# pricing your work



## wonderwmn (Feb 2, 2018)

I am just beginning to get requests to do alterations and repairs. Never having sewn for the public , I am at a loss on pricing. For instance, I just received a pair of mens slacks to shorten . I will be serging the edge,pressing and blind hemming them. I am charging $10. I am in mid missouri and I realize prices would vary according to the area you live but do you think I am too expensive. I dont want to price myself out of jobs.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

About right for rural Missouri on that project.


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## Olpoop (Jul 8, 2012)

wonderwmn said:


> I am just beginning to get requests to do alterations and repairs. Never having sewn for the public , I am at a loss on pricing. For instance, I just received a pair of mens slacks to shorten . I will be serging the edge,pressing and blind hemming them. I am charging $10. I am in mid missouri and I realize prices would vary according to the area you live but do you think I am too expensive. I dont want to price myself out of jobs.


First of all, I’m pleased to hear that you’re doing alterations. Few people do that anymore.

My advice to you is to do an internet search for terms like “alterations rate” and see if you can spot any posted rates that may be similar to your area and the median wage of your area. It’s a good starting point, learning what folks in your area are earning. Adjust your rates to fit the median income for yourself along those lines, and consider any additional “overhead costs” that you may have above that of a local median income worker that only has to provide their labor for their income. Another thing that you can do is to call local alteration shops to see what they charge (if you have any around you).

When we started 13 years ago, I looked up the median income for our area in the census data online. Median income for our area was $10/hr. Since we were a retail establishment and only did alterations and repairs to help fill the slack retail time at the shop, we went with $10/hr. Over the years, we have increased to $21/hr, partly because we purchased additional sewing equipment and then dedicated additional retail floor space to the sewing services. Our main business is still retail sales, but our mending services have grown to about 1/3 of our business. We do work for the local cleaners that no longer do repairs or alterations. We have flat rates for several “common procedures” that nearly all shops do regularly (based on our hourly rate) and any other alterations are charged by the time it takes us to do the job by charging $21/hr or $0.35/min using a digital timer. We publish our rates on our website and on signage in the shop. We don’t provide estimates for unusual mending jobs, other than the rate that we will charge once we’ve gotten into the job and seen how long it takes to complete the work. That upsets some customers, but they usually don’t know how long it will take to do it, and we usually don’t know how long it will take to do it until it’s done, so if they want it done, they’ll pay us for the length of time that it takes us to do it or they can do it themselves. We’ve maintained a 2-5 week backlog of work for several years, so the majority of our customers like our work.

We vary from our “rate” some when we experience a learning curve in the process of making an alteration or repair, due to the variety of mending jobs that can walk through the door, but we do our best to make sure that everyone pays the same rate. No exceptions. That’s of utmost importance.

PS: Our flat rate for shortening/hemming men’s slacks is $9/pr ($14/pr if lined), and we will be increasing our rate to $10/pr ($15/pr lined) this coming July.

CD in Oklahoma


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

My sister has been doing alterations and leather work in Arizona for 30 years. At one time she had as many as a half dozen employees.
Walmart and China have changed the industry and she now works solo (happily) out of a shop at home.
Most of her clients are now middle upper income and long time repeat customers.
Sort of like hand made furniture, she cannot compete with larger outfits so she prices for her time. Of course she has set rates for the standard stuff but she has been around long enough that she is sought out for custom work and if she is going to go broke, she would rather sit on the couch and do it.
It also helps being located in a large metro market.


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## Olpoop (Jul 8, 2012)

GTX63 said:


> ....It also helps being located in a large metro market.


Being in a large metro area may help. We’re in a rural area with a sparse population. We’ve never had employees. It’s just my wife and I doing mending. We believe that our retail sewing and notions business will continue to decline as time goes on, unless there is some fad that comes along to get the younger folks sewing more. Our mending and alterations are holding steady and maybe even increasing each year. 

I think we may be experiencing the same fate as another business person in our small town shared with me. She’s operating the last remaining liquor store in town, and told me that her business is declining because basically, her clientele are dying off. She has a divided two-business building with liquor in one side and had a flower shop in the other that she can step from one to the other and run them both at one time. The flower shop didn’t last long so she closed it down. She just recently got into CBD products, and will be having her Grand Opening of medical marijuana and supplies in what had been her flower shop. Times change.

CD in Oklahoma


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Her demographics are middle to upper income, professionals/white collar, 35ish and up.
Yes, Tuscon with its retirees and their money help a bit.
The younger crowd and the lower income are hooked on cheap clothes they can wear and throw out. That doesn't bother her as she doesn't cater to price first clients.
She wasn't always like that and never has made a ton of money, she has just learned to value her skills and time.

Two businesses that should absolutely never have a risk of going out of business are funeral homes and liquor stores.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)




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## tiffanysgallery (Jan 17, 2015)

wonderwmn said:


> I am charging $10.


I'd hem a pair of pants for $10 flat. 

Otherwise, for bigger jobs, I use this formula, (labor + materials) x 2 = price.
I can ask this price because I live near a populous capital city.


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## shawnlee (Apr 13, 2010)

I always worked for what I thought was worth it,......if it was not worth it, I found other things to do. It has made me happy thru the years......the price only needs to make you happy, we have all paid a price for things that did not make us happy...…..did I charge too little for some things and too much for others,...maybe, but I was always happy.


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