Anyone want to make a sign?

[Iguanadon]

Guys and Gals,

I received a phone call out of the blue yesterday from a woman looking to have a sign made for her husbands tree house (man cave).  I asked her to send me an email with some details and below is what she had to say along with pictures of random examples of maybe something that could be done.

Here's the thing, she needs it quick, their anniversary is coming up on the 18th.  When I spoke with her I told her something like that would likely run about $30-$35.  

Take a look at what she has to say and the samples and if anyone is interested in a little project the next couple of days, please let me know tonight so I can let her know one way or the other tomorrow.  She lives in South Carolina just as an FYI.

Thanks!

============

Thank you for speaking with me this afternoon about a sign I would like as a gift to my husband for his treehouse.  His treehouse has a northwestern national park lodge type look to it.  I have attached a few pictures of signs with that type look to them, for some sample typestyles.  I know these signs have bears or deer, but don’t need a picture of an animal or anything like that.  It needs to say

 

      Kirk’s

TREE HOUSE

 

The sign will be on the treehouse outdoors so it needs some kind of sealer on it to protect it from the weather.  I’m thinking like 18’ wide, but it does not have to be exact.

 Here are the examples she included:  

 

[ike]

I for one will not take special orders where I have to make a pattren#1 you can't make a pattrn to suit her you have to make adjustments, thats not too bad but by the time you have them made she will come up with more added to it. So i don't take special orders and when i do ishow them the patte and say this is it, what you see is what you get and then when they say od and then want more changes i tell them to forget it I will then not make  the project for them.IKE

[kmmcrafts]

If there was a designed pattern already I'd cut it out for her.. but.. she'd have to finish it.. because I don't see enough time to cut, finish, finish dry time, and then package and mail out to her to get it by the 18th.. quite honestly I don't even have any good lumber for outdoor signs on hand either since that really isn't my thing.. Wish I could help though.. this month is started out kind of slow and could use the order.. but not real king on time crunching a order that would need shipped.. scrambling around to gather material for the order would cost me the profit price too :( 

 

 

[SCROLLSAW703]

first of all, I wouldn't have touched it for $30 - $35, Iggy. No offense intended. Second, like km & a couple others said, you're dealing with a "you design the sign by the ideas I've shown you" & that usually doesn't end well. You spend more time designing the sign, tryin' to suit her, & by that time, you won't have time to cut, finish, & put it all together in the time limit she's given ya. You'd be better off to walk away from this one, or at best, explain to her the time involved to make it, & give her an approximate date. If that's what you decide to do. just my .02 pennies worth.

[Iguanadon]

37 minutes ago, SCROLLSAW703 said:

first of all, I wouldn't have touched it for $30 - $35, Iggy. No offense intended. Second, like km & a couple others said, you're dealing with a "you design the sign by the ideas I've shown you" & that usually doesn't end well. You spend more time designing the sign, tryin' to suit her, & by that time, you won't have time to cut, finish, & put it all together in the time limit she's given ya. You'd be better off to walk away from this one, or at best, explain to her the time involved to make it, & give her an approximate date. If that's what you decide to do. just my .02 pennies worth.

No offense.  I gave her that price when she gave a very bland, generic description of what she wanted when we were on the phone.  When she provided examples, they were more complex than she led me to believe.  No worries, I'll let her know the timeframe is too tight anyway.

Thanks everyone

[redwine]

Iggy, I wouldn't touch that request in any shape or form! There is no way that what you come up with a pattern than request her approval of the pattern than round up the wood, plane, sand, cut the pattern, finish, apply the finishing coats, the drying time, prepare the sign for shipping and unless it would be sent overnight express it would never see the 18th! On top of that, $35 might be a very small deposit to start with and $100 would be more like a starting point for a price. I am about to reach the point of no longer accepting special orders for that very reason. I had one customer that we had made up name shelf  standers for and I use poplar wood as white as I can find and she has seen the word art I cut at the shows, but when she picked them up she was not happy with them and of all things she even said they looked like plastic and should have been done in a darker wood!

Iggy, you have a market going with your puzzles, and if I were you I would stay with that until and if that market dries up. This is just my opinion but you have a good thing going and looks to get better!

Erv

[SCROLLSAW703]

I agree. Stick with your puzzle business, Iggy. You seem to be doing very well with it, & folks like your work. Stay away from the nonsense of dealin' with folks that aren't sure what they want, & 9x out of 10, you won't get paid in the end. Walk away from it, & keep makin'  puzzles, brother. It ain't worth the headache!;(

[woodknots]

Here are to signs I made for a customer and I charger $85 for each and the patterns where pretty much done except for the names. Both are made from cypress for fronts and red cedar for backs and are roughly 20" long x 15" tall

Edited July 13, 2017 by woodknots

[ONELUNG]

had a friend that wanted ashelf   her size was yea wide and yea deep and yea long      so I made it   (lol)   big mistake    yea was to long and yea was to deep and  yes had to rework it .  Leason learned  tape in hand and money in pocket than we will talk 

[amazingkevin]

after 145 textes back and forth i finally passed on a job they kept changing and wanted the forthe price and the project more than tripled in size in the end.been there done that seen it coming.

[Roberta Moreton]

I never take special orders. To many problems.