I'd be interested to hear if there are any standards too. I think if you are an experienced trimmer and you can show a potential customer previous jobs and your quality of work, then it's all about communicating each step of the process so they know what they are paying for. I usually give a "ballpark" estimate range like $2-3k. I've found most customers understand each job is unique in our line of work. Unless you are working for dealerships or govt that want hard quotes, I usually just talk it out with the customer. The people that get it are the ones you want to work with anyways. Just my 2 cents. Cheers

We are not in the Pizza or Oil Change business. Costs vary depending on your location, overhead and taxes. It would be to your advantage to figure out what your actual shop rate is and then apply it to your experience.

If you are not happy with actual costs, Adjust the final cost of the project to an amount you and the customer can live with.

Fred hit it in my opinion. Quality of workmanship is key. Next comes market value in your area, which varies depending on competition. All of these things are ultimately determined by your overhead, build time it takes you etc. we have always had a baseline to start with. Example would be a bench seat, plain, no thrills, and no major foam repairs, frame etc. $550 + materials. It would go up from there with leather, embroidery, diamonds, pleats etc. I figure if I throw out a baseline to help me adjust from there, and they are having a difficult time with that, they are not ready to go further and waste more of our time. In my area, we drive 90% of the quotes to a request a quote page on the website . My administrator builds a profile when these come in on OneNote, he has them ready for me to quote in one note and I quote every Tuesday and Thursday. This helps keep track of jobs and conversations and it gives me some time to respond with realistic numbers. It also helps me to “weed” out all the low ballers. I don’t want to work for what someone else charges. And if all they are doing is calling around looking for the lowest price, they are not our customer, they are a liability.

Tyler, Marine Fabricator does have time standards for marine applications. But your hourly rate is set by you and the area. And it does not equate materials, just labor hours. Good baseline to start with.