Tactical Command
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Commision work and Cost
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17379		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Man of kent [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Dear all (Commisioners and Commisionee's), I'm getting more and more commisions these days  am and scratching my head about how much to charge...I only do bespoke work (to the same standard as my own award winning armies) as that's what interests me most and want to price things accordningly but not price myself out of the market.

How much do you charge and/or pay for 6mm commisions? I know Phil from firezone Studions charges 30p per infantry model and 50p per tank and using those figures my 3k ork army would have cost me £110 which is a little too low given the time spent on it. Also costing of war engines seems a difficult one.

And whilst we're at it can anyone point me to some quality 28mm commision painters out there who have pricing guidelines on thier websites?

If anyone doesn't want to reveal thier trade secrets publicly then feel free to PM me!
Rest assured that I will not be trying to undercut anybody: i'm trying to find a midway reasonable cost to charge customers :-)
Yrs,
R>
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Back when I did some 28mm commission work, I used to charge the retail cost of model as a baseline guide, with extra for better quality models (some of my Dreadnoughts or tanks went for over £100, and single infantry character figures often went for £60 or more).
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Well you are up against painting services like Neals in Bangladesh and the ones in Sri Lanka (one specialises in GW now), his price guides for 6mm are on his site but for quick and dirty its 1 pence per colour per model for infantry up to to 0.25 for infantry, 0.40 for cav for the better paint jobs like this.


Ultimately though you should charge according to your time, effort and costs. Its no good matching others when you yourself aren't meeting your bottom line. If Phils pricces are too little up it by however much it feels right to you, advertise it openly and see if the business comes. If it doesn't drop it or drop commission work!

Another guide from Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6mm-Pai.....c0.m14
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
28mm wise I've seen some incredible  prices from guys who buy models wholesale as part of the process, perhaps investigate that with model suppliers?
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Honestly if you want to do commission work, I'd recommend 28mm and sell Warhammer 40,000 models to the tournament WAAC'ers who don't want to paint.
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Thats these guys reason for exisiting.

http://paintedfigs.com/

They actually can sell you painted marines for less than retail.
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ Dec. 10 2009, 16:07 )

Thats these guys reason for exisiting.

http://paintedfigs.com/

They actually can sell you painted marines for less than retail.

If you want figures that look like they were painted by a child, sure.  :grin:


Even their "exhibition" quality models are inferior to the worst-painted models that I used to sell, whilst their "standard" quality models are really very poor... but that's what you get for cheaper prices I guess.

I used to have my customers pay full retail price for the miniatures, and I'd then charge the same again on top of that (or more, for better pieces), and was never short of customers... there is (or at least, used to be) a market there for 'pro painted' 28mm models.
Author:  Apocolocyntosis [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Quote: (Evil and Chaos @ Dec. 10 2009, 16:15 )

If you want figures that look like they were painted by a child, sure.  :grin:

Those are pretty awful i must agree, you sometimes see 'commission' threads on warseer which are frankly laughable  :rock:
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Quote: (Evil and Chaos @ Dec. 10 2009, 16:15 )

Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ Dec. 10 2009, 16:07 )

Thats these guys reason for exisiting.

http://paintedfigs.com/

They actually can sell you painted marines for less than retail.

If you want figures that look like they were painted by a child, sure.  :grin:

I was refering to the players who don't paint, buying your models 'pre painted' is quite handy there, quality is not an issue!
Author:  Man of kent [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
oooh...yeah: some of those mini's out there are awful!
Starting to get a better idea of where I want this to head cheers guys...

BEN: got any pictures of the quality of stuff you've sold previously?
R>
Author:  bans [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
I just finished a trade with tuffskull at this thread, maybe it helps.

http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ ... 58;t=17206

cheers
bans
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Quote: (Man of kent @ Dec. 10 2009, 17:30 )

BEN: got any pictures of the quality of stuff you've sold previously?

Sorry no, I haven't done commission work in years so the server I had stored pictures on is now defunct... and clearly I don't have the models around to take any pictures of them.  :grin:
Author:  Carrington [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
Echoing what TRC said: you want to work backwards from the value of your time, and the time you're willing to spend working on Miniatures.

(Actually there was an interesting chapter in Matt Crawford's book on motorcycle maintenance about the problems he faced in thinking about how to price his time and labor.).

I think the bottom line -- over time you should be able to develop a clientele willing to pay what you charge.  In general, I think successful business model for a commission painter is service-based, not commodity based, and what you would be 'selling' is your ability to interpret and execute your customer's wishes.

... This is one of the ways of moving out of a low-wage international market into one more viable (for someone who has to pay slip-fees on his house boat).
Author:  Evil and Chaos [ Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Commision work and Cost
I'd note that when I was looking for a new regular customer, I'd paint up a showpiece standard miniature and sell it on eBay whilst using the £10 "show priority picture" option, then advertise it on a few notable discussion forums.

The figure would tend to garner a good price, and I'd normally end up with one or two new customers a time, especially if the figure was unique in some manner (incorporating magnets or LED's are always good to make a figure stand out).
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