Let's talk about cardboard Christmas houses and accessories

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:05 am 
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He says:

------------------------------------------------

Hello, I'm Tom from Ohio. I am in the search for someone that makes custom putz style glitter houses. The house is pretty basic....1960s two story colonial with front porch and attached garage. Its the house i grew up in. Any help is appreciated.

Btw. I have my grandmothers 1960s putz Christmas village. Love it.

-------------------------------------------------

I said:
Tom,

I understand wanting to have a putz house based on your childhood home.

However, the folks who have done this in the past have pretty much given up because they'd put ten or fifteen hours into it and the client would want to pay $35, that is $2 or $3 an hour.

If you'd like to send me photos of the front and both sides, I could post it in the forum and ask if anyone wants to take it on, and give me a rate.

Hope that makes sense.

Alternatively, if I could find you a pattern that would get you close, you might could try building your own. They're not that hard.
-------------------------------------------------

He replied:

Thanks for the fast response. I appreciate your help. I have attached some photos. I don’t have pictures of the sides but I do have a picture of the original blueprint. My parents built the house in 1967 And we recently sold it after my dad passed.

I actually tried making it myself. I did pretty good with the structure but got frustrated on the details.....but if you find a similar pattern then I could try to tackle it again.

I would be willing to pay more than $35. I appreciate the time and talent of this form of art.

Thanks again,

Tom

-----------------------------------------------------

So there you have it. I am thinking that this close to the holidays, a $100-150 fee, depending on how detailed you make it, is reasonable. If you already have something on the drawing board that you could put together more quickly, let me know. Just keep in mind that if you put 20 hours into it and ask $80, you're only getting $4 an hour and I won't be party to slave labor.

Also, note that the window mullion design shown in the blueprints is NOT implemented in the house itself, so that's a detail you could probably skip and save a lot of time on.

If you're interested in taking this on, please let me know, and I'll send you his information.

Have a great day, all,

Paul

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:00 pm 
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Hello Paul. I'd love to connect with this person and see what we might work out. Thank you, Pete


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:28 am 
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Never heard back from the guy. On further research, I think $200-250 is a more reasonable range for such requests.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:07 pm 
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Hello Paul. I contacted this person. I even sent him pictures of projects that I've done recently. I showed him pictures of my customers real house and the finished putz house. I never heard anything back from him at all. I didn't even mention price. I didn't want to scare him off before he got a chance to study my photos.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:14 pm 
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Pete, thanks for trying. Next time I'll tell the person up front to expect to spend $200-$250 and let it go from that.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:16 pm 
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If I spend 10 hours on a project like this and charge $15 an hour (which is what they pay the cashiers at my grocery store), that's $150 right there. If I charge a commission worthy of a real artist, which MOST of you are. . . .

Thanks all, including the folks who contacted me offline. . .

At least now, I have a baseline for when such requests come in.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 1:02 pm 
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Actually the lowest I've ever done was $380.00. (for smaller simpler houses) Most of my houses go for $495.00. Along with the house they get their own complete kit.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 1:50 pm 
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That is a great layout, Pete. Thanks for sharing it!


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Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
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Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
For permissions or for questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact page.



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