Pricing And Presentation
Until recently, I charged $10 an hour plus materials. My quoted price was a "guesstimate", and I never raised it when it turned out to take longer.
Finally, I noticed that I never seemed to make much money on a costume, and I sat down and figured out how long the last one I made had actually taken. It turned out to have taken almost three times as long as I had guessed it would, and I had purchased additional materials for which I didn't charge the customer. That costume, it turned out, paid me less than $3 an hour.
I now charge $15 an hour plus materials, and do the following: I refuse to quote even a ballpark figure over the phone or email without meeting with the customer, because there's just too much variance.
I can quote someone who wants a "simple jerkin" $200 on the phone, and when we meet it turns out he wants an elaborate pinked and slashed leather doublet with sleeves--but that $200 figure is still lodged firmly in his head.
What I now do is this: I meet the customer, and we usually spend about an hour discussing the project. We cover such things as the period, his preferred colors, likes and dislikes. We look at costume books and he points out details he likes.
I do rough sketches which he doesn't get to take with him. Usually at this point I can give him a very rough estimate. I also give him references he can call, to check me out.
Then I do a proposal, which means that I make a complete materials list, including prices, down to the last hook and eye, and write down every single sewing step with an estimated time. I add it all up (adding a couple of hours for contingencies) and voila! I have my final price.
I also make a sketch. I'm not much of an artist, but I've learned to make a sketch that's not art, but shows what the costume will look like. I make several photocopies of the sketch.
I attach swatches of fabrics to the sketch, for which I will probably need to make a special fabric shopping trip or mail order samples. I don't like to let customers buy their own fabric, nor do I let them come shopping with me. Every time I've tried this this the customer has fallen madly in love with some innapropriate fabric, so it's worth it to me to spend the extra time.
I write up a contract and put the contract, swatches, and sketch in a presentation folder that has a slot for my business card. At this time I've usually spent at least two hours on the project. If I don't get the commision, I eat this time. If I do, it's built into the final price.
Some costumers charge a consultation fee for this process, usually around $30-50, which is deductible from the finished project.
Then I meet with the customer again, and if he likes what he sees, I get a signed contract and a 50% deposit, and he gets a copy of the contract and the sketch.
The reason I don't let him have sketches ahead of time is so that he can't take my design and have it made by someone else.
Most of my policies are outlined in the contract, but the most important one is this: Never, ever, ever, let work go out the door that you haven't been paid for. Ever. Or you'll be sorry.
Once the costume is done, you'll want your customer to be able to answer easily when people ask "where did you GET that?" Every costume has a concealed pocket, or matching pouch or bag, with a couple dozen of my business cards in it.
