Our Ideal Pricing Model
In a truly ideal world, we would be able to provide all of our services without direct cost to the organizations we support. Most of the work we do is part of our charitable mission to support public service, the arts, and education.
We recognize that most of the groups we provide services to are themselves publicly funded or supported by donations from their own team members. We want to bring high-quality custom work to our clients and elevate the caliber of recognition that is provided to Servicemembers and other public servants. We often go above and beyond to make sure that new designs are the best they can be.
This means that most projects are completed at a loss and rely heavily on volunteered time from our team. To ensure that costs do not grow too quickly, we do have to charge for some of our costs.
Basic Fee Structure
The following fee structure is used as a basis for the real cost of the work done and will be reflected on project invoices and estimates. These prices may be further adjusted based on project-specific factors.
| Service | Hourly Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation | $40 | |
| Design Work | $40 | |
| Workshop Delivery | $50 | |
| 3D printing (plastic) | $3-5 | Varies by material (per machine hour) |
| 3D printing (resin) | $5 | Also has high post-processing time |
| Laser Engraving | $60 | |
| Post-processing | $40 | Cleanup, assembly, and finishing work |
| Training | $50 | |
| Repair and Maintenance | $40 | |
| Outreach and Advocacy | $40 |
Mission Based Discount
For qualified organizations and their veterans, we regularly discount design fees and offer our finished work on an at-cost-of-production basis.
Our goal is to provide unique work that can proudly represent your organization and members without charging the usual costs that come with custom commissioned work. This does mean we have to be careful when considering new projects.
Other projects can be considered for a discount if they support or align with our mission.
Example Pricing Determinations
Plastic 3D Printing
How much does it cost to run a 3D printer?
While 3D printing can cover a range of additive manufacturing processes, the kind you are likely thinking about is Fusion Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). In FDM printing, a spool of filament is fed into a heated nozzle and deposited at a controlled rate and pattern to build an object one layer at a time.
Consumer-grade 3D Printers have come a long way in the past few years in their performance and quality of life features. You may even have a 3D printer at home or at your local school, and it can be easy to discount the costs of running a printer as a business. Our basic fee structure lists an hourly pricing rate of $3-5 per machine-hour. Let’s consider a few of the costs that factor into that pricing figure.
Essential Costs of 3D Printing
- Material (plastic filament)
- Electricity
- Maintenance
- Post-processing time
- Setup and reset time
- Breakage (production failure rate)
- Equipment depreciation
- Facility costs
- Other overhead costs
These expenses can be difficult to calculate before a project is fully underway. Slight design changes can impact the amount of material and production time needed for a given item.
We developed a tool to help estimate costs and come up with the listed range we set. When a project involves a large production run (100+ units), we use this tool to set the per-unit price and make sure we are being fair to both our customer and our mostly volunteer production team.
To see our cost estimating tool and learn more about the additive manufacturing process, click here.
Laser Engraving and Cutting
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Example Projects and their Costs
The Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion
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