How to price your woodwork for profit

Why undercharging is the biggest threat to your craft business

Most woodworkers price from the gut. They add up the timber, have a rough think about how long it took, pluck a number from the air, then knock a bit off because they're worried about being beaten on price. Six months later they're busy, exhausted and no better off than when they started.

Pricing properly isn't about being greedy. It's about making sure the work you love can keep paying for itself — the tools, the timber, the workshop, and you.

Start with your true material costs

Write down every component before you quote, not after. That means timber, sheet goods, hinges, catches, handles, screws, glue, abrasives, finish and packaging. Then add 10–15% for waste. A board rarely yields exactly what you planned, and a knot or a split can write off a whole section.

Don't price old stock at the price you paid for it. Timber has climbed steadily, so replacing that oak board today costs more than it did last year. Price at replacement cost, and check current rates rather than working from memory.

• Timber priced per cubic foot, linear metre or per sheet — confirm today's figure with your supplier
• Consumables: abrasives, glue, finishes, brushes, saw blades, router bits
• Hardware: a decent pair of brass hinges can cost more than the oak it's screwed to
• Packaging: bubble wrap, corner protectors, boxes, tape, and pallets for larger pieces

Pay yourself properly for your time

The most common mistake is charging only for bench hours. Your working day also includes quoting, emails, drawings, ordering, collecting timber, sharpening, clearing up, photographing finished work, packing and delivery. All of it is work, and all of it deserves paying for.

Track your hours honestly for a month. Most makers find that bench time is only 60–70% of the total. If you work a genuine 40-hour week but only bill 26 of those hours, then a £20 rate at the bench is closer to £13 an hour in reality.

Set a rate that covers your life, not just your bills. A skilled joiner should be earning comfortably more than an unskilled labourer. Ask yourself what rate would let you take a holiday, replace worn tooling without flinching, and still sleep at night. As a rough guide, small workshops commonly price bench time between £25 and £45 an hour, depending on skill, region and type of work — bespoke fitted furniture sits at the top of that range, small batch items nearer the bottom.

Don't forget the overheads

Workshop rent or mortgage, business rates, insurance, electricity for the extractor and the heater, machinery depreciation, accountancy, phone and broadband, website hosting, waste disposal, tool servicing, van costs, and the occasional course or book.

Add those up for a year and divide by the number of chargeable hours you expect to work. That figure — often £5 to £12 an hour — needs to sit inside every price you quote. Skip it and you're quietly funding your customers' furniture out of your own pocket.

Research what your market will bear

Your costs set the floor. The market sets the ceiling. Look at makers working at a similar level to you: craft fairs, galleries, online marketplaces and local selling groups all give you useful signals.

• Galleries and shops typically take 40–50% commission, so set your wholesale price with that in mind
• Customers often can't tell solid oak from oak veneer — explain the difference and the value follows
• Cheap competitors are usually subsidising their own hobby, and you can't compete with that without going broke
• If you're consistently busy and still earning very little, you're not too expensive — you're too cheap

A simple formula, and how to stick to it

Price = materials + (hours × rate) + overheads, then add 20–30% profit. Profit isn't a bonus. It's what funds new machinery, a quiet month, or time off when you're ill.

Round up rather than down, and quote firmly. If someone asks for a discount, take something out of the job rather than shaving your margin — a simpler design, a cheaper finish, or a longer lead time. Before you start, take a deposit; 50% on bespoke pieces is entirely normal, with the balance on delivery. Put an expiry date on your quote, usually 30 days, so that a timber price rise doesn't quietly eat your profit.

Review your prices at least once a year. If materials have gone up and your prices haven't, you've given yourself a pay cut. And keep an eye on the VAT registration threshold: if you're approaching it, build the extra into your pricing before you cross it, not afterwards.

Charge properly and you'll attract customers who value the work. That's a far better business than one surviving on being the cheapest.