At What Price? – Gary Dawson

Editor’s Note: This is one in an occasional series focusing on how custom designers price their work to ensure they remain competitive, cover all costs, and (of course) make a profit. Here’s how Gary Dawson arrived at the final charge for a custom ring.

My design and manufacturing fee is based on the complexity of the design and the time required to complete it. I start with a base fee of $350 for simple projects, such as a straight band with raised initials. A more intricate design with unique elements, such as this ring, starts at $550 and increases incrementally—$750, $950, $1,150, and so on—as complexity rises. For highly customized or research-intensive designs, the price can reach several thousand dollars. I know some designers price their design work low and price their materials sky-high, but I think that devalues the talent and time of the creator. I like my clients to know that they are paying me fairly for all aspects of the project, so my design and manufacturing fee is often the most expensive part of the project cost.

I also consider what I call the “PITA factor,” which assesses the client’s ability to communicate and make decisions, as well as a “uniqueness factor”—whether the design is one-of-a-kind or includes elements I can reuse in other projects. For this ring, the design was moderately complex but formulaic, so had only a slight uniqueness factor. The client was cooperative, decisive, and appreciative of the process, simplifying the design stage and earning a PITA factor of 0. Total Fee: $550

The ring required an estimated 7 grams of 14k gold. To determine the metal charge, I use a proprietary spreadsheet I created that takes current spot prices, applies my markup, factors in any trade-in credits for client-provided materials, and then spits out the total cost based on my estimate of the weight of the finished piece. For this ring, I calculated the price on gold priced at $2,757.59 per ounce. Total Fee: $1,034.25

The design included 0.24 carats of lab-grown diamonds, which were sourced at a retail cost of $200. Total Fee: $200

$1,800 (rounded up for good measure)