote him at least £2300

Also as said, factor in tax/NI just in case…

I think that’s about half price, but if you’re happy him will be and that is what makes the world go round.
Going to be very tight for the washer, glad I haven’t planned. It’s bespoke make a bit more room ffs

Are we not approaching this from the wrong tack?

Question i) What frame do you want to buy? How much is it?
Question ii) What forks do you want to buy? How much are they?

Add the answer to Q i) and ii) and you have the answer to how much you want for making the kitchen

Simples 😀

surely the question should be ‘what frame have you bought?’

Way too cheap. The fact that you have access to free gear is irrelevant as no one else will and will price accordingly. Your hourly rate seems pretty low as well (as long as the work is going to be quality).

Think of it this way, the guy will be getting a 4-5K ish bespoke kitchen for £925 and some wood. Even if you doubled the labour component it would still be cheap.

Are we not approaching this from the wrong tack?

Question i) What frame do you want to buy? How much is it?
Question ii) What forks do you want to buy? How much are they?

Add the answer to Q i) and ii) and you have the answer to how much you want for making the kitchen

Simples

Ha ha! Exactly… 😀

Your hourly rate is too low – especially as you are a skilled craftsman. £45 to £50 per hour – as previously said.

If he wants you to do the kitchen, he won’t run away when you give him your first price. It’s time to start haggling….

So put your rate up and allow more time.

Update.
Got an email off the bloke after sending him my quote based on £25 an hour, making the total about £1600.

Basically he said he’d given it some thought and decided to go for another quote…

I thought that would happen. Must be someone doing it for a hobby or something.

Damn and blast…

I thought that would happen. Must be someone doing it for a hobby or something.

Damn and blast…

smile sweetly and wait. You would be surprised how many folks use this to drive the price down with no other actual company in place. 🙂

Now you know what others think is the going rate, you can have a little sideline making custom bespoke furniture (try ebay as an initial advert/selling place).

I was interested in why I didn’t get the job so emailed the bloke to ask him. The drawing above is for a utility room, the big kitchen would come later. His reply was…

The key point was about cost. I mentioned that this was a tester and that I would use this for working out the cost of the kitchen. Based on your estimate the kitchen would have cost about 45k. Also an hourly rate is not suitable for something that has no time constraint.
As a benchmark you were 600 more than the next highest quote from a professional cabinet maker who also included materials.
If you are interested I need 7 box newel posts build. If interested I can send you the spec and you can quote. These are simpler and could be easily done in a day.
Cheers

So my original estimate based on £20 an hour would probably have meant I’d have got it, my quote afterwards where I was more generous with time estimates and upped the rate to £25 an hour meant I was £600 more than an apparently professional cabinet maker…
Hmmm 😕

Dont worry about his excuses – by pitching this as a tester hed have screwed you down on future ventures – Move on mate and dont worry about it …

His loss in my humble opinion as you seem a genuine sort of guy .. 8)

Got an email off the bloke after sending him my quote based on £25 an hour, making the total about £1600.

As a benchmark you were 600 more than the next highest quote from a professional cabinet maker who also included materials.

In the beginning:

So far, I have based my rate on £22.50 an hour and estimated around 41 hours to complete, bringing the cost to about £925.

You’d have been bang on, undercutting the other guy by £75 if you’d have ignored everyone and gone with your original thought!

STW at its best!

You’d have been bang on, undercutting the other guy by £75 if you’d have ignored everyone and gone with your original thought!

Except the guy he’d have undercut was also supplying materials…, so not really.

You’d have been bang on, undercutting the other guy by £75

I would say he would still have been significantly more expensive than the the other guy….

who also included materials

I want the details of this pro cabinet maker. £1k inc materials… Even if it was just mdf that is about a half to a third what I’d expect based on quotes I’ve had for things.

£45k would make that a seriously large kitchen on your rates.

Personally I never go for the lowest quote as I value quality / reliability over cost. I’d much rather pay more for someone to do a quality job on time than get a bargain which turns out to be a nightmare.

Except the guy he’d have undercut was also supplying materials…, so not really.

*I must read threads properly.*

Well I’ve never seen a customer try that one on before I’m sure 🙄
Well maybe he’s asked a nice retired bloke who’s doing it as a hobby..

Personally I never go for the lowest quote as I value quality / reliability over cost. I’d much rather pay more for someone to do a quality job on time than get a bargain which turns out to be a nightmare.

You’d be surprised how many don’t though. Pitching quotes right is a tricky business. I’m on day 2 of a full kitchen fit at the moment with tiling and electrics that was quoted and agreed at £2300, less than I wanted but more than he wanted to pay. had a note left for me this morning on site asking “if I still expected to be finished by Friday?” How much do they think I earn? I told them at quoting stage it would be a 2 week job, no wonder he thought it sounded too much!

There is business and there is bad business. I’d wish this chap well with his “professional” cabinet maker and be thankful he went elsewhere.

I’d much rather pay more for someone to do a quality job on time than get a bargain which turns out to be a nightmare.

Did you learn that from the “first brickie” episode 😉

Yeah thanks all, some very helpful comments which have made me weigh up the value of my hard earned skills more.
Sadly I didn’t get this work but as said, I would have been tied to an awful lot of faff for probably less than was right.

I do have a few other things extra to my main job to put to my Peru fund but it’s a shame as this guy could have been a good contact for future work.

Oh well. Them’s the breaks..

If you are interested I need 7 box newel posts build. If interested I can send you the spec and you can quote. These are simpler and could be easily done in a day.

Tell him if its that easily done in a day DIY it.

Sounds like you’re better off without him.