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what do u guys charge for a firing fee? he's gonna buy his own glass. all i have to do is fire. what about when he starts worker thicker? bound to happen. thanks.

Your asking for trouble (IMO) Who figures out the firing schedule? What happens when something goes wrong? (devit, kiln wash sticks, glass breaks, shrinkage due to volume problem, etc. etc.) What is your liability??
Local glass store charges $25. per firing (and they have mentioned grief involved,
Good luck, Don

I suggest you charge what you would if it were a class. If you give it away, you end up moving backward. Wear and tear and time lost are not insignificant factors. You are going to end up teaching regardless of what happens, anyway.

$25 would be moving backwards, as it probably comes close to power and wear and tear costs. The store charging this is making their nickel selling glass and classes at a large markup.

I either fire it for free (for friends) and assume that I'll be "helping" significantly, or say no. Someone paying for the service generally expects a lot of assistance, possibly monitoring what's going on in a longer firing, and what it would cost to really be paid for those services is more than most people pay. And while it's rare that it would happen with regular fusing, I'm not insured against kiln damage if a stranger messes things up.

Around here, though, I've rented kilnspace for regular fusing (in a Skutt bathtub) for $45/firing, or between $100-250 per for longer casting firings.

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away...I would fire projects for clients. $75.00 per firing (12 hour schedule start to finish). It's time you can't use your kiln for your own work, so your production time is being impinged upon. I would babysit the work. I would help load and unload as long as the work was ready to go. I supplied the thin-fire. I prepared the shelf, I managed my kiln and modified firing schedules if they seemed off, to address the knowledge I had of my kiln and the nature of the work.

It wasn't just loaning/selling kiln time, it was more involved than that. The client will rely on you to manage a lot, and if you are a bit of a control freak when it comes to your equipment, you will want to manage a lot of the job. The hardest part was that I didn't want to be responsible for the potential of loss if I broke a piece, set something up wrong, and the client would have to be there to set up, and to unload, and sometimes the timing was an issue.

I have no idea what the going rate would be. I was selling time in a Denver 30" x 60", so there was a lot of work that could be fired in one shot.

thanks for these responses, all. yeah, i can see the potential problems, but fusing is so new here in vermont, i just have to encourage anyone interested, i feel.

alyssa oxley wrote:what do u guys charge for a firing fee? he's gonna buy his own glass. all i have to do is fire. what about when he starts worker thicker? bound to happen. thanks.

We have a number of kilns, so usually have kilns available for renting. Although we sell Bullseye glass, we don't require that people who rent our kilns use Bullseye or buy their glass from us.

Our fees are as follows:

Kiln with 6" square shelf: $7
Kiln with 13" square shelf: $10
Kiln with 20" square shelf: $25
Kiln with 38" x 30" shelf: $50

These prices are for a standard full fuse or slump, 12 hour firing. Longer firings command higher prices. We include kiln wash or thinfire paper and will advise on a schedule, but we make it absolutely clear that we take no responsibility for the success of the firing and make no guarantees. The customer usually loads the kiln, we usually do the programming. We have had virtually no complaints in over five years of charging firing fees.

Also, we require that people call us first to find out if kilns are available. And if the person wants to be taught, rather than just fire a piece, we charge $100 to $150 per hour, depending on the complexity of the questions.

wow, thanks, brad. i just got back here and saw this lovely response. thanks a million.

My way of calculating the charges for hiring a kiln are:
depreciation divided by the average number of firings per year plus opportunity cost (how much time is taken away from you use) plus materials and electricity plus my time. This gets to a break-even price. Any profit you want goes on top.

Stephen Richard wrote:My way of calculating the charges for hiring a kiln are:
depreciation divided by the average number of firings per year plus opportunity cost (how much time is taken away from you use) plus materials and electricity plus my time. This gets to a break-even price. Any profit you want goes on top.

Sounds like an awful lot of work. Have you done the math for any of your kilns?

Brad, I have done Stephen's calculation and that's why I don't do firings for other people. If you are not careful you can end up costing yourself money but even worse, the people don't thank you for all the effort you have expended on their behalf.
Only if you have a regularly sitting empty kiln that you do not use would I even think of considering it.
Murphy's law says you will damage one of your precious molds moving it in and out of a kiln etc etc.

Brad Walker wrote:

Stephen Richard wrote:My way of calculating the charges for hiring a kiln are:
depreciation divided by the average number of firings per year plus opportunity cost (how much time is taken away from you use) plus materials and electricity plus my time. This gets to a break-even price. Any profit you want goes on top.

Sounds like an awful lot of work. Have you done the math for any of your kilns?

Yes, Brad I have.
Gas kiln, 40cm square and 50cm square kilns:
cost to me £2.00; cost to studio users £3.00; cost to external users £6.00 (all these exclusive of electricity and materials) (oh yes, and of sales tax at 20%)
2.2m by 1.3m kiln
cost to me £19.00; cost to studio users £35.00; cost to external users £65.00 (again with all the exclusions)
These are based on the previous year's use - I can tell from the logs - and replacement cost divided by 5 (the allowed depreciation rate given by the tax authorities) plus maintenance costs.

The reduced prices for studio users is because they are paying for use of studio already.

I hope this is helpful

We no longer fire for the "weekend glass artists". Like everyone said above......all the same reasons. I fire my genesis every day doing my own production work and my other kilns fairly regularly. There just is not enough $ to pay for stopping my own work..... Or for having to make things to fill a kiln for a specific temp a customer wants.
Unless you are selling them the glass at a good profit.......but even then they would take up too much time with all the questions! Maybe in a retail environment like Brad has.......
I send people to the new Bullseye resource in Emerville.