Custom Woodworking and Carpentry Pricing Guide

What a good one includes

• A transparent breakdown of your hourly shop rate that factors in both your living wage and non-billable administrative hours.
• A tiered markup schedule for hardwoods, sheet goods, and hardware to cover sourcing time, transport, and waste.
• Baseline pricing estimates and labor-hour ranges for your most frequent builds, such as dining tables or custom cabinets.
• A structured way to recoup the hidden costs of glue, sandpaper, finish, and blade sharpening on every invoice.
• A dedicated pricing method for on-site installation work that accounts for travel time, site prep, and unexpected field adjustments.
• Clear boundaries on how many design iterations are included in the baseline quote before additional design fees apply.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Many woodworkers only charge for the active cutting and assembly hours, completely ignoring the time spent on design, lumber runs, and clean-up.
• Failing to build a contingency buffer into custom quotes often leaves carpenters absorbing the cost of unexpected wood movement, mistakes, or client changes.
• Forgetting to allocate a portion of every job toward machinery maintenance and blade sharpening will quietly erode your long-term profits.
• Treating transport and installation as free add-ons is a fast way to lose your profit margins on the tail end of a project.

Frequently asked questions