Possible large order...possible collaboration?

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MesquiteMan

MesquiteMan

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San Marcos, TX, USA.
I am a custom home builder as my real business. I recently made a Sierra pen out of a piece of blue PVC pipe (idea from one of our members here, can't remember who)and gave it to the fellow that owns the plumbing supply house that I buy all my plumbing fixtures from. Just last week he called and said that one of his pipe wholesalers saw the pen and COMPLETLEY loved it and wanted to get a price on me making 100 of them for him to give away to clients. I am not sure if he has any idea what a pen like this will cost so this may just be peeing in the wind.

Anyway, I would like to give him a price but I really DO NOT want to have to make 100 pvc pens! Talk about boring. Anyway, I was thinking about the possibility of collaborating with some folks from here. Has anyone tried this before? If so, please chime in and give me your advice. If not, please give me your opinion as to how a collaboration on an order like this would work. Thanks
 
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A pipe wholesaler is expecting a very low price.[:(]
I used to make Sierras so I can help you if you need it.
E-mail me offline.
 
I still make a lot of Sierra's, and if you can get the blue PVC material, I will be glad to work with you and help out some on this. PM me and let's see what we can do

Rob
 
Curtis, I would be interested in helping out. Making a lot of pens is something I can accomplish with a lot of Santana, Clapton or ZZTOP backing me up. Sierr's are a lot like Executive pens, only one barrel and no Tenons to worry about.
To make this work I think you would have to send your helpers the same PVC material. I would have to purchase the kits, however many you want me to make. To calculate cost you need the price of 100 Sierra kits, material and material shipping costs, plus our return shipping and of course a little profit for our efforts.
Let me know if I can be of assistance.
 
Curtis, I think your best bet is to find a few fellow pen turners that live in your area, I am sure they will help out. I know Texas is big, but there seems to be quite a few of the forum members living there. I also think this buy might be "peeing in the wind". I would start with a figure in my mind of 3000 bucks and go up from there. I have no idea how much that pipe cost and I am thinking there might be some gluing involved. I would give him a figure you feel comfortable with and then work out the details. When he hears your price, it might be a mute point. Good Luck, i hope you get the job!
 
I have had a few people ask what it would cost for a large order. When I tell them the cost per pen they usually cannot afford it. Sadly with our trait it is not as cheap as the plastic cr@p they can get for .10 each.

I hope this works out for you.
 
Curtis,
I've done bidding for other types of work in the past. When I had my doubts about whether someone was going to be even slightly interested, I would try to throw out some sort of hint or even a ball park figure. Tell the something like, "I usually sell these $25.00 each, but if you wanted a large quantity, I could knock off 25 percent." Just something to get an idea. If they say "OK give me a bid" then your gold. But if they say "oh, I was thinking of _ _ _ _ ", then you may be out of luck. I used to have people just say "when can you do it", and other people look at me like my hair was on fire. I always prefaced it with something like, "this is just a real rough estimate, but,,,". It saved me from going to all the trouble of working up a bid and having them tell me I was out of my mind, they could go to such and such for a quarter that price.
Just my thoughts.
Good luck Curtis.
 
Curtis I just ran into the same kind of situation. I'm making pens from rope used for rock climbing and rescue work. The supplier was all excited until I let it slip that they would probably cost $25-30 for a large order and more for single pens. He was thinking in a much lower range.
 
I would tell him $25-$30 per pen for the first ten and then it goes up from there to $30-$35 per pen. I just can't imagine making 100 of the same thing.[:)]
 
$25 each? Don't give them away! I usually tell people that for an order of more than 50 pens the price goes up - because they get boring to make.

Price the pens so you and your collaborators can make a nice profit. If the price is too high for the customer, you don't have to do all of that extra work.

Chris
 
Hey Curtis----things are slow here---I can make some---what ever you come up with for the price is fine with me.
Heck a little money is better than nothing.
 
Don't under value your work and do not lower your price too much!!
If I sell a Sierra, standard Chrome plating with some nice wood, my price is $50, and goes up considerably if it is a BlkTi/Pt or Au plating with a cactus, snakeskin etc blank. I would give him off $5-10 for the low end and maybe $10-15 for the higher end. Reason is that the work per pen is about the same (and believe me, it will get boring quite fast)and the money you give him off would be compensated by several factors, like buying 100 kits instead of 1 or ten, cutting time and drilling time is reduced if done in batches - I have done orders up to 75 and know how boring this can be.
The good thing is that the Sierra is a one barrel pen, so the cutting, drilling and turning time is only half of the one for a standard two piece pen.
 
Forgot one thing: the shapes I have seen here for Sierra can be quite different. To make sure you get pens that look very similar, I would furnish a photo of the required shape, and also discuss the finish you expect. I had once asked a turning colleague to help me with an order, and thank god, I had him give me a sample of his work - not even close to my standard!!
 
Hey Curtis,

I have a lot of the material you may need. It's from a a three-foot section of 24" water main, the blue-green stuff. I would need to cut the rest of it up and ship it.

This material was acquired from a huge water main project. I stopped and asked the foreman about the piece, he said "take it," one less thing he'd have to throw away. He even helped load it in my truck (good thing, since I wouldn't have been able to lift it). In return, I made a pen from it and sent it to him.

In any case, let me know if you need some.

John B.
 
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