Most underpriced jobs aren't underpriced on purpose. A sheet gets forgotten, the painting takes twice as long as hoped, and the fitting day turns into two. A price built up the same way every time catches those things before the customer has said yes.
Every fitted furniture price is made of the same four things: materials, your time, your overheads and your profit.
1. Materials, from a cutting list
Price the boards from a cutting list and a sheet layout, not a guess, because it's the layout that tells you how many sheets you'll actually buy (see how many sheets of MDF do I need). Then add everything else the job uses:
- Timber: skirting, architrave, battens and studwork, in the lengths you buy
- Fittings: hinges, runners, handles, legs, push latches, hanging rails
- Fixings, glue, edge tape and filler
- Primer, paint or lacquer, and anything sent out for spraying
- Delivery, if the merchant charges
Keep your materials list up to date with what you actually pay. Prices move, and a quote built on last year's prices is a quiet discount.
2. Your time, stage by stage
Estimate the hours for each stage separately, because a single "it's about three days" hides the parts that run over:
- Surveying, designing and quoting
- Machining and cutting
- Assembly in the workshop
- Finishing: filling, sanding, priming and painting (usually the one that's underestimated)
- Loading, travel and fitting, including scribing
- Snagging and the return visit
Multiply the hours by your rate. If you work to a day rate, be honest about how many hours a day are really productive.
3. Overheads
Your van, fuel, tools and their upkeep, workshop rent, insurance, phone, software and accountant all have to be paid from your jobs. Add up a year's overheads and divide by the days you actually charge for. That's what each working day has to carry on top of your rate.
4. Profit
Your rate pays you; profit is what the business keeps for quiet months, new tools and things going wrong. Add it as a percentage on top of the costs, and don't let it be the first thing to go when you want to win a job.
An example
Example figures only, to show how it adds up. Use your own.
- Materials for a pair of painted alcove units: £520
- Time: 1 day workshop, 1.5 days finishing, 1 day fitting, half a day surveying and quoting = 4 days at £250 = £1,000
- Overheads: £60 a day × 4 days = £240
- Costs so far: £1,760; profit at 15%: £264
- Price: £2,024, which you might round to £2,050
One price, or every line?
Most customers prefer a single price with a clear description of what's included: it's easier to say yes to, and it doesn't invite them to pick at your labour. Keep the breakdown for yourself, and show the materials separately only when it helps, for example when the customer is choosing between two finishes.
Mistakes that cost money
- Leaving out finishing time, travel, parking or the return visit
- Pricing boards by area instead of a layout
- Forgetting fittings and fixings, which add up fast on a run of units
- Cutting the price to win the job, then making it up nowhere
- Never comparing the hours you priced with the hours it took
How JoinerKit helps
JoinerKit prices the materials from your own materials list, straight from the drawing: boards from the sheet layouts, timber in the lengths you buy, and the fittings each unit needs. Add your labour and other costs as your own lines, then send the customer a clean quote with one price and a 3D picture.
Questions
Should I price fitted furniture by the day or as a fixed price?
Most customers want a fixed price for fitted furniture. Work it out from your day rate and the hours for each stage, then quote the total, so you're paid for your time without the customer seeing a running clock.
Should I take a deposit?
Many joiners take a deposit that covers the materials before ordering them, with the balance on completion. Whatever you choose, write the payment terms on the quote.
How do I stop underpricing jobs?
Build every price the same way (materials from a cutting list, time stage by stage, overheads and profit), then compare the hours you priced with the hours each job took and adjust.