u/Midisland-4

It turned orange about a week ago. Scandia seeds says it’s a red habanero.

How can I tell when it will be ripe/hot?

I do some custom work for a local hot rod shop. I have never been good at deciding what to bill. This is very much a side gig for me. Most of the work I have done for them is unique and very much one offs.

This latest job took me months to get around to, I have a busy “day job” and only get to this sort of thing when the rate opportunity allows.

This latest job is a custom handle machined from 6061 aluminum billet. The customer provided a couple sketches, I did the CAD and printed a mock up, they made a few changes and I did the final design, CAM, machining and finishing.

If I were to bill this based on my hourly rate as a Millwright it would be cost prohibitive, I think. I am inclined to low ball this for several reasons, it’s not really about the money for me, the pieces I do for them are usually high profile parts on some pretty cool cars, I like having my work being a part of that. I didn’t discuss the price before and didn’t take a down payment, my reason being that I didn’t want the expectations and pressure, I want to ability to walk away if things go sideways or if I can’t meet their timelines.

Mostly I want to charge enough to be somewhat respected and still acknowledge that the way I work isn’t the same as a job shop…..

$50 material

$30 tooling

7 hours on a CNC mill

5 hours CAD/CAM time, including 3d prototype and changes

2 hours post processing/polishing

What is a reasonable price / what would you charge?