Your thoughts on "how much to charge" for potting up trees.

I have been asked to pot up some maples and perform some basic styling of nursery grown Japanese maples. This is for a local garden center and antique store. I am wondering how much to charge for this service. I will be providing soil and wire and time and artistic vision. I have a good idea on what to charge for pots; if I use my own containers. What would you charge for soil, wire, time, travel (petrol) and vision? Please share your thoughts. Thank you.
Todd

Hi Todd, for soil, wire, time ect, about ten bucks. For artistic vision, priceless, you can't charge too much or be paid enough for what's inside your mind. I know you have to draw a line somewhere between what you're worth and what the road will bear. I also make hand carved walking sticks. Takes me about six weeks to turn one out with detailed carving (celtic knots and key patterns) on 2/3's of the stick. Paying myself minimum wages the stick would be worth about three grand and we both know no one is going to pay that for a stick. I do it for the love of the art. I run into the same conundrum when asked what I will take for this tree or that. They're all precious to me and monitery gain is not the driving force behind my work. It's a tough question, Todd.

Todd,
Materials is really not the question here. As the previous poster already suggested, ten dollars easily covers that. It's your time and attention that are worth something.

Perhaps, as a way of making it easier for them to pay you what your time would be worth, you can offer to maintain the trees with bi-weekly visits to prune, pinch and generally keep them well. That way you don't hit them with a large amount up front, but can make up for it with the repeat visits.

Ed

RKatzin wrote:Hi Todd, for soil, wire, time ect, about ten bucks. For artistic vision, priceless, you can't charge too much or be paid enough for what's inside your mind. I know you have to draw a line somewhere between what you're worth and what the road will bear. I also make hand carved walking sticks. Takes me about six weeks to turn one out with detailed carving (celtic knots and key patterns) on 2/3's of the stick. Paying myself minimum wages the stick would be worth about three grand and we both know no one is going to pay that for a stick. I do it for the love of the art. I run into the same conundrum when asked what I will take for this tree or that. They're all precious to me and monitery gain is not the driving force behind my work. It's a tough question, Todd.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do other art work as well and know the "conundrum" well. That's a lot of carving for a walking stick; I bet they're beautiful! Best, Todd

EdMerc wrote:Todd,
Materials is really not the question here. As the previous poster already suggested, ten dollars easily covers that. It's your time and attention that are worth something.

Perhaps, as a way of making it easier for them to pay you what your time would be worth, you can offer to maintain the trees with bi-weekly visits to prune, pinch and generally keep them well. That way you don't hit them with a large amount up front, but can make up for it with the repeat visits.

Ed

Thanks, that's a good idea. So far, I'm receiving some nice landscape trees in trade. I think I'm doing better with trading at this point and hopefully others will see my work and ask about my services. I appreciate you thoughts. Best, Todd