Faux Painting for Profit

Urgent Question from Vickie: 

I dont know how much to charge and I have builders waiting on me.
Help!!

Vickie… What are you painting?  Do you have competitors? What is your experience level? Are you licenced?  Do you have contracts?   These are all questions that would help in finding your answers.  

I would need a ton more information to be able to help you with your pricing.
But… just to give you a little nudge in the right direction:

After you have added up all your costs and included what you think would be a fair amount for profit… take that entire figure and add 20%. Honest… It will keep you from underbidding.  It is a tried and true formula for us.
Hope this helps you.

I also recieved this comment from a reader: 

I have done so many family and friends FREE!
My mistake. Although it has been great experience practicing and trying out some new techniques. As you know, it does take time away from family as well as personal time. I don't mind nor does my husband and two boys but I always feel guilty. I feel like I should be cleaning or organizing something.

This is why I am pursuing it full time. I can hopefully do this while everyone is at work and school.

Anyway, I think I am too nice or maybe don't feel worthy of charging the prices that I know some artists do because I love it so much that I feel strange charging for my enjoyment. I am not stupid however and do realize there are many people that tend to be clueless on decorating, painting, etc. I am not judging, this has been told to me many times from the people who are clueless.

You will find that many potential clients are "clueless" when it comes to decorative and mural painting prices.  They will put your work into the same catagory as painting by the foot contractors.

This is not your fault… really.  You need to either convince the client that art is far more expensive than base coat painting… or move on to the next client.  Don't let any one make you feel like you are charging more than you are worth.  This is where faux painters loose their profit in business.  Faux painting takes time, talent and patience.  It's not for the average joe. 

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=f_kJ6aZX5rg[/youtube] 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Faux Business Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.