Does anyone have a standard pricing formula for sympathy and/or everyday designs (ie percentages for hard goods, flowers, foliage, labor etc). Anything would help and would be appreciated.
Thanks
Thanks
Help Needed
- Thread starter brennans florist
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Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
- Nov 10, 2002
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are you asking about direct pricing work, or kick back pricing work??...sympathy work, has become synonymous with "kickbacks"......sorry to say.....
lil_goldie
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- Apr 15, 2009
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Are you asking how items are priced?
From what I've read on this board it seems like
fresh cuts x 3.5
greens x 2
hard goods x 2
labour varies - some people charge a percentage of the materials used, some charge based on the size of the vase, some charge a flat rate, other build the cost of labour into their flowers.
Personally, we don't mark our fresh cuts up that much. Our market just wouldn't survive on 3.5x. We charge a percentage of all materials as our labour charge.
Weddings are a different labour charge altogether.
Hope that helps
From what I've read on this board it seems like
fresh cuts x 3.5
greens x 2
hard goods x 2
labour varies - some people charge a percentage of the materials used, some charge based on the size of the vase, some charge a flat rate, other build the cost of labour into their flowers.
Personally, we don't mark our fresh cuts up that much. Our market just wouldn't survive on 3.5x. We charge a percentage of all materials as our labour charge.
Weddings are a different labour charge altogether.
Hope that helps
bootcampguy
Well-Known Member
Fresh: x 3.5
Hard goods: x 2.5
Plants: x 3.5
Greens: x 2
Labor rate at 35% up to $100, 35% from $101 - $199, 25% from then on.......or add up all costs and divide by .65/.60 or .70.
Hard goods: x 2.5
Plants: x 3.5
Greens: x 2
Labor rate at 35% up to $100, 35% from $101 - $199, 25% from then on.......or add up all costs and divide by .65/.60 or .70.
I am wondering why you poised this question? I looked at your web site & it seems as if you have things figured out pretty well for your area. Just wondering. Also I just wanted to let you know, in case you were not aware of it, your link to the obituaries goes to the same newspaper company & their lay out that is in Rapid City, SD where I live. You can purchase an ad on the obits page for around $200 a month in the section where you see the Send Sympathy Flowers and Gifts kinda in the middle of the front page of the obits. Right now if you click on it there are no local florists from your town. You can see what I am talking about by going to www.rapidcityjournal.com & than click on the obits page, scroll down to the flower ar in the middle, click on the picture & you will see the banner ad from us. That ad should be avaliable to you. Actually I bought the whole area avaliable there for local florists. There are 4 spots avaliable at $50 a spot (small ad) so I bought them all. I figured 1 little mention would not be enough. I'm not sure why no one in your town has not bought that spot, but your online jounal is called Legacy & the format is the same as ours.
I price different flowers a different mark up. But it averages out to about 5x mark up. Greens the same thing- Unless they are very long lasting greens, like lily grass or isralie that I buy by the case and it lasts forever. Then just 2.5x.
Hard goods 2.5 minimum mark up.
The labor is included in the price.
Now- I have been doing something differently as far as marking up weddings.
For instance- My 10-10-10 wedding was small and easy and cheap. My bride and groom had a tight budget. They gave me thier initial budget- $400, for just bouquets and corsages and bouts. Then I asked about cake flowers and centerpeices. They said they were just going to go to Costco and get flowers and put them in vases from the dollar store. I asked how much were they going to spend at Costco...They said they were figuring about $200. I said well if I can do it (16 centerpeices) for $200 and they provide the vases would they be up for it? They said sure. Sweet. They didn't care about the type of flowers, just the color.
Except for the bridal bouquet- That had to be hot princess roses and steph. OK.
Well I ended up getting somewhere around $700 or $800 for the whole wedding, but I didn't charge as much for labor. The wedding had 16 bouts, 5 corsages, 16 centerpeices, 8 bouquets and a cake topper. I ended up using mostly alstroe and tree fern. And they loved it. I would have normally charged about $25 for the centerpeices and at least $10.50 each on the bouts. $25 for the corsages, etc...
I also offered to deliver for free rather than them pick up. Why? Well- I'm building my rep here in ABQ and I need pics of weddings in actual venues here in ABQ. Most of my pics are of wedding up in Durango. I would rather deliver it and get the pics I want than have them pic up and I get nothing. I only spent $158 on product, So the wedding did make us some money- Just not as much as usual.
But It only took me 3 hours to do the whole thing. I did it so fast that I feel we totally made money.
Now-if the wedding is more complicated and would have taken a long time to make we wouldn't have made any money OR I would have had to charge a lot more.
So I guess what I'm saying is it all depends.
Hard goods 2.5 minimum mark up.
The labor is included in the price.
Now- I have been doing something differently as far as marking up weddings.
For instance- My 10-10-10 wedding was small and easy and cheap. My bride and groom had a tight budget. They gave me thier initial budget- $400, for just bouquets and corsages and bouts. Then I asked about cake flowers and centerpeices. They said they were just going to go to Costco and get flowers and put them in vases from the dollar store. I asked how much were they going to spend at Costco...They said they were figuring about $200. I said well if I can do it (16 centerpeices) for $200 and they provide the vases would they be up for it? They said sure. Sweet. They didn't care about the type of flowers, just the color.
Except for the bridal bouquet- That had to be hot princess roses and steph. OK.
Well I ended up getting somewhere around $700 or $800 for the whole wedding, but I didn't charge as much for labor. The wedding had 16 bouts, 5 corsages, 16 centerpeices, 8 bouquets and a cake topper. I ended up using mostly alstroe and tree fern. And they loved it. I would have normally charged about $25 for the centerpeices and at least $10.50 each on the bouts. $25 for the corsages, etc...
I also offered to deliver for free rather than them pick up. Why? Well- I'm building my rep here in ABQ and I need pics of weddings in actual venues here in ABQ. Most of my pics are of wedding up in Durango. I would rather deliver it and get the pics I want than have them pic up and I get nothing. I only spent $158 on product, So the wedding did make us some money- Just not as much as usual.
But It only took me 3 hours to do the whole thing. I did it so fast that I feel we totally made money.
Now-if the wedding is more complicated and would have taken a long time to make we wouldn't have made any money OR I would have had to charge a lot more.
So I guess what I'm saying is it all depends.
I buy alot of my flowers on the auction from Flowerbuyer.com & the prices I pay are alot cheaper than from the wholesale companies so I usually mark up 5 times & at least 2 - 3 times on the greenery, especially if it is a specialty greens like Italian Ruscu. I charge a flat rate of around $10 for a 8" vase greened up with a bow, curly ting ting (we put in most of our arrangements except sympathy) & labor. If the vase is bigger I charge $12-$15 per set up. Sometimes I just figure I don't make much or anything on the greenery, but be sure to get my cost out. I like alot of greenery & full arrangements. If I buy from a regular wholesale i usually mark up 3-3 1/2 times. I like to keep stock at $2.50 a stem so if I but it at $5 a bunch I still charge $2.50 a stem. I feel like it is worth it. So I guess it varies some according to the type of flowers & where I buy them from. Are you confused, I think I am! 
lol!!!!
lol!!!!
I think that about this area too. I know 3.5 is an industry standard but it just seems too high to me. I end up doing more like a 2.5 markup but I'm always troubled by whether or not this is right. I want my customers to feel like they get a good value and I can't seem to accomplish that on a 3.5 markup plus labor.
3.5 is just the base mark-up for flowers. Easy standard type sympathy work and seasonal specials get a lower mark up. Don't de-value your special custom work. It's worth at least 3.5 plus labor.
lil_goldie
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- Apr 15, 2009
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I agree. In our area there are certain price points that all the shops seem to have.
It's easy to say "oh you have to mark up 3.5x to get your value's worth" but to stay competitive, sometimes you just can't.
All four shops in town sell carns for $1. We buy them for .35-.45 cents. Sometimes 60 cents.
Gerbs, however, cost $1.10 and we sell them for $3
most items are 2x though.
Irises cost .70 cents, we sell them for $1.50
When I price check the other florists in town, they are the same.
It's hard to mark up any higher than that here.
