Once you’ve been painting furniture for a while, you will almost certainly begin getting requests to do custom work. When you’re ready to start taking on custom projects, it’s important to write out a furniture painting work order so all the details and expectations are clear between you and your client. I’m going to share my personal work order with you, and you’re welcome to download and change it however you want to use for your own personal needs. I also thought I’d go over some of the details you might want to consider having in your own work order and why.
Here’s a look at one of my work orders.
Suggestions to include in your own work order
1.) Find out the exact paint color your client wants. Also discuss how much, if any, distressing they want, and how they want the piece to be sealed. Do they want additional work done, such as a graphic or decoupaging? If they’re having trouble describing what they like, ask them to pull a few pictures from Pinterest to show you. Also find out if they want the inside of the cabinets or drawers finished. Painting the insides will use significantly more paint and time, so price it accordingly.
2.) Know exactly what you’re getting into. I like to see pieces in person before coming up with a quote. If for some reason you can’t view it in person, ask them to send you exact measurements and pictures of the piece. Also find out if there’s obvious damage that needs to be repaired, such as loose/missing veneer or broken drawers.
3.) Find out if the client intends to use the existing hardware or if they plan to replace it. If they’re replacing it, it’s a good idea to have them pick out hardware before you start working because the new hardware most likely won’t fit in the existing holes. You’ll probably have to fill the old holes and drill new ones, and that’s hard to do without the new hardware in hand. Hardware isn’t cheap and I specifically state in my work order that new hardware isn’t included in the quoted price. If they want me to choose new hardware for them, I just add the cost to the final price.
4.) Will the client be dropping off and picking up their piece, or will you have to deliver it? $25 is generally what I would charge someone who lives relatively nearby, and for a piece that my mom and I can carry ourselves. If it’s a massive piece that’s super heavy or awkward I’d charge more.
5.) If you’re not delivering, it’s a good idea to specify when you expect the client to pick up their piece. I work out of my home, and don’t have room to store pieces for an extended period of time. My work order states that the client needs to pick up and pay for their piece within 30 days of completion or it becomes my property. And honestly, 30 days is extremely generous. I should probably change it to 14 days. With that said, I’m not hard-nosed about anything on my work order. If someone has a reasonable explanation as to why they’re unable to pick up their piece right away, I would never tell them I’m keeping it anyway. But if someone simply refuses to pick up their piece or pay the remaining balance (and believe it or not this does happen), at least you have a plan of action in writing.
A few words about pricing
We get a ton of questions about pricing pieces to sell. Here’s a quick breakdown of the pricing on our work order example above, and a few things to keep in mind when deciding how to price your own custom work.
1.) We typically charge a flat rate of $50 for paint and supplies on a regular sized piece of furniture. A quart of paint is about $40. We know we won’t use the entire can, and we keep any leftover paint. There are lots of other products we need for most pieces too, such as sandpaper, primer, wood filler, and whatever top coat the client wants. Not to mention paint brushes, towels, cleaning supplies, etc, and don’t forget the driving you’re doing to get all this stuff. I feel like $50 fairly covers all the little bits of different products we use, in addition to whatever paint we use.
2.) Labor is the hardest price to come up with. On the work order above, I quoted 3 hours of labor at $40/hour. That’s not an exact rate that we always use though. I price out pieces on a case by case basis and make sure the final amount is a price I’m comfortable receiving for the amount of work I’ll be doing. Sometimes that hourly labor cost might be higher or lower (although it’s usually not lower). I know it would be more helpful to have a magic formula for pricing pieces, but there just isn’t one. Use your gut and price it according to what you feel good about receiving in exchange for your hard work and talent. You are providing a unique service and specialized art that not everyone can do. Don’t feel guilty about asking for a fair price, and definitely don’t sell yourself short.
3.) I always get a deposit of half the total cost before I start any work on the piece. Always. This gives you cash in hand to buy the paint and any additional supplies needed. It also protects you from (for lack of a better word I’m just going to say it plainly) getting screwed over. Now the truth is most clients are a dream to work with. And it’s never happened to me personally, but I have friends who’ve done work for clients and somewhere along the way the deal just goes sour. If you take a deposit, you’ll never walk away from a raw deal at a complete loss for the time and supplies you have into it.
Create Your Own Work Order
I want you to be able to easily create your own furniture painting work order, so I’m leaving mine here in an editable format for you to use. Download it to your computer, remove my info and put yours in. Change it however you like and make it your own. I’m offering it to you absolutely free for your personal use. If you know someone else who may be interested in it, I’d appreciate if you would direct them back to this page to grab their own rather than sharing the actual downloaded document. Please don’t share this on your own website either. It’s for your personal use only. As always, I’m grateful whenever you pin or share our posts :).
Just click the banner below to download your work order.
Have a question I didn’t cover? Leave it in the comments. Wishing you all the best in your furniture painting venture!
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Hey Ladies…this is a wonderful work order. Ours is fairly similar but yours includes more detail. We will be adding some of your ideas to ours form Stat 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
What a great post, thank you! While I’ve done a good bit of custom work in the past, these days I do much less of it. I find the consultation, emails back and forth, color selections, etc. take up quite a bit of time that I would rather use on other things. That said, your work order is awesome! Thanks for sharing and I will be using this for any custom work I do in the future. Have a great weekend!
Thank you, Ann! We don’t do a lot of custom work either. I honestly find that it stresses me out. I think it’s because when I’m painting pieces to sell in our booth, I don’t have to please anyone in particular and can paint it however I want. Unlike custom work where you’re painting for one person and their specific taste. I wear myself out worrying that they won’t like it, plus I don’t get as much enjoyment out of it as I do when I can experiment and let my creativity drive the project. I know some people who absolutely love doing custom work though! I’m glad you like the work order and thank you for stopping by :).
These are REALLY awesome tips, Amy! Thanks so much for sharing them. I am sure they will come in handy for the future so I am pinning this!
Thanks so much, Bre!
These are great tips Amy! I don’t paint furniture but I have been working on another venture and this will totally help with that too! Thanks for sharing what has worked for you 🙂
I’m glad you found it helpful, Sydney! This is definitely applicable to other services as well. Can’t wait to see what your new venture is!!
Amazing resource!! Thank you for putting this together!
Thanks Erin!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this post. There are SO many people selling themselves short these days, and it truly makes me sad. We really need reminders like these to price our work at what’s it’s worth!
Thanks Stacy! I so agree with you and I think most of us struggle with pricing. When we were brand new to selling in our first booth space, we had a customer who kept coming back to buy more pieces from us, and she finally left a message with the store manager to tell us we were underselling ourselves and needed to ask more for our work. It was a huge eye opener to have a customer tell us she would’ve happily paid twice what we were asking!
Thank you so much for this post. It is really helpful.
You’re welcome, Lynda! I’m glad you found it helpful :).
Thank you so much for your insight and information. I always manage to sell myself short when pricing work.
I think we all tend to sell ourselves short. I find it really hard to negotiate and talk money with people but it’s something I’m working on :). Thanks for stopping by JJ!
Hi Amy! Thanks for the generosity in putting a downloadable sample for us! As of right now I pretty much keep what I create or give to loved ones. However I can feel the time coming when I will be doing commission pieces. Thanks for your great info as always.
Lenore
You’re so welcome, Lenore! Your loved ones are lucky to have such a talented friend/family member :).
Have you ever tried making your own chalk paint?
We don’t make our own chalk paint. I know plenty of people who have great success with it though.
Thank you so much for sharing your work order form. This will definitely help me one I get my business up and running 🙂
Wishing you the best of luck with your new business, Dominique!
This was VERY helpful Amy! I’ve been doing custom furniture pieces for about a year now and have not felt comfortable about guesstimating a price. I’m definitely going to customize your work order to fit my needs – thank you so much! I’m about to quote on a big furniture piece so this was very timely.
I’m glad you found it helpful, Marie! Thanks so much for stopping by :).
Just getting started and you really helped me thank you ladies.
So glad to hear that! Wishing you much success!
Amy,
Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts on custom orders and pricing! We have a hard time knowing exactly what is right when pricing items and services. Its especially hard when its friends or family which is hard to talk money with anyway! Also, thank you for sharing your free downloadable! What a great idea!
Kristen
Thanks so much, Kristen! I totally agree that it’s even harder quoting prices to people you know. So glad you stopped by.
This is just such great information. I feel like most of us struggle in the area of pricing our work. Thank you for so generously sharing this printable.
Thanks so much, Lisa! I agree that pricing is a struggle for most of us. I’m glad you liked the printable and appreciate you stopping by :).
Hey, Amy!
This post was super helpful because I’m 17 and just started a business painting furniture and hadn’t been accepting clients until recently but I don’t have a pricing strategy yet :O I will for sure implement your policy of requiring a 50% deposit upfront, but what if the final price of the proposal/work order differs from the finalized invoice? Does that matter?
Thanks a bunch!
Sierra
Hi Sierra! Congrats on starting your own business! I’m not sure if I’m following your question.. do you mean if you quote someone $200, then halfway through the project they ask you to do something extra (like replace the hardware), so your final price ends up being more than the $200 you quoted? If so I would just tack the additional cost onto the final payment and not worry that you didn’t get exactly 50% of the total cost. Does that answer your question? If that’s not what you were asking let me know! It’s early and I haven’t had my coffee yet :). Thanks for stopping by and I hope your new business is a massive success!!
That answered my question perfectly, thank you!! 🙂
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this post. While I don’t paint for others often right now, I have needed this insight and have just been unable to get forthright, realistic information. This is so helpful and providing the work order is a major blessing and bonus! You are a gem. I will definitely be following you! Continue creating beautiful things!
I’m so glad you found it helpful, Tracey! Thanks so much for following :).
Grazie sei stata gentilissima a condividere questo con noi. Anche per me è sempre un problema stabilire un prezzo, perchè tu sai quante ore servono per fare questi lavori e la gente incompetente non sa quanto tempo è necessario. Come hai detto tu, si vende arte, fantasia e capacità e tutto ciò ha un prezzo. Il tuo consiglio mi sarà molto utile, grazie grazie grazie! Monica (in pinterest NICANOA)
Thanks SO much for this post and your free download! Just starting on this venture and was so grateful this popped up in my search for fair pricing. Thanks again!
So glad you found it helpful, Marissa! Best of luck with your new business :).
This is exactly what I needed to read. I’ve been struggling with pricing and it’s caused some frustration with my husband as he feels I’m not getting what I’m worth. This kind of has built up my confidence to be able to say “this is what I charge” – a work order is the perfect way to have it set and more official. Thank you so much for the post, it’s definitely going to change the way I do things!
I love hearing this, Meryl! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and I’m wishing you luck with your business :).
Hi, thanks for sharing this. I do a lot of custom painting work as well. I am surprised that you only charge $50 for supplies. I charge $75 which includes purchasing paint, wax, shipping, sandpaper and other misc. supplies as well. I charge pretty close to your hourly rate,( a little higher) and similar for pickup/delivery. I keep customers up to date on their piece and let them know ahead of time that all pieces are to be picked up within 48 hours of completion or they will begin to accrue storage fees of $10 per day per piece (Unfortunately, I got burned and had to implement a strict policy). I think I will update my form to say that painting inside cabinets and drawers is not included. Good to know I have the right idea for custom work, It was hard to decide in the beginning and I was often frustrated that I had not charged enough. It is difficult to balance pricing! Thanks again, happy painting!
Great idea to add a storage fee! I agree, it’s difficult to balance prices. I don’t do too many custom pieces because I just don’t enjoy it. I really like the process of choosing how to paint each piece and I found that painting according to other people’s specifications sucked the creativity and the fun out of it for me. Does that ever happen to you? I sell most of our pieces through our retail space in an antique mall and it’s definitely a better fit for me.
Hi, Amy! Thank you so much for the Custom Work Order pricing sheet. I SOOOOO greatly appreciate it. We are just beginning our venture in furniture painting and loving it but we are a little overwhelmed by all the things you have to consider on the business end. We just want to paint!! Lol. I was wondering if you have a purchase agreement that you use for when you deliver pieces you have completed. I know we need to charge the complete price and the delivery fee, all payable before delivery, but I’m not sure how to word all of that in an agreement that I have them sign. Do you use such a thing and, if so, would you be willing to share? Thank you again!
Hi Vicki! I’m glad you like the custom work order! I don’t have a purchase agreement for pieces that are already completed. We don’t sell completed pieces directly to customers- we sell them in an antique mall where we rent booth space and don’t have contact with the customers who purchase them. How will customers find your completed pieces to purchase? Online or in person? If you’re getting full payment before you take the piece out of your truck I don’t think I’d worry as much about a signed agreement. The reason I like one for custom work is because there’s a delay between purchase and delivery, as clients are choosing the design and you’re painting according to their specs. Pieces that are already painted are being purchased as-is, so there’s no need for written design details. That’s my thinking on it anyway. I’m sure you’ll figure out what works best for you and I’m wishing you lots of luck with your business!!
About to embark on my first custom piece and your site and downloadable work order has been awesomely helpful! Thank you so much
Hello from Minnesota.
The tips on buying and selling and estimating was very generous. A lot of people would not share that. I joined your email list this morning because of it. I know I am going to enjoy reading your posts.
I learned a lot just reading about the chalk paint. I have yet to dive into my first project with the paint but it doesn’t seem so scarey now.
Hey Sheila! Thank you for your sweet note and for joining our list! So glad you’re here. When you start your first project please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Once you get started you’ll realize it’s not nearly as hard as you might think and it’s a lot of fun. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your quoting method. I’ve been painting and building for years. I paint furniture using various types of materials, but most with Fine Paints of Europe. If you aren’t familiar, it’s an oil based paint from Holland. It produces a very unique finish that fills very well, flattens out brush strokes, and provides a finish like glass. You can use various sheen, but many people go for the high gloss trademark look. The finish is truly amazing, and they make various primers that creates an ultra flat and smooth surface on any grain or surface. This type of paint takes about 50% more labor due to technique and process required. The materials cost nearly 50% more than traditional materials. Once clients see the look, they end up wanting many other things painted. Regards
What happenes if you have a client that wants a price up front? She is requesting a price for a chair, filing cabinet and a desk. What do you suggest?
Allison, please forgive my late response! I had an issue with the comments on my blog and just found around 50 (including yours) that were stuck in limbo. I’m sure you already handled this, but my advice would be if you feel comfortable enough pricing it in advance to go ahead and do so, but make it clear that the quoted price doesn’t include any potential repairs needed that weren’t disclosed when you priced it out. So spell out specifically what that price covers and any additional work needed would be an upcharge with the clients approval (meaning if you find a broken drawer, you’ll let them know and they can opt to pay for you to fix it or you can leave it as is). Hope that makes sense!
Thanks for your article on custom painting quotes. I started painting furniture for myself & a few friends. Today, I have all the custom work I can handle, primarily from decorators. Pricing the work is at times more challenging than the actual paint job. Your article helped me simplify the process & I believe I will not be as inclined to under charge! Thanks again! Patricia Voinche’, Altar’d Art, LLC, Gonzales, LA. 225-281-2525
Thank you so much for your candle and generosity in sharing your experience and your work orders. As someone who is just starting out, I truly appreciate it
You’re so welcome, Mary! I’m glad you’ve found it helpful.
That was supposed to be “candor”!
Thank you so much for all your information! I love your page! I have gotten many requests from friends and haven’t known how to go about doing that well. I reference your page constantly!
Thank you for saying that, Meghan! Best of luck to you with your projects! ❤️
Thank you for this terrific post! I’ve been painting furniture only for myself thus far, but would love to try doing custom work for other people. Never know how to price it though! It seems like it’s such a time consuming process that it makes me wonder: why do people want to pay that much money instead of buying new furniture?
And speaking of selling, if you’re painting something to sell yourself, what selling platform do you use? I’m in Canada, and we have kijiji here (which is basically eBay classifieds). Do you use facebook for selling? does that ever work?
P.S.
i just started writing my own blog about decorating and DIY. Would love to have you visit: https://acreativehomeca.wordpress.com/
Hi Lana! I rent space in an antique mall to sell my furniture, but lots of people use online platforms to sell. I have found that when posting on places like Craigslist or Facebook marketplace people tend to expect rock bottom garage sale prices. It’s worth a shot though and I do think it can work. Good luck with the business and new website!
Thank you for your info. How long should it take to paint and distress a dinning room hutch.
It really depends on how many coats you need to put on and if it any prep work prior to painting. Also if you’re painting the inside of the hutch that takes significantly more time. All in all you shouldn’t have any problem getting it done in a week or so if you work on it pretty diligently.
I can not think of any words that when read, will actually describe my gratitude.
I feel like I have researched myself right out of projects due to pricing. I’ve been told my prices were low, are they? Well what questions do ask, should I get a deposit or ask for half down ?etc..etc..etc..Just this morning I was asked to paint a table with 7 chairs…truth is I have no idea how much to charge..! then I stumbled upon you this morning.. your kindness has made my day and helped me to not give up on my passion..
Thank you truly,
Brandye
Thank you for the information. This is a good place for me to start developing the administration for my sons business.
I like how you said that you mentioned that a person should bring pictures of what they want for their furniture. It’d be nice to bring a bunch of pictures and maybe even the paint you want. Then they can get the exact color you need without any problems.
Thank you so much for sharing! As a new kid on the block, I’m always scouring the web for ideas and advice and an extremely grateful to those of you who are so willing to help!
I am finding this in 2021 and its so helpfull thank you my partner is an artist and he has just started to paint his art onto furniture and so its so different to anything thats out there he finds it hard not only to know how much to charge but in having confidence in asking for it we are in the uk im 42 and left school with nothing and have been a carer for my son for over 10 yrs would be lovely to be able to start a little shop or something .
[Thank you}] for sharing this information is an understatement.
I am heading in this direction as soon as Febrauary 1, this information is invaluable to me
xo Ladies
I’m so glad you found it helpful, Di! Wishing you the very best as you start your new venture!