Question from Clare

As emerging mosaic artists most people are faced with the problem of how to prepare a brief for a quote or submission and the problems attendant with that. In all the mosaic books I have, I have never come across such information and it would be invaluable.

Some of the questions raised would be:
*What exactly would I put in a quote (design fee, etc)
*When do I bill for the design – before or after the design has been sent – will this mean that someone not liking the design can refuse to pay for the design
*How do I estimate the amount of tile I should buy
*Do I quote with different prices to give the client options – a mosaic fabricated with ceramic tile could be made faster than with small glass tiles.
*What goes into making up a quote – not only tiles used but adhesives, grout, additives, labour etc

Anyway Brett, I finally managed to register and I really like the way you have set up everything. I can see this site developing into a ‘must have’ rich and invaluable resource for any aspiring mosaic artist. Congratulations.

Reply from Brett

Hi Clare

Thanks for your kind words and congratulations on your own work – managed to sneak a look at your Yahoo pics – beautiful!

I agree there’s not a lot out there about pricing and quotes – if there was, I’m sure it would recommend some kind of contract covering most of the issues you raised.

I do things a little differently than a solicitor would recommend, firstly because I put in a lot of quotes (many of them unsuccesful therefore I don’t want to waste too much time) and secondly because if I can get past the price with a potential customer, the commission almost always goes ahead. I think that happens because my website qualifies my work pretty well – it’s just a matter of whether the client can justify the price.

So when someone asks for a quote, the first thing I do is get back to them with an estimate for the work delivered and installed. I work this out based on previous jobs and deliveries and usually overquote by 10-20% – that means the client doesn’t get any nasty shocks when I give a firm price. Underpromise and overdeliver is my basic philosophy.

I usually do this in writing by eMail – no details, just a delivered and installed price. I’ll give them options where appropriate, but feel it’s best to keep them to a minimum – the vast majority of clients will let you decide what tesserae to use etc., and aren’t particularly interested in what makes up the price.

If they come back to me from there, I’m usually in business. I’ll talk to them in more detail abut design, check my costs and get quotes for delivery, blacksmithing etc. etc.

Then I’ll get back to them with a firm price, the direction we’ll take with the design, and a request for 50% of the total price in advance. I have on occasion started a design in advance of receiving the deposit, but that would be because the design is simple quick for me to produce – don’t remember ever getting into much trouble by doing the design in advance anyway.

Once the deposit is received, you have the clients commitment and you can go ahead with the design, ordering the materials etc.

Call me lucky, but I’ve never had a job fall over from this point, never had any difficulty reaching agreement about design, and never had a job run over budget where I’ve had to ask for more money. If the client changes their mind requiring a bigger budget, I establish the extra cost there and then, in writing, and won’t move further without their agreement (also in writing).

Then when the job’s finished, I require the full balance before releasing the work from my studio.

If you communicate all this by eMail to the client up front, make sure you don’t underprice yourself and create a beautiful work, there’s really nothing that can go wrong – and the client’s happy too.

This process might not make it into the Harvard School of business and I might be in trouble if anything ever went bad with a client, but if it did, I’d just give them their money back and keep the mosaic work.

This process wouldn’t work with a government authority (something I might cover in the future), and I have had to change the payment structure for larger jobs, but it’s worked very well for me.

To answer your question about how much tile to buy – it depends. If you’re good at estimating areas to be covered, you could probably get away with an allowance of 5-10% more than you need, but I’d recommend more if the tile’s expensive or hard to get.

More often than not, I can create smaller works from my stocks so it’s not a concern. If I’m working on a larger job, I’ve usually allowed plenty for tiles can just get the colours I need or want by the metre – and combine that with the tiles I already have in stock. Sometimes I spend more than I’ve allowed for a particular job, but I’ll use the leftovers and someone else will pay for them so it doesn’t bother me.

I hope that covers your questions, but if not, fire some more at me!

Best,

Brett

Reply from Clare

Thanks Brett, that is great info. I like the fact that it can be a little bit more informal than I imagined.

Thanks for taking a peek at my work. As you probably picked up, I’m still in the evolving stage of developing a style. I started mosaicing nearly 2 years ago and have tried to mix my work a little to extend my repertoire. I have wanted to try ceramic works for a long time and having checked out your members section I’m feeling a lot more settled about tackling the medium.

One more question on the commission front. When you are commissioned to do a large work do you have a final design before you go ahead or do you find that you have a basic design which can and is added to as you progress on the mural?

Reply from Brett

Hi Clare

Yes, the design tends to go in phases on a big work – in fact I like to stay fairly flexible until the project’s fully laid.

If the customer wanted a fully developed design before starting, this is a situation where I would require a design fee – many days can be spent designing planning etc.

Hope that helps

Best

Brett