Hey guys,

I have some questions as far as commission building. Recently I was contacted by a friend of my brother. He wanted to see some my work because he had heard from my brother that I made models. He is a collector and collects die-cast vehicles and planes of WOII. He wanted to see my work therefore I forwarded some pictures to him. He wrote me back Saturday. He wants me to build dioramas for him. But such as my plane diorama but then without the plane so that he can put his die-cast planes in the diorama. I was very enthusiastic and also flattered by his offer when I read the e-mail. Well I have decided to do it.

But I have many questions about commission building. Do you guys have some tips? How much would I have to ask for a diorama like the one I built? Because I have absolutely no idea how much I should ask for. He's already said that he will pay for all the costs as far as supplies goes, but I'm wondering about how much I should charge for the hours spent building it? Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel

Also this was the diorama he was interested in: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/96698#800163

It all depends on what the market will bear. There are some guys who charge based on the cost of the model, such as three or four times as much. Personally, that would be a waste of my time. However, I did recently meet an SWAT instructor for the Iraqi Army who wanted a build of the CH-47A. (he had fond memories of the thing from Nam for some reason) As we became friends, I offered to build the 1/35 Trumpeter kit I have for him at cost. That'll be an upcoming project.
I'll also do retirement models for people in our unit for free (the unit pays for the kit) unless of course they want one of my AR15's.

That said, my normal fee for a very small clientele invlolves ridiculous prices I won't even mention. And it was they who made the first offer.

In the case of your brother's friend, decide what your time is worth,and negotiate from there.

You have e-mail with some specifics. The person is coming to you to WORK for him, not to do him a favor as a friend. You should ask a commensurate price. Accepting a commission does take time from your oown builds and you have to weigh that. Make him an offer you think is fair, do it with a specific proposal with a non refundable down payment, covering your costs so you don't get burned should he back out. Agree to what you will provide in advance, Decide if he wants specific things or paint schemes. Decide on a delivery date and method. Leave as little to chance as possible. You should ask for more if you have to procure the kits than if he provides them.

Daniel,

18Bravo hits the nail on the head exactly, "Charge what the market will bear".

From the picture in the other forum, I can see you're a teenager with some skills. If the friend of your brother is not too much older and is in school/college, then you probably can't charge too much. If it's some sort of older brother with a professional job, then you can charge more. I always like to start the discussions high because once you state a figure, you can't increase it later in the negotiations unless they change the scope of the work. If at all possible, try to get the customer to state what he'd "like" to pay for the work and you can go from there. Virtually no matter what number he comes back with, I always try to negotiate the price upward unless the number is ridiculously high to start with.

Depending upon the customer, the same work can have very many prices depending upon what you think the person is willing to pay. There's no set rate for any of this work except, remember that you also have to be happy doiong the job for the amount being offered. If the customer says "5 bucks" yuo must feel perfectly happy to say "No, sorry, that's not worth my time" & walk away.

HTH

Paul

If only there were a stable market for this type of work, I'd love to make some extra money with my hobby!

I have an acquaintance who builds auto models for wealthy clients. He charges about 5000$ for the model and perfectly recreates the client's car down to the last scratch. He gives himself 6 months to do the work. Even then I wouldn't be surprised if he was charging peanuts for his time - if you did an hour-by-hour analysis he's probably not charging very much.