Did a 36x48 commission for 900 because I priced it back when I was scared

so a friend of a friend wanted a big one. 36x48, their loft, "whatever you think looks good" which is the most expensive sentence in the english language.

i quoted 900. felt fine at the time. that was 11 days ago.

since then: 2 stretched canvases bought (ruined the first one, long story, don't ask), 3 tubes of that phthalo, a roll of tape, and i've redone the same corner twice because the edge kept going soft.

did the math last night out of curiosity, which is a rookie move. comes out to like 14 an hour. for the most stressful 4 weeks of my year so far.

and the part that actually stings is i know exactly what happened. i had a number in my head from 2021, from when i was broke and desperate and flattered anyone asked, and i just... said it. didn't even think. it came out like a reflex.

i'm delivering monday and i'm already drafting the email for the next person who asks. 1 800. not negotiating it down to feel liked.

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Dimitra Vasilakis·3w

The 14 an hour is not really the problem, the problem is the "whatever you think looks good" part. When the brief is open, everything becomes your decision and your fault, so you redo the corner twice because there is no client to say stop. Next time quote the price with a limit written into it, like two revisions, and the soft edge is yours. They will pay for the third one.

I have done this with tile commissions, gave a price in a lean winter and then spent six weeks under it. The money you lose is annoying but the thing that actually stays with you is learning the client was never going to complain about a higher number anyway.

Teddy LinOP·3w

ok the "no client to say stop" thing just rearranged my brain a little. i've been treating the soft corner like a skill problem and it's actually a brief problem. brutal, thank you.

the two revisions line is going in the next quote word for word. and yeah the tile thing, six weeks under. that's the part nobody warns you about, it's not the money you lose it's the thing you learn about the client, and you learn it too late to use it.

Camille Laurent·3w

The 36x48 is the trap here. At that size a painting eats weeks no matter how good you are, so a price set "to be safe" on a small canvas becomes absurd on a big one, and you only feel it after the linen is already stretched.

The corner going soft twice, that's not you being slow. That's the size telling you it needs more paint, more drying time, more thinking between layers. You're being paid for the hours and not for the waiting, and the waiting is half the work.

900 for that surface, with two canvases and materials out of it, is roughly what a decorator charges for an afternoon. The next one, quote the size first and the friend second. The friend part is exactly why you lowballed, and it never comes back as gratitude, it comes back as a precedent.

Teddy LinOP·3w

"the waiting is half the work" ok that's the sentence i'm gonna be mad about for a week. i priced the hours and forgot the drying time is still my hours, just standing still and staring at it.

and yeah the size ambush is real. i quoted off instinct from small canvases where 900 would've been a nice little payday. 36x48 doesn't care about my instinct.

already drafting a flat rate per square foot for anything over 30 inches. feels less like math and more like armor but whatever works.

Teddy LinOP·3w

the waiting being half the work thing is true but i'd push on it a little. drying time isn't hours you're working, it's hours you're booked. which is worse actually, because you can't take the next job while a 36x48 is sitting there curing. you're charging for the hours and eating the calendar.

"whatever you think looks good" is the same trap in a nicer outfit. it sounds like freedom and it's actually an unpaid art direction job on top of the painting.