What to charge for fiberglass work?

[Insomniac119 10+ year member]

People ask me how much it would cost them for me to make them a fiberglass sub box or something. But I don't know what to tell them. So how much do you guys charge?

I was thinking charging buy the hour is a little to anal, and most of the time spent is waiting for it to dry. So after the materials expenses, I think there should be a set amount but should also reflect the ease/difficulty of the project.

The last time somebody asked me to glass them a sub box, I told him $100 (including materials) and he was already scared off. I expected the materials to be around $50, so that'd be $50 for me, not too bad but if nobody wants to pay that much than either I'm ganna have to find some richer friends or do it for less money.

What's your thoughts, how much do you charge?

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[monte_carlo97 10+ year member]

i thought that 100 is cheap. I usually charge by the hour when i am actually doing work. If it is drying and i am not doing anything then i go find something else to do. But i usually chrage say 5-10 dollars an hour depending who it is.

 

[ntense702 10+ year member]

$100 seems mighty reasonable, I know some friends who got quoted @ $400-1100 for a single 12" glass box, all these prices were based on quotes from 3 local audio shops and bestbuy. Bestbuy and one anal audio shop said $1100, another shop said $700, and the last shop (which we have friends that work there) said $400. I don't have any experience with fiberglass yet, but I do know that prices can get mighty high with it, especiallly at audio shops.

 

[monte_carlo97 10+ year member]

Best buy does custom fiberglassing?

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

curcuit city will build boxes, do custom work, but its like $20\hour or more. the SKU is on there, but im not sure what the price is for it. its like INS-CUSTOM(insert minutes)

so if i did custom work for some guy for an hour, it would be INS-CUSTOM60. ill check on prices. but materialsx2 is a good way of doing it. specially if it didnt take you a long time. because resin+matte+gloves+tape+brushes gets expensive - not to mention 5 hours of your labor.

$100 is VERY cheap for a glass box.

 

[fo0manchu 10+ year member]

Depends what kind of sub box it is. Is it just for a single sub molded into the trunk? If so, 100 is dirt cheap! Most knoledgable shops will charge you $400+ for a quality box. But then again Im in california and labor cost is an arm and a leg (they charge like $60+ an hour for labor). I charge 3-350 for a custom single sub box and 400 for a carbon fiber one. Dont undervalue your time and expertise, after all that is why they ask you to build the box in the first place.

 

[ntense702 10+ year member]

I just saw on ebay a guy was selling fiberglass boxes cheap and said shops will charge $60-80 an hour, and stated "if you don't believe me check your local audio shops." Check it out @ http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

 

[nametaken 10+ year member]

$100 is VERY cheap for a glass box.

yea, thats //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif . the guy doesnt have a clue the amount of effort it takes to build one.

Its alot of work,not hard, just...alot of it. And as Fo0 said, materials x2 sounds reasonable, maybe a bit extra if you want some more but keep it around there. Look to spend around 75 at least on materials for a sub box.

 

[Insomniac119 10+ year member]

yea, thats //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif . the guy doesnt have a clue the amount of effort it takes to build one.
Its alot of work,not hard, just...alot of it. And as Fo0 said, materials x2 sounds reasonable, maybe a bit extra if you want some more but keep it around there. Look to spend around 75 at least on materials for a sub box.

Yeah, the guy was some thug sporting sony x-plods in wooden boxs thrown in the back seat, pioneer amp and type-e sub (all prolly stollen).

But I've had other offers, one of my rich friends told me a while ago he wanted a fiberglass box but didn't think he could do it and I think we talked around $200, but now he's not so much into the audio part of the car as he is the performance (ricer).

 

[AndyB 10+ year member]

dont pay more than $200... If someone wants to charge you that much, slap them and tell them to **** off. Thats just stealing.

 

[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

dont pay more than $200... If someone wants to charge you that much, slap them and tell them to **** off. Thats just stealing.

Did you read any of this thread? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif A local shop here quoted me at $75 an hour //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif so I guess I'm gonna have to learn how //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif . Hope I catch on quick. Why not charge hourly?? Do you feel your time isn't worth it? just my 2 cents

 

[Decipha 10+ year member]

if you want it done correctly do it yourself... or hire a professional

 

[Decipha 10+ year member]

What's your thoughts, how much do you charge?

an arm and a leg

 

[xchaosx 10+ year member]

yea i agree 100$ isn't even worth your time there is a local shop that i build them for i use his shop and him stuff to build and i get atleast 200$+ just for the build don't sell yourself short not everyone can glass

 

[stones 10+ year member]

I was quoted 900 bucks for custom vinyl covered kick pods at one time.

300 dollars for carpeted pods at the same shop

500 dollars at another shop.

100 bucks seems alittle low, 200 to 300 seems very competitive for materials and labour.