Post #75907 by Monkeyman on Fri, Feb 13, 2004 12:09 AM

Great post Pop!

It all comes down to what the market will bear. It would seem that the consumer public is willing to pay $400-$500 for a 5 foot pole. I think the math went backwards (the carver is thinking...5 foot pole sells for $500 so I guess people are willing to pay $100 per foot.).

I think its also a mental thing. " I am receiving a big and heavy object and therefore it is worth a several hundred dollars".

If you put the same amount of detail or time into a statue that was only 1 foot tall, it is unlikely that you would be able to charge $500 for it to someone who wasn't a passionate art collector.

Additionally, it depends on how well informed the buyer is. For Example, I know that if I wanted a top of the line Crazy Al peice vs. Swap Meet Larry, I would anticipate that it would cost substantially more. Would the uniformed consumer pay the extra for a Crazy Al piece? Im not so sure. They just see a cool pole for their backyard.

Possibly the most difficult thing about normalized pricing is the fact that everyone considers there time to have different value and carve at different speeds.

I am dog slow and still somewhat of a rookie. I cannot use the number of hours I spend as a calculator for cost. I price the piece at what I think is fair for the quality.

As I get better , my prices will increase as long as people are willing to pay a little more.

I price my frames at around $2.00 per inch. A 24"x24" frame would cost about $190. I justified that price by comparing what a frame shop would charge for a custom frame made from machined stock. Luckily frame shops are ridiculously overpriced or my prices would have to be lower. As it stands now, I work on these frames for an average of $6 - $10 per hour. It is clearly a labor of love at that hourly rate.

Hope this helps.

Monkeyman