How do you charge...

[tholder51]

How do you charge for a quilting job?

[BarbWetzel]

I decided to charge 1 cent for each square inch. Example... take the quilt size, 86 x 100 = 8600 x .01 = 86.00.

Special batting or thread costs more.

Hope this helps you.

[JudyL]

I've tried three times to post this response so I hope it isn't showing up somewhere else!

My prices are on my web page: http://www.SunshineQuilts.com

I charge by the square inch, starting at .012 and going up to .09.

Batting, binding, piecing backings, etc. are extra. I do not have a thread charge. I keep lots of thread here so if someone wants something I don't have, they can provide it and I will send back the leftovers.

On my web page, I have that I charge for thread changes but I rarely do.

[White Rooster]

My charge also starts at .01 per square inch with a $40 minimum. I charge extra for batting & thread. My thread charge is only .50 per bobbin but that way I can keep track of how much thread is being used.

Hope this helps.

[Kay M.]

Hi,

I charge by the square yard and prices start at $12.00/sq. yd. I have a $35.00 minimum. I carry batting which is extra as are any additional services such as binding or piecing backs. I always square the backs before loading but do not charge for this as I wouldn't feel comfortable loading without checking anyway. My thread charges are built into the quilting fee. Any work that requires a lot of thread also requires a lot of time so I feel I'm covered with the increased charge.

I've become pretty good at knowing how long a job will take so I get a final price in my head and then figure out the square yard price. I used to always begin with the square yard price, but found I sometimes lost money in doing a lot of extra work not accounted for in the quote. I do quote a square yard price if I'm doing an allover freehand pattern. I don't do pantos but would do them the same way as the allover freehands knowing which ones are more time consuming.

I present the charge to the customer as the final amount they will pay. Most don't care what the price is per square yard anyway. They just want to know how much it will cost them.

Kay

[busybee]

How do you keep track of clients? Do you keep a spirl notebook to keep track or computer or ?? This is very important and not to miss a detail for pricing and notes are important to keep. I would like to know some of your ways that work the best or mistakes you have made in the course of repetition. Thanks Nita

[Kay M.]

Hi Nita,

I price quilts shortly before I work on them. I keep a clip board hanging on my wall. I have the client's name, the measurements of top, batt and back and all the details of what I plan to do including pictures I draw out if necessary. I also list the price and thread color. This becomes my work order. I do it on loose leaf paper and when I am finished, it gets alphabetically filed in a three ring binder. It is helpful for many reasons. You can always look back to see what you did for a customer and what you charged them.

I also have a file card catalog with names, addresses and phone numbers. I haven't put anything in the computer to date as I can keep this info in my workroom and I don't have a computer in there.

I have a generic sales charge pad that I use for billing. After the quilt is completed, I file my work order and after payment is received, I file the sales slip in a monthly file (i.e., all payments made in Sept. get filed in a manila file labeled "Sept."). This makes it easy at the end of the year to do my taxes.

There are computer programs you can purchase to do your record keeping if you prefer. I find my paper trail easier for me.

Kay

[Pam Geary]

I have found Quickbooks Pro very helpful in keeping track of my business. I do all of my billing/sales receipts etc. in Quickbooks and don't have the need for one more file cabinet. Quickbooks allows you to keep a file on each customer and to keep track of each of their projects.

I like to take a digital pic of each quilt when I'm done- just to jog my memory later on. I download the pics onto my computer and don't have to print them if I don't want to. But they're available if I need to reference them.

Sometimes, I create the quilting design for a customer's quilt on EQ5. It allows me to re-create their quilt and then overlay a quilting design. Once I get it the way I want it, I save it for future reference and then I print it to work from.

Re: what to charge- I charge per sq. ft. for quilting and by the linear foot for binding. I don't have a thread charge. Most of my customers bring their own batting but this can sometimes cause problems if the batt is poor quality. I have been thinking about purchasing batting by the roll but I'm unsure which would be the best. I think I would prefer an 80% cotton/20%poly because I like the cotton but customers usually don't want the quilt to shrivel when washed. What does everyone else do? Do you stock batting by the roll? And do you stock more than one kind?

[JudyL]

Pam: I find batting choices to be kinda regional. My clients from CA and the Baltimore/PA areas all prefer Quilters Dream batting. Otherwise, most prefer Hobbs Heirloom 80/20. I find that the Hobbs Heirloom has just enough poof to give dimension to the quilting. I love the Quilters Dream but it is so flat .. way too flat for feathers to show up nicely.

I stock rolls of Quilters Dream Cotton in Select and Deluxe weights; Quilters Dream poly in Request, Select and Deluxe weights; Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 in the 96 and 120" rolls, Heirloom bleached, Heirloom black.

Next time I order from Hobbs, I'm going to get a roll of Polydown too because I really like to use that along with Heirloom instead of doing real trapunto.

I may consolidate and stop carrying the 96" roll of Heirloom and just carry the bleached which is 108". The bleached costs a little more (maybe .50/yard) so the cost isn't a BIG deal but having all these rolls of batting takes up tons of space -- especially when I first order and they're stuck in EVERY corner!

Hobby Lobby has been having their batting half off often and that has beenway below what I sell my batting for but I saw in their last ad that their batting was 30% off.

[busybee]

I like the idea of paper trail. As sometimes it is not convenient to go to the computer. So it is great on computer but somethings you need to take to the machine helps when you are interrupted and need to refresh your mind.

Billing things are good on computer as it can track and add for you and print out what you need. But computers do crash and burn and need that paper trail.

Oh, why would you have a index card? Is this for calling clients or send out cards or? Paper trail for detail information on clients request on what you have done , and keep trail of threads count , batting, backing and misc cost= work order. So it can be added up for total to be put in books or ledger. Thanks for some of your input to what you do. It does make sense to keep records and clear some ideas up. Nita

[JudyL]

Nita: I feel that keeping my books on the computer.

1. My list of quilts waiting to be quilted is printed every Monday.

2. I send an e-mail to every client with details of the quilting plan, backing, batting and thread choice, price, delivery date and this is printed and kept with each quilt along with the client's address and phone number so that if anything happens to me, DH can get these all back to the respective owners.

3. Each invoice is printed in duplicate - one for me and one for the client.

4. A backup CD is made at the end of each month. At the end of the year, a backup CD is made for the CPA and she gets one CD and NO paper - which she loves.

I can see where paper works best for some but not me! My handwriting is so bad . . I think faster than I can write and I get ahead of myself. Half my notes are in shorthand and no one could ever figure that out (not even me half the time!). I can type my thoughts out and print them a whole lot quicker than I can write them!

But, the beauty of this whole business is that everyone can do what works best for them but I definitely feel I have a paper trail even if everything is typed rather than handwritten.

[busybee]

Hi Judy

Thanks for your insite to records and paper trail. You have said some great points of interest. I have been kinda playing with the idea of all computer but my printer is a lazor and is expensive to print allot as the toner is over 128.00 each. Thats for a recycle. I need to find me a cheaper printer to operate. Cost efficient one. As I am talking to customers in person I tend to jot down notes and then gather my thoughts. This helps me through the process of illimination. Thanks for you views and thoughts. Nita

[JudyL]

Nita: Things work differently for all of us. When I first get a quilt from a client, I can usually think of NOTHING as far as quilting designs. I always tell them I'll get back with them in a few days.

I rarely get a quilt directly from a client though because I mostly pick up at the quilt shops or the quilts are mailed to me.

Printers can be expensive to use . . that's for sure! I have an OLD laser and even though the black toner (it's just B&W) cartridge is about $150, I replace it about once every two years. I have an OLD color HP 820 and I love it. The cartridges last forever. I've had 2 or 3 newer printers that DH gets when he finds them on sale and he thinks I need a new printer but I always go back to this old HP. It's slower than Christmas (which doesn't seem very slow at all to me right now!) but the cartridges seem to last way longer than any others I've had.

[Mary S]

Nita asked about why have index cards. A friend in the business three years before I started suggested I keep a book from the beginning and list each quilt separately -- name of customer, size, what I did, color of thread, name of pattern, price charged, etc -- and number each one. Then I have an index card for each customer, too, and I list each one I do for them on their card, too -- list the # from my book and the date I finished it and the price.

The reason? As my friend warned me, just in case in two years Jane Doe comes in and wants her quilt done like Sarah Moe's quilt -- I can look up Sarah Moe, find the quilt's number and look it up in my book. Lots easier than looking up every quilt in the book. I've only been doing customer work for a year, and I have a full-time office job, too, and I am up to 105 quilts so far.

So there are lots of ways to go about this, but find a system that lets you look up quilts somehow. I also take 3 digital photos of each one -- whole front, closeup, back -- and have those on my computer so I can look at any of the quilts, too, if I want to for any reason -- like doing the same thing for someone else or just to see something I remember and think might work on some other quilt.

Mary Smart

Vermillion SD:)

[White Rooster]

I keep rolls of Warm & Natural and Hobbs in stock. I also have a few packages of the Black & Natural for the occasional dark quilt and a few packages of King Size batting. Rarely does a client care what type of batting I use so I decide based on usage of the quilt, etc. And I don't allow clients to bring their own batting and this has never been an issue.

I use QuickBooks Pro and I designed my own work order. Once the quilt is done the client gets a copy and a copy goes into my file. That is the only paperwork that I do. Everything else is on the PC.

Most of my quilts come through the quilt shop so no paperwork changes hands until the quilt is complete. Some clients don't even want a copy of the work order. It's pretty simple and so far verbal agreements have worked great.

[busybee]

There are some great ideas here and I know that is experience and trial and error the causes allot of what you do now. I am sorry for getting away from the pricing that was 1st asked , though I think that this is just as important to talk about. Look on some of the pass strings and you will find pricing a couple of months ago. That is very imformative to prices and of course your area will may be different a little. Check area prices to. You sure don't want to under cut or over price yourself. Check with quilt shops and sewing shops. That is a good start. Thanks to all of ya. this is a great site. Nita

[Polly]

Originally posted by JudyL

Nita: I feel that keeping my books on the computer.

1. My list of quilts waiting to be quilted is printed every Monday....

Judy,

You didn't say what program you use for your record keeping and books. I'd be interested, it sounds very organized and smooth running.

I'm a newbie, had my Millie for nearly two weeks and I really appreciate all the info on these forums. I've been a lurker here for quite some time and have learned so much from all of you wise ones.

Back to the ppp for now,

Polly

[JudyL]

Machine Quilters Business Manager by Eureka Documentation (http://www.eurekadocumentation.com/) is a great software. I tested it and I believe several here are using it. I bought a new laptop, loaded the software and then DH did something to the laptop and I have never been able to get the software to work again. It's a problem on my end and Mary with Eureka has tried everything under the sun to get it to work. So, I'm back to using my very old version of Quick Books Pro.