How To Price Your CNC Woodworking Products

[@bennybaker6546]

One of the better videos I have seen on pricing.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thank you for this comment. I'm glad you found the video valuable!

[@timothyoshell4249]

Hobbiest looking to get to a point of making side money here.. I just found your channel and I am so glad I did! I am going to have to go back and take notes. I have always thought CNC or lasers would be a 'never gonna happen' thing for me because the $2,000 tag I see in wood craft catalogs but I feel like I've been schooled! Invest, make profit, upgrade, repeat! Look forward to seeing many more!

[@HamiltonDilbeck]

Awesome job clearly laying out all of the information! I agree that the pumpkin is the one to go with, out of these three trays. Great video, keep it up!!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Hope it's helpful. Thanks!

[@darrellsaturnbigfoot]

Great video! Let’s not forget Etsy, marketplace or any other means of selling. The commission can substantially drop your (per piece profit) 😊

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Great point. That's included in my multiplier as well.

[@thacorruptor4472]

The pumpkin I think would do better, not to mention being seasonal, you could do candy cane, or bonbon types, xmas trees, hearts for valentines etc. My wife loves the turtle but that seems to be a narrower market

[@makethepart]

This is very well explained and is pure gold for the numbers needed to develop a product and manufacturing process. Thanks for sharing Andy!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

You bet, Cory! Thanks for watching!!

[@twoelmbuilds]

That is a great video! I use a multiplier of 2 instead of 1.5... it all leads to covered expenses and profits. Good job 👍

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Good stuff!

[@norm5785]

Great information, Stay safe happy and healthy. Thank you for sharing your awesome thoughts with us today from Henrico County Virginia

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks, you too!

[@aaronblackford981]

Pumpkin is awesome. But the more non seasonal should be best selling of products to reasonable people. Js my thinking.

[@squidskunk]

offer customized general catch all...use a diode laser to quickly customize pre-carved catch all tray...combo of all three put into one. create a template file in laser software to make name change "customizing" easy nd quick.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

I like the way you think

[@patriotwoodworker6092]

I think I can make more with the general and pumpkin trays bc they’re simple. I find it difficult to price cnc work bc the machine is working not me. I’d want to figure my touch time (changing bits, clamping material down, setting everything up) that turtle tray is so much work, it would be difficult to batch out. Art pieces I’d sell online either Etsy or business website with the idea not many will sell

[@kboothrealty]

I think the pumpkin tray is the goldilocks. The turtle will have limited sales, and the basic tray has to much competition from hobby lobby, Walmart etc.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thats a great way to put it

[@denisebergeron10]

My comment was that the pumpkin wouldn’t be the best seller because it is seasonal, but you made a good point about the first tray having a lot of competition from big box stores.

[@michaelchristman2773]

Not sure how material costs so low. Especially for hard woods.

[@magicworldbyjorg]

,a cool video keep up the great content.. Thank you…..

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks, will do!

[@magicworldbyjorg]

@@AndyBirdBuilds Thank you very mutch... have a nice day.... see you….

[@BB-wj8dv]

Folks buy art for sure, but one thing to take note of is that material choice matters. Especially when it comes to pieces that take up large amounts of machine time. Choosing walnut, or curly maple, something that is only a few dollars difference on the material side can greatly increase a customer's view of the items value. Even if it doubled your material cost, your looking at a few dollars and change difference in your calculations. I'm finding that the generic doesn't sell well on a store, it just gets copied by other merchants.. if it was even unique to you in the first place. At the end of the day, the money is in diversification of products. Make one of each see how they sell. Establish a routine for product batching and just do your best never to have your stock dip to zero. You catch more fish with a variety of bate than counting on one rod and one hook.

[@mrpsychaos9]

Great info! Quick question. How much time are you spending sanding out the router bit marks on each catch all? Even the smallest of step overs there is always a little sanding to be done. If you are not spending any time sanding, what is your method of removing the step router bit marks? Thanks.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

I would say I don't spend more than 30 seconds sanding a tray. If you're machine in dialed in, you can get a dead flat finish almost off the CNC

[@foodhead4677]

Great points, trying to decide between carbide3d and onefinity. Narrowed it down to a choice between the companies because the product lines are similar. Leaning towards the onefinity so far. Any thoughts are appreciated 👍

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Glad you liked it. My thoughts are 2 great entry level hobby machines. I lean towards the Shapeoko because it's the most complete cnc kit on the market. It litterly comes with everything you need to get started. The Onefinity does not.

[@foodhead4677]

@@AndyBirdBuilds thanks, 👍

[@denisebergeron10]

The only thing that stops me from agreeing with you about the pumpkin tray is that it is a seasonal product while the first tray could be sold all year around. Thanks for explaining the price breakdown. I haven’t tried trays on the cnc yet. Soon though. I’ve been cutting cypress paddles lately. 😁

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

I LOVE seasonal items and actually prefer them over non seasonal items

[@denisebergeron10]

Yes! They’re great! I guess I mean you’re not going to have a pumpkin bowl sell in February. But you can replace pumpkin with A different seasonal item and it’s all the same. So, I can see why your seasonal item would be your better seller. 👍

[@BB-wj8dv]

Depends on what kind of shop you are running. Seasonal items can be excellent ways to get new and old customers to look at your year round items. It's an excuse to advertise in my book. Running site wide specials during the times where seasonal items pop up can greatly increase the sales of your normal items. I keep my seasonal designs simple and cheap. Essentially they are bait for the more expensive high quality items. Though you can do the same thing year round by continuously creating new lost cost, quick batch items. The issue with the basic tray is competition. Those are a dime a dozen anywhere you look online or in stores.

[@Bull43459]

For my shop, I charge for my cnc machine time. So for instance, the pumpkin tray takes and hour for carving and cutout plus touchup. I will use the same formula and my cost to sell retail will be $35-$40 per pumpkin tray. I have two machines running and there is no way to make 10 trays an hour with them. I'm really confused on your numbers. Now if you using your new Avid cnc I understand the speed of that machine to produce those numbers. But my cnc's are a considered a '76 pinto compared to a new Bentley like the Avid cnc.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks for sharing. This tray only being 6" x 6", I think would struggle at the $35-$40 price point. But maybe not, in the right setting. Also, as you know, there are a lot of factors that go into how fast you can produce these. A smaller, less expensive CNC won't produce as fast as something thats bigger and faster. At some point, as a business grows those are questions that have to be answered. Is the higher production capabilities worth the investment?

[@philipgabor9013]

What was that buffing/sanding wheel you were using on the turtle?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

amzn.to/3LvaHae

[@MicroFourThirdsCorner]

Another great video Andy. Just to clarify, it sounds like you are billing $40 an hour for both your time and machine time - is that correct? I'm not saying $40 is right or wrong, but if you were working on something personally (e.g. finishing) then that's $40 an hour for you, then another $40 per hour per Shapeoko. If you were busy and both Shapeokos are busy that's `$120 per hour in total. Is that how you see it?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Glad you like the video. You're machine time may be a different rate than your personal labor, but yes, overall thats what I think. What about you?

[@JesseRedmanBand]

Just curious but cutting out one simple tray on my X-Carve would take 1 hour, using Easel's standard cut settings. I just ran a simulation. Should I be using more aggressive cut settings? What are your cut settings on the simple tray?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

There are a lot of factors in play here, but in general, the settings in your software are going to be conservative.

[@JesseRedmanBand]

I really appreciate your videos. I'm trying to understand why my numbers are so far from yours. The numbers I come up with are pushing my prices too high. Using your numbers, you can produce 1 tray in 7.5 minutes. Doubling all of Easel's cut numbers, I still show 19 minutes to produce 1 tray. Using Easel's cut numbers, 58 minutes. Cutting 3/8 inches deep. At $60 an hour, 1 hour or 20 minutes, makes my pricing very high. I'm not challenging you, I just want to know where I'm going wrong. Thanks for any assistance.

[@DrLoveQc]

Sanding time and cost, finish and time to apply arent include or they are? If it is batch work, I would dig the idea to have multiple spindles on the same track and move up and down together if that is something possible. Just increasing by 2 or 3x the work would change a lot the business since its like having multiple cnc, but since they are doing the same job, they could share the cnc frame

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

They are included. I have less than a minute into sanding and finishing the pumpkin tray. Quick hit it with some sand paper to knock of any sharp edges and throw it into a tub od mineral oil. I like the idea of multiple cutting heads for the same frame as well for production work.

[@jimhatch5873]

Good overview but I think you're missing a cost - how much does it cost you to sell? For instance if you're selling retail at a fair or market and you spend a day there, plus a couple of hours packing the car, preparing your booth, etc. and then a couple more breaking down and putting things away as well as driving to/from the event, you may have 16 hours of time to be able to sell. You need to take that time at your hourly rate ($40*16=$640) and divide it by the number of things you sold. It may be that you have to add 5 or $10 to everything to pay for the time it took you to sell the things. If you had to pay for the space (say another $200) then maybe it's $10-$15 or more that each piece needs to sell for to pay for your day at the market selling products. If you sell wholesale you don't have the setup/hang around & sell time, but you do have order processing, boxing, mailing/shipping, invoicing, etc. costs and time. These are costs that are usually overlooked and can easily cut your profits in half or more.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Thanks for pointing this out, Jim. You make a great point.

[@williamwright5891]

Love the content. For my area the turtle would sell the best and probably get 195$.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Good to hear you're liking the content! In the area you live, what is the customer like? Can you describe the person you see buying this. This would be great info for everyone to hear! Thanks for sharing!

[@williamwright5891]

I live in South Carolina where I am 2 hours away from myrtle beach and close (30 minutes) from the largest lake. A lot of people buy ocean or fresh water decor. I started off with laser engraving and sold quite a bit of ocean life engravings. If I had a cnc, boy it would be a game changer for me. For me in my area and what they would look for and pay for is wild life and rustic farm style items. Sorry that it took me so long to respond. Yes love watching you and learning and can’t wait to get me a cnc to make those awesome projects.

[@5280Woodworking]

A huge disparity between labor and material cost is a difficult thing to justify, in any market, unless the product is sufficiently complex or requires a very high skill level and/or higher education to produce. The pumpkin is great. A 195 dollar, wooden turtle is off putting IMHO

[@MakerHacks]

Wow only $3 for the wood for the tray ... the wood alone here in the UK would be 4x that unless you have a trade account :(

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

😳

[@dbreezy1201]

What kind of wood for your trays?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Cherry

[@larryschmitt2513]

Andy did I miss the size of each one of these trays in your two videos?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

6" in diameter

[@larryschmitt2513]

@@AndyBirdBuilds so you make the pumpkin in a 6” circle or what would be that in a piece of stock

[@miketango4671]

What wood are you using to make these trays?

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Cherry

[@miketango4671]

@@AndyBirdBuilds thanks, it looks great

[@adrimathlener8008]

In your pricing you say 'I can make x items in an hour'. You say 'the market dictates the price'. But what you don't know yet is how many you will sell. So you can make x items in an hour, but that doesn't make it sure that you will sell them all. And then you have inventory that doesn't sell, and either you take direct loss of do a clearance sale and try to regain some money. So making the item(s) is one thing but knowing what to make that will sell is the hard question. Just my thoughts.

[@shaunparsons9610]

In my area, the turtle would only sell for $50 maybe $100. So not really worth making it.

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

Maybe if it could be made faster? But I agree at these current numbers, its a tough sell.

[@timorum]

Making so many per hour your not allowing for the time to sell/package and dispatch - especially from a retail perspective.

[@JoePJack1]

I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by not paying the bill.