Hello, That is not an easy question to answer. However, here are some tips" How Much To Charge" I assume that you are a Faux Artist at Work™, so am I. Good to meet you I don't like answers like "1.25 per Sq." because I feel it's not realistic. We all have different demographics, we all have different financial requirements thus I think it's a question of how much does the market bear. Even more important how much do you need to make to cover your expenses, make a living, and have a good cashflow so your business stays afloat. If you a serious about your business you need to sit down and figure your personal needs i.e. Mortgage or rent, utilities, home repair, laundry, personals, etc. I hate to call it a budget; the word seems to be a bit harsh for me. I prefer to call it a spending plan. I actually went back three years in my personal checkbook and came up with an average figure. Take an accounting ledger and list your categories for each expense (financial requirements) I.e. Home repairs for three years: Add the three yearly figures and divide by three. The total should be your figure your will put down in your spending plan. Do this for each of the categories you have listed. You must do the same for your new business. In business we determine FIXED expenses and VARIABLE expenses Fixed expenses are those which stay the same regardless of sales volume. Variable expenses are those, which you can adjust according to your business volume. Fixed Expenses Salaries,taxes including payroll, benefits, utilities, rent, licenses and fees, ing supplies, insurance, depreciation, interest, Variable Expenses: Sales commissions, taxes, sales tax, supplies, travel and entertainment, continued education, books, freight, contract labor, auto expense, postage, advertising, public relations, marketing, bank charges, customer relations, discounts, disposal, dues and subscriptions, equipment rental, finance charges, freight charges, insurance (car, health, disability, liability), marketing-portfolio, office – maintenance, web page, misc., professional fees, refunds, rent, repairs, telephones (cell, office, pager) travel expenses, utilities. Now, let's say you have figured your spending plan and you come up with the following expenses Personal 45,000 Business 24,000 Subtotal 69,000 plus 15% profit 10,350 Total 79,350 divided by 12 months 6,612.50 (THIS IS THE AMOUNT YOU NEED TO BILL MONTHLY TO COVER ALL YOUR EXPENSES AND MAKE A PROFIT) Daily Billing Rate: The amount of $ 6,612.50 represents the monthly income. You have to decide how many days /hours you are willing to work to earn this amount. One year has 52 weeks. Decide how many weeks you are going to work. If you take two weeks of vacation you (79,350 divided by 50 weeks) Total weekly billing rate $ 1,587 Decide how many hours that you are going to work in a week (divide 1,587 by hours) 40 Hours $39.68 32 Hours $ 49.53 x 8 hrs Daily billing rate $ 396.24 $ 400.00 How to compute the sqft charges Your daily billing rate is $ 400.00 = eight hours 400: 8 = 50.00 If you decide to work only 6 hours your hourly rate would be 400:6 = 66.67 The room you are going to work in has 412 sqft (width x length height) Divide 400 by 412 sqft Total per sqft 0.97 Making sure you are making a profit The $ 0.97 per sqft represents your labor cost for a single-glaze single-overlay glaze. The national average is $1.25 to $2.50 depending on your location you can charge more then $0.97. It might be very scary for you to start out with the bidding process. Here are a few examples 1. Measure the sqft of a room 672 sqft 672 x 1.75 = 1.181.25 2. Decide on your on your sqft price $ 1.75 3. Materials $ 87.50 plus 87.50 4. Unforeseen materials 10% 8.75 5. Subtotal 1,277.50 6. Profit 10% ( to be deposited in a savings account) 127.75 7. Grand Total 1,405.25 To check and to make sure that your bidding process is correct and you are making money always check your figures after you have completed the job. Keep a journal and log every job into that journal. Pretty soon you will become an expert. Even after 10 years into the business I still check my bids after every job. According to your daily billing rate of $400 you should complete the job in 3.5 days if you intend to work 8 hrs (1,405:400 = 3.51) Your hourly-billing rate (8 hours a day) is $ 50 You must make sure that this rate confirms you cost per sq. Ft. . 1405: 50 = 28.1 hours, round up to 30 hours so you see above that you should be right on target with your configuration of 3.5 days. Now check your sq. Ft. Again. 1405: 672 = $2.09 the difference between the estimated $1.75 and $2.09 are the materials and your profit I hope that this is helpful Warm Regards, www.fauxacademy.com 
