$100/hr shop rate

[Lurker 2]

Yes Chris that is exactly it, Gerhard yes same thing quality or quantity it was just easier to use quantity as an example. So as a business person and artisan we should be striving to produce our desired shop rate, and also be aware of how much we need to make to actually turn a profit or even just pay for the hobby.
Another thing to consider is retail price vs wholesale, I try to to do my best even as a part time fabricator to charge a fair retail price for my work so I can discount for wholesale work (i get a good bit of that) and to do my best to make sure I am producing at a rate that makes that fair price pay me decently. Sometimes first of projects for fun don't pay as well but I treat those as I'm getting paid to learn so next one I can do much quicker.

[Sean M]

So saying your rate should be "$100/hr." I feel is wrong and too high, for these reasons:
1st: The current market will not bare that price.
2nd: Even among many other professions with high overhead, cost of work space, tools, insurance..., $100/hr. is on the high side.
3rd: This rate is too high, Unless, you are in very high demand, because you offer a product that is so desired or of exceptional quality. Because, there are only a few clients that have this much disposable income for a hobby, or a professional need (Movie costumes as one example) that they can afford this rate.
If I don't have a film project to pay for it, I can not afford to spend these sums for a hobby.

The other thing in the OP was "middle-class income with prospects of retirement." Most of the really good armourers who keep in business are earning a below-average income and plan to work as long as they can. The same for bladesmiths like Darrell Markewitz, unless they have a big shop and rely on power tools (Darkwood, Albion, and Arms and Armour seem to do ok).

I think that Marco-Borromei's lesson for would-be armourers was "just because you can pay the rent and buy beans and rice does not mean you have a sustainable business" and "you won't always be able to work like you are 25 and single."

[Wolf]

skip it all and open a garage. I have to pay $140-180 an hour to have my diesels worked on.

[mordreth]

If people won't buy it at the price you need to charge, don't make it. This seems to be the hardest lesson to learn.

Some yutz posted that he was looking for someone to install 300 feet of stockade fence on a vacant lot, he wanted the posts cemented into place, he wanted the job to last 20 years, he wanted it done in two days, and he wanted it all in for less than $3000.
I sent him a note asking him to let me know how many people volunteered to lose money while busting their ass, as I had a couple of jobs I would throw them.

[Bender]

My custom rates are generally four times what a production item costs. I work a day job,so I can afford to turn cheapskates away.

[Gerhard von Liebau]

The same for bladesmiths like Darrell Markewitz, unless they have a big shop and rely on power tools (Darkwood, Albion, and Arms and Armour seem to do ok).

Based on updates that are perhaps two or three years old, it's my understanding that Albion has still not turned a profit. The company is sustained by the owners, who have other sources of income.

-Gerhard

[Tableau]

My custom rates are generally four times what a production item costs. I work a day job,so I can afford to turn cheapskates away.

I don't work a day job, so I find I can't afford to work for cheapskates.

[Sean M]

Matthew Gnagy has posted on the economics of making a good replica of a nice 1630-vintage suit as a master tailor with decades of experience:

doublet: 5 days @$450/day (less than his shop rate as a modern tailorer and costumer, keep in mind that for his career he has to live in New York or a similar city)
breeches: 2 days @ $450/day
cassock: 3 days @ $450/day
fabric: $500
buttons and buttonholes: $400 (I think he outsources these to a specialist)
shipping: $250

So it cost him $5,650 even before allowing overhead for his shop, web presence, days spent answering email/bookkeeping/chasing down suppliers/researching or just resting his hands ... and he says that his starter price for an early 17th century suit has been around 2700 USD.

[Dan Howard]

I'm happy if I clear $200 per day after expenses. I do it part time at home so I have minimal overheads and a second job to help me through the quieter weeks. No way could I do it full time without a much higher investment in time, equipment, marketing, and book-keeping. Instead of trying to increase my income, I've been trying to reduce my cost of living so that I can live on income from a part time job - paid off the mortgage, growing most of my own food, living within walking distance to work, solar power and hot water, water tanks, brewing my own alcohol, having cheap hobbies, and so on.