Pay Scale

[Allen Brown]

This is an old thread, but new to me, and all the advice has been very insightfull. I would like to share what I have found out/come up with.

Some months ago, I went to a trade seminar, and met 2 others doing residential prints in Indy. One was a draftsman working out of his house and charged .30 finished space, .15 future bonus, .10 unfinished basement, 2 car garage included, each additional garage space $200, 2 rounds of revisions included, additional revisions $30/hr.

The other was a registered architect, with 2 employees, and he said he charged .75 to 1.50/sq. ft., took about 3 months to complete a set of prints with 10+ meetings with the homeowner to get there.

When I first heard this, I didn't like either option. I am a remodeler from way back, not an architect, but I thought the first option was too low.

I then checked with another company in the area (Avon Drafting service), a "retail" shop wth 3 employees, and they charge .50-.55, and have a 5 week backlog. The best way to find out if you are in the right price range for the area, is to shop your competition. (everybody's do'in it)

Some jobs I have sold for .40 to .50/ft., but I suddenly found myself competeing for the same customers as the first guy, and had to adjust. What I do now for that particular customer base, is charge .35/ft., with a $1200 minimum. On all houses I end up more expensive than him, but have made up for it with my sales and marketing efforts that CA provides: 3D views inside & out, doll house views with furniture, etc.

When asked how much extra the 3d's are, I usually tell them they are extra, But since they are working with this particular builder, I offer it as a free service. I have sold prints to one builder in Tucson, for .50/ft, and by how fast he offered to send me half to get started, it seemed to be quite low for that area. It turned out to be the best customer yet, he sent me a prelim in CA 9.54, and wanted little changes. I had some bit of a learning curve for the "Sante Fe" style home, but it worked out well.

I have not started any advertising, just working by word of mouth, but plan to start a marketing campaign of some sort soon. Perhaps I will start a thread or do a search on marketing/advertising.

Thanks again for the sharing and I hope this might help someone.

Allen Brown

[alobartn]

Allen,

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